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1 #AnimBehav2021
Research on the understanding of relationships between objects focused mainly on a few model species, while other taxa received less attention. Goats, e.g., often find creative solutions when faced with problems, potentially showing ‘insightful’ problem-solving.
Research on the understanding of relationships between objects focused mainly on a few model species, while other taxa received less attention. Goats, e.g., often find creative solutions when faced with problems, potentially showing ‘insightful’ problem-solving.
2 #AnimBehav2021
We investigated whether goats would (a) spontaneously pull a string to receive a reward and if they do so (b) whether they show a causal understanding of the connection between the string and the reward.
We investigated whether goats would (a) spontaneously pull a string to receive a reward and if they do so (b) whether they show a causal understanding of the connection between the string and the reward.
3 #AnimBehav2021
Ten out of 20 goats spontaneously (and reliably) pulled a rope – short and long – in Experiment 1 and 2. A strong decrease in the time needed to solve the task indicated that goats learned quickly to further improve the operation of the device.
Ten out of 20 goats spontaneously (and reliably) pulled a rope – short and long – in Experiment 1 and 2. A strong decrease in the time needed to solve the task indicated that goats learned quickly to further improve the operation of the device.
4 #AnimBehav2021
When two strings were positioned in parallel (Experiments 3-5), individual goats but also goats as a group were able to solve the task by pulling the (correct) string with the reward attached.
When two strings were positioned in parallel (Experiments 3-5), individual goats but also goats as a group were able to solve the task by pulling the (correct) string with the reward attached.
5 #AnimBehav2021
However, in the last experiment where strings were presented in a crossed fashion, goats did not show an understanding of the causal contingencies of the task and continued to pull the (incorrect) string that was positioned closest to the reward.
However, in the last experiment where strings were presented in a crossed fashion, goats did not show an understanding of the causal contingencies of the task and continued to pull the (incorrect) string that was positioned closest to the reward.
6 #AnimBehav2021
The apparently ‘insightful’ problem-solving behaviour of goats in this study (‘string pulling’) is thus better explained by conditioned responses or local enhancement effects rather than a causal understanding of the means-end connections in this specific task.
The apparently ‘insightful’ problem-solving behaviour of goats in this study (‘string pulling’) is thus better explained by conditioned responses or local enhancement effects rather than a causal understanding of the means-end connections in this specific task.
