Bridging pure cognitive research and cognitive enrichment

Clark, Fay E.

doi:10.1007/s10071-022-01636-2

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 88 publications

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“…Five out of six animals interacted consistently with the device across several months, in sessions of 3 h duration during which fluid and food were available ad libitum . This was presumably due to the sugary fluid reward delivered by the device in combination with the provision of an activity that provided a form of cognitive enrichment ( Murphy et al, 2003 ; Tarou and Bashaw, 2007 ; Clark, 2017 , 2022 ; Calapai et al, 2022 ). On the other hand, we found that engagement strongly depended on short-term performance levels as the likelihood of initiating a trial decreased with an increase in difficulty and throughout the training section in which the task gradually moved from visuo-acoustic to acoustic only.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Group-based, autonomous, individualized training and testing of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in their home enclosure to a visuo-acoustic discrimination task

et al. 2022

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In recent years, the utility and efficiency of automated procedures for cognitive assessment in psychology and neuroscience have been demonstrated in non-human primates (NHP). This approach mimics conventional shaping principles of breaking down a final desired behavior into smaller components that can be trained in a staircase manner. When combined with home-cage-based approaches, this could lead to a reduction in human workload, enhancement in data quality, and improvement in animal welfare. However, to our knowledge, there are no reported attempts to develop automated training and testing protocols for long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), a ubiquitous NHP model in neuroscience and pharmaceutical research. In the current work, we present the results from 6 long-tailed macaques that were trained using an automated unsupervised training (AUT) protocol for introducing the animals to the basics of a two-alternative choice (2 AC) task where they had to discriminate a conspecific vocalization from a pure tone relying on images presented on a touchscreen to report their response. We found that animals (1) consistently engaged with the device across several months; (2) interacted in bouts of high engagement; (3) alternated peacefully to interact with the device; and (4) smoothly ascended from step to step in the visually guided section of the procedure, in line with previous results from other NHPs. However, we also found (5) that animals’ performance remained at chance level as soon as the acoustically guided steps were reached; and (6) that the engagement level decreased significantly with decreasing performance during the transition from visual to acoustic-guided sections. We conclude that with an autonomous approach, it is possible to train long-tailed macaques in their social group using computer vision techniques and without dietary restriction to solve a visually guided discrimination task but not an acoustically guided task. We provide suggestions on what future attempts could take into consideration to instruct acoustically guided discrimination tasks successfully.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Group-based, autonomous, individualized training and testing of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in their home enclosure to a visuo-acoustic discrimination task

et al. 2022

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“…Having established that most animals exhibited a task preference with the multiplechoice interface, we evaluated whether such engagement is purposeful or casual [18,56], and by extension, whether animals engage with the challenge using their own competence and potentially develop mastery. We found that the hit rate in the static task across all animals was already above chance at the smallest stimulus size we tested (namely 5 degrees of visual angle) and the hit rate increased with increasing stimulus size above chance level (Figure 4a).…”

Section: Task Proficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The animals consistently engaged with the tasks, exhibited individual task preferences, and demonstrated proficiency in performing the selected tasks. Our approach has the potential to improve the psychological well-being of captive animals while providing researchers with a reliable and scalable method for conducting scientific research on animal cognition and welfare simultaneously [56,67].…”

Section: Practical Implications and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Touchscreen-Based, Multiple-Choice Approach to Cognitive Enrichment of Captive Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Calapai,

Pfefferle,

Cassidy

et al. 2023

Animals

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Research on the psychological and physiological well-being of captive animals has focused on investigating different types of social and structural enrichment. Consequently, cognitive enrichment has been understudied, despite the promising external validity, comparability, and applicability. As we aim to fill this gap, we developed an interactive, multiple-choice interface for cage-mounted touchscreen devices that rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) can freely interact with, from within their home enclosure at the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory of the German Primate Center. The multiple-choice interface offers interchangeable activities that animals can choose and switch between. We found that all 16 captive rhesus macaques tested consistently engaged with the multiple-choice interface across 6 weekly sessions, with 11 of them exhibiting clear task preferences, and displaying proficiency in performing the selected tasks. Our approach does not require social separation or dietary restriction and is intended to increase animals’ sense of competence and agency by providing them with more control over their environment. Thanks to the high level of automation, our multiple-choice interface can be easily incorporated as a standard cognitive enrichment practice across different facilities and institutes working with captive animals, particularly non-human primates. We believe that the multiple-choice interface is a sustainable, scalable, and pragmatic protocol for enhancing cognitive well-being and animal welfare in captivity.

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Congratulations to Animal Cognition on its 50th birthday! Some thoughts on the last 50 years of animal cognition research

Beran

2022

Anim Cogn

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Bridging pure cognitive research and cognitive enrichment

Cited by 3 publications

References 88 publications

Group-based, autonomous, individualized training and testing of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in their home enclosure to a visuo-acoustic discrimination task

Group-based, autonomous, individualized training and testing of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in their home enclosure to a visuo-acoustic discrimination task

A Touchscreen-Based, Multiple-Choice Approach to Cognitive Enrichment of Captive Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Congratulations to Animal Cognition on its 50th birthday! Some thoughts on the last 50 years of animal cognition research

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