Training and transfer test to study the referential understanding of conspecific photographs by goats

• Published in: Animal cognition Vol. 28; no. 1; pp. 22 - 13
• Main Authors: Langbein, Jan, Eggert, Anja, Siebert, Katrin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 13.03.2025; Springer Nature B.V; Springer
• Subjects: Animal cognition; Animals; Behavioral Sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cognitive tasks; Conspecifics; Domestic ungulates; Equivalence; Familiarity; Female; Goats; Goats - psychology; Learning; Life Sciences; Male; Original Paper; Photography; Picture equivalence; Psychology Research; Recognition, Psychology; Representational insight; Social hierarchy; Training; Transfer, Psychology; Visual discrimination; Zoology; Domestic ungulates; Familiarity; Visual discrimination; Representational insight; Picture equivalence

Individual recognition requires animals to compare available cues with stored information. For goats, living in stable social groups and forming social hierarchy, it is reasonable to assume they can discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics. This study focuses on the cognitive mechan...