Selective attention in dairy cattle

Blackmore, Tania Louise; Temple, William; Foster, T. Mary

Selective attention in dairy cattle

dc.contributor.author	Blackmore, Tania Louise	en_NZ
dc.contributor.author	Temple, William	en_NZ
dc.contributor.author	Foster, T. Mary	en_NZ
dc.date.accessioned	2017-04-19T03:08:36Z
dc.date.available	2016-08-01	en_NZ
dc.date.available	2017-04-19T03:08:36Z
dc.date.issued	2016	en_NZ
dc.description.abstract	In a replication of Reynolds (1961), two cows learned to discriminate between compound stimuli in a forced choice procedure where pushing through a one-way gate marked with a red cross (S+) gave access to food. Pushing through a one-way gate marked with a yellow triangle (S−) gave no access to food. To investigate whether shape or colour was controlling behaviour, probe tests varied either the shape or the colour of the stimuli (e.g., a red vs. a yellow cross, and a red cross vs. a red triangle). Results suggested control by colour rather than shape, as the gate marked with the red stimulus was chosen more than the gate marked with the yellow stimulus regardless of stimulus shape, and when two shapes of the same colour (either red or yellow) were presented, cows chose both equally. Further probe tests with painted red, white, and yellow stimuli showed that the cows had learned to avoid yellow rather than to approach red, suggesting discriminative behaviour was controlled by the colour of the negative stimulus and not by either aspect of the positive stimulus. It is not clear why the negative stimulus was more salient, but it may reflect a tendency for cows to learn to avoid farm handling practices which involve mainly negative stimuli.
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dc.identifier.citation	Blackmore, T. L., Temple, W., & Foster, T. M. (2016). Selective attention in dairy cattle. Behavioural Processes, 129, 37–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2016.06.001	en
dc.identifier.doi	10.1016/j.beproc.2016.06.001	en_NZ
dc.identifier.eissn	1872-8308	en_NZ
dc.identifier.issn	0376-6357	en_NZ
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10289/11003
dc.language.iso	en	en_NZ
dc.publisher	Elsevier	en_NZ
dc.relation.isPartOf	Behavioural Processes	en_NZ
dc.rights	This is an author’s accepted version of an article published in the journal: Behavioural Processes. © 2016 Elsevier.
dc.subject	Social Sciences	en_NZ
dc.subject	Science & Technology	en_NZ
dc.subject	Life Sciences & Biomedicine	en_NZ
dc.subject	Psychology, Biological	en_NZ
dc.subject	Behavioral Sciences	en_NZ
dc.subject	Zoology	en_NZ
dc.subject	Psychology	en_NZ
dc.subject	Bos taurus	en_NZ
dc.subject	Cattle	en_NZ
dc.subject	Selective attention	en_NZ
dc.subject	Visual stimuli	en_NZ
dc.subject	Stimulus discrimination	en_NZ
dc.subject	COLOR-PERCEPTION	en_NZ
dc.subject	MILK-YIELD	en_NZ
dc.subject	BOS-TAURUS	en_NZ
dc.subject	DISCRIMINATION	en_NZ
dc.subject	PEOPLE	en_NZ
dc.subject	CALVES	en_NZ
dc.subject	COWS	en_NZ
dc.subject	BEHAVIOR	en_NZ
dc.subject	RECOGNITION	en_NZ
dc.subject	STIMULI	en_NZ
dc.title	Selective attention in dairy cattle	en_NZ
dc.type	Journal Article
pubs.begin-page	37
pubs.elements-id	139278
pubs.end-page	40
pubs.organisational-group	/Waikato
pubs.organisational-group	/Waikato/FASS
pubs.organisational-group	/Waikato/FASS/School of Psychology
pubs.organisational-group	/Waikato/Staff
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_NZ
pubs.volume	129	en_NZ
uow.verification.status	verified