Abstract
The notion of “extrapolation ability” was developed by L.V. Krushinsky. His concept of animal reasoning, signifies the ability of animals to anticipate the position of (food) stimuli after their translocation and disappearance from the animals’ view. Experiments proved this ability is not a simple trait, but requires a constellation of various optimal cognitive functions. Only several genetic groups among laboratory rodents are able to anticipate food reward on the basis of extrapolation, as opposed to instrumental learning. The paper includes data on extrapolation ability in mice with various chromosomal rearrangements, showing non-random performance on extrapolation tasks in animals carrying specific mutations. Experiments in which mice were selected for extrapolation ability demonstrate concomitant changes in other cognitive tasks and traits (fear-anxiety, reactions to novelty). Future studies should involve both the combination of several experimental paradigms and correlational analysis to further delineate the genetic underpinnings of anticipation as expressed in the extrapolation ability.
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Notes
- 1.
N.K. Koltzov (1872–1940)—the founder of Russian experimental biology. He was the first to suggest the ideas of molecular structure of chromosomes and of the matrix principle of their reduplication, ahead of the development of molecular genetics.
- 2.
Krushinsky was the only Russian author whose works on dog behavior were cited in “Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog”, the classic work by J.P. Scott and J.L. Fuller, 1965, University of Chicago Press.
- 3.
When Krushinsky’s ideas on animal reasoning and extrapolation ability in numerous species were published, they were appreciated by several neurologists and geneticists, but also aroused clamor. The most serious argument from zoologists was that the extrapolation of prey is adaptive for carnivores, but not for rodents. However, experiments showed that rooks (who gather food from soil) and ravens (carnivorous birds) have similar extrapolation indices, while birds of prey, who “need” this capacity showed lower indices than corvids. The main factor corresponding to the degree of extrapolation success was found to be the encephalization index (or Portman index for birds [2]).
- 4.
The statistical significance of the non-randomness of this proportion was evaluated using Fisher’s φ test.
- 5.
Ecological “predetermination” of extrapolation ability was the subject of most heated debates with zoologists who defended the idea of the instinctive nature of this ability. This argument was not as valid as they suggested, however, as corvids had higher task scores in this ability than birds of prey, who are highly specialized to pursue moving prey (especially honey buzzards who follow visually the flying wasp in order to find its nest). The confirmation of this view came also from experiments with carnivorous and herbivorous turtles, who are both equally able to solve the task, although herbivorous turtles never chased moving prey.
- 6.
The monograph was issued first in 1977, 2nd and 3rd editions followed in 1986 and 2009. The English translation was published in 1990 [3].
- 7.
Its name Rb (8,17) 1Iem refers to the Institute of Experimental Medicine in Leningrad, were it was identified by Prof. V.S. Baranov.
- 8.
There is thus some methodological discrepancy between two experimental paradigms concerning the number of daily trials and number of experimental days. This discrepancy was due to the fact that these groups of mice were first tested in the extrapolation task, and as the learning experiment with the same groups of mice started, it became obvious that 3 days with 6 task presentations were not enough for instrumental skill acquisition. As numbers of mice with Rb (8,17) 1Iem were always limited, it was decided to leave the schemes as they were.
- 9.
In some varieties of the open-field test, small holes are made in the floor of the arena, and while exploring the area an animal dips its nose into these holes. The number of such hole-pokes is taken as a measure of exploratory tendency (together with the number of rearing postures).
- 10.
Unfortunately, this experiment remains the only one in which a cognitive trait was selected.
- 11.
The six inbred normal karyotype strains were used for creating the heterogeneous population. The strains chosen differed by brain weight significantly, as initially this population was used for a brain weight selection program [9].
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The work was partly supported by RFBR all years starting from 1998, the latest grant N 04-13-00747.
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Poletaeva, I., Zorina, Z. (2015). Extrapolation Ability in Animals and Its Possible Links to Exploration, Anxiety, and Novelty Seeking. In: Nadin, M. (eds) Anticipation: Learning from the Past. Cognitive Systems Monographs, vol 25. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19446-2_25
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