Ralph Colp Jr. M.D.
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813032313
- eISBN:
- 9780813039237
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813032313.003.0023
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
In a footnote in Darwin on Man, it was suggested that Charles Darwin may have become ill because of “a severe allergy, possibly to pigeons, with which Darwin associated much”. However, there is no ...
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In a footnote in Darwin on Man, it was suggested that Charles Darwin may have become ill because of “a severe allergy, possibly to pigeons, with which Darwin associated much”. However, there is no evidence that he was allergic to pigeons. Every day, from 1856 through 1858, he would go to the aviary and closely examine the pigeons. Yet his illness was subacute and did not become especially severe. He does not seem to have been exposed to pigeons during the very severe exacerbations of his illness (1839–42, 1848–49, 1863–64, and 1865). In addition, the main symptoms of his illness were not similar to the symptoms of pigeon allergy.Less
In a footnote in Darwin on Man, it was suggested that Charles Darwin may have become ill because of “a severe allergy, possibly to pigeons, with which Darwin associated much”. However, there is no evidence that he was allergic to pigeons. Every day, from 1856 through 1858, he would go to the aviary and closely examine the pigeons. Yet his illness was subacute and did not become especially severe. He does not seem to have been exposed to pigeons during the very severe exacerbations of his illness (1839–42, 1848–49, 1863–64, and 1865). In addition, the main symptoms of his illness were not similar to the symptoms of pigeon allergy.
Olga F. Lazareva and Edward A. Wasserman
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199549221
- eISBN:
- 9780191724152
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199549221.003.08
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology
This chapter reviews evidence on the abilities of pigeons to learn a variety of categories. The categories investigated include those based on perceptual similarity, association, and more abstract ...
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This chapter reviews evidence on the abilities of pigeons to learn a variety of categories. The categories investigated include those based on perceptual similarity, association, and more abstract relations among stimuli. It is shown that if asked in the appropriate way, then birds too can provide convincing evidence of their conceptual abilities that bears sometimes striking similarities to human conceptual abilities. Birds form concepts based on perceptual similarity among their members, classifying objects into basic-level categories and subordinate-level categories. They appear to sense the perceptual structure of their environment, viewing members of basic-level categories (such as humans or trees) as being more similar to one another than to members of other categories. They can sort objects into nonsimilarity-based, superordinate categories, flexibly switching from basic-level categorization to superordinate-level categorization. Even the ability to form abstract concepts based on the relation between or among stimuli is not exclusively human.Less
This chapter reviews evidence on the abilities of pigeons to learn a variety of categories. The categories investigated include those based on perceptual similarity, association, and more abstract relations among stimuli. It is shown that if asked in the appropriate way, then birds too can provide convincing evidence of their conceptual abilities that bears sometimes striking similarities to human conceptual abilities. Birds form concepts based on perceptual similarity among their members, classifying objects into basic-level categories and subordinate-level categories. They appear to sense the perceptual structure of their environment, viewing members of basic-level categories (such as humans or trees) as being more similar to one another than to members of other categories. They can sort objects into nonsimilarity-based, superordinate categories, flexibly switching from basic-level categorization to superordinate-level categorization. Even the ability to form abstract concepts based on the relation between or among stimuli is not exclusively human.
Edward A. Wasserman and Irving Biederman
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195334654
- eISBN:
- 9780199933167
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195334654.003.0012
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter reviews research that has pursued the comparative psychology of visual object perception by investigating the applicability to pigeons of Biederman's theory of object recognition: ...
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This chapter reviews research that has pursued the comparative psychology of visual object perception by investigating the applicability to pigeons of Biederman's theory of object recognition: recognition-by-components. Pigeons show strong control of the individual components of multipart objects, they are highly sensitive to the spatial organization of an object's several parts, they show some degree of rotational invariance while simultaneously attending to view-specific features of shape stimuli, and they not only learn about shape, but also encode information about such surface properties as color, brightness, and shading.Less
This chapter reviews research that has pursued the comparative psychology of visual object perception by investigating the applicability to pigeons of Biederman's theory of object recognition: recognition-by-components. Pigeons show strong control of the individual components of multipart objects, they are highly sensitive to the spatial organization of an object's several parts, they show some degree of rotational invariance while simultaneously attending to view-specific features of shape stimuli, and they not only learn about shape, but also encode information about such surface properties as color, brightness, and shading.
Robert G. Cook and Matthew S. Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195334654
- eISBN:
- 9780199933167
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195334654.003.0016
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter reviews research on motion discrimination in pigeons and explores how motion perception contributes to object recognition. Accurately perceiving motion is critical to any moving animal. ...
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This chapter reviews research on motion discrimination in pigeons and explores how motion perception contributes to object recognition. Accurately perceiving motion is critical to any moving animal. Although relatively few experiments have focused on this important topic, interest in this area is increasing. So far, these studies have indicated that birds can readily distinguish between self-motion and motion related to external objects around them, and that optic flow is likely an important factor. Further, these animals can readily distinguish among various types of motion as mediated by the edges, surfaces, and shapes of objects.Less
This chapter reviews research on motion discrimination in pigeons and explores how motion perception contributes to object recognition. Accurately perceiving motion is critical to any moving animal. Although relatively few experiments have focused on this important topic, interest in this area is increasing. So far, these studies have indicated that birds can readily distinguish between self-motion and motion related to external objects around them, and that optic flow is likely an important factor. Further, these animals can readily distinguish among various types of motion as mediated by the edges, surfaces, and shapes of objects.
Douglas R. Wylie and Andrew N. Iwaniuk
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195334654
- eISBN:
- 9780199933167
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195334654.003.0017
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter presents a detailed account of how the pigeon brain detects moving objects, derives depth information from motion parallax, and perceives self-motion. All of these functions are ...
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This chapter presents a detailed account of how the pigeon brain detects moving objects, derives depth information from motion parallax, and perceives self-motion. All of these functions are critically important to survival and are accomplished in birds by brain regions along each of the three visual pathways: the collothalamic and lemnothalamic pathways from the retina to the telencephalon, and the pathway consisting of nuclei in the accessory optic system and pretectum. Each pathway processes slightly different aspects of visual motion.Less
This chapter presents a detailed account of how the pigeon brain detects moving objects, derives depth information from motion parallax, and perceives self-motion. All of these functions are critically important to survival and are accomplished in birds by brain regions along each of the three visual pathways: the collothalamic and lemnothalamic pathways from the retina to the telencephalon, and the pathway consisting of nuclei in the accessory optic system and pretectum. Each pathway processes slightly different aspects of visual motion.
Thomas R. Zentall
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195334654
- eISBN:
- 9780199933167
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195334654.003.0020
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology
Selective attention refers to the selective central processing of the stimulus environment, such that certain stimuli that are received at the periphery (i.e., that activate sensory neurons) are ...
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Selective attention refers to the selective central processing of the stimulus environment, such that certain stimuli that are received at the periphery (i.e., that activate sensory neurons) are selectively processed more than others, and that this selective processing allows them to serve better as functional stimuli. Conversely, divided attention refers to the relative difficulty organisms have in processing more than one feature of a stimulus environment at a time. This chapter describes behavioral approaches to studying selective and divided attention in pigeons. It concludes that attentional mechanisms in pigeons bear considerable similarity to attention in humans.Less
Selective attention refers to the selective central processing of the stimulus environment, such that certain stimuli that are received at the periphery (i.e., that activate sensory neurons) are selectively processed more than others, and that this selective processing allows them to serve better as functional stimuli. Conversely, divided attention refers to the relative difficulty organisms have in processing more than one feature of a stimulus environment at a time. This chapter describes behavioral approaches to studying selective and divided attention in pigeons. It concludes that attentional mechanisms in pigeons bear considerable similarity to attention in humans.
Shaun P. Vecera
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195334654
- eISBN:
- 9780199933167
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195334654.003.0028
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter uses two examples—perceptual grouping and visual attention—to highlight the implications of comparative research for the vision sciences. In perceptual grouping, results from nonhuman ...
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This chapter uses two examples—perceptual grouping and visual attention—to highlight the implications of comparative research for the vision sciences. In perceptual grouping, results from nonhuman animals suggest that vision scientists look beyond the perceptual cues for grouping and consider an organism's goals, its typical behavior, and its environment. In attentional control, a consideration of how a nonverbal, nonhuman animal might control attention has led to a novel application of learning mechanisms to attentional control. The chapters in this book represent more than merely looking at the human vision sciences literature for a paradigm that can be applied to pigeons, rats, or monkeys. The pigeons, rats, and monkeys can provide fresh insights and important new directions for thinking about the origins of visual behavior.Less
This chapter uses two examples—perceptual grouping and visual attention—to highlight the implications of comparative research for the vision sciences. In perceptual grouping, results from nonhuman animals suggest that vision scientists look beyond the perceptual cues for grouping and consider an organism's goals, its typical behavior, and its environment. In attentional control, a consideration of how a nonverbal, nonhuman animal might control attention has led to a novel application of learning mechanisms to attentional control. The chapters in this book represent more than merely looking at the human vision sciences literature for a paradigm that can be applied to pigeons, rats, or monkeys. The pigeons, rats, and monkeys can provide fresh insights and important new directions for thinking about the origins of visual behavior.
Thirsk Joan
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198208136
- eISBN:
- 9780191677922
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208136.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This chapter discusses the efforts of farmers to save agriculture after the Black Death. The first solution to the crisis in agriculture was to ...
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This chapter discusses the efforts of farmers to save agriculture after the Black Death. The first solution to the crisis in agriculture was to put former arable land down to grass. With this, dairy goods began to gain attention. Moreover, when landowners found themselves with idle grassland, the idea of the rabbit warren, deer parks, pigeons, and fish ponds became ideal solutions.Less
This chapter discusses the efforts of farmers to save agriculture after the Black Death. The first solution to the crisis in agriculture was to put former arable land down to grass. With this, dairy goods began to gain attention. Moreover, when landowners found themselves with idle grassland, the idea of the rabbit warren, deer parks, pigeons, and fish ponds became ideal solutions.
Miklos Sarvary
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262016940
- eISBN:
- 9780262301176
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262016940.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Knowledge Management
We live in an “Information Age” of overabundant data and lightning-fast transmission. Yet although information and knowledge represent key factors in most economic decisions, we often forget that ...
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We live in an “Information Age” of overabundant data and lightning-fast transmission. Yet although information and knowledge represent key factors in most economic decisions, we often forget that data, information, and knowledge are products created and traded within the knowledge economy. This book describes the information industry—the far-flung universe of companies whose core business is to sell information to decision makers. These companies include such long-established firms as Thomson Reuters (which began in 1850 with carrier pigeons relaying stock market news) as well as newer, dominant players like Google and Facebook. The book highlights the special characteristics of information and knowledge, and analyzes the unusual behaviors of the markets for them. It shows how technology contributes to the spectacular growth of this sector and how new markets for information change our economic environment. Research in economics, business strategy, and marketing has shown that information is different from other goods and services; this is especially true in competitive settings and may result in strange competitive market outcomes. For example, the book points out, unreliable information may be more expensive than reliable information; information sellers may be better off inviting competitors into their market because this may allow them to increase their prices; and competition may lead to increased media bias—but this may benefit consumers who want to discover the truth. The book explores the implications of these and other peculiarities for information buyers and sellers.Less
We live in an “Information Age” of overabundant data and lightning-fast transmission. Yet although information and knowledge represent key factors in most economic decisions, we often forget that data, information, and knowledge are products created and traded within the knowledge economy. This book describes the information industry—the far-flung universe of companies whose core business is to sell information to decision makers. These companies include such long-established firms as Thomson Reuters (which began in 1850 with carrier pigeons relaying stock market news) as well as newer, dominant players like Google and Facebook. The book highlights the special characteristics of information and knowledge, and analyzes the unusual behaviors of the markets for them. It shows how technology contributes to the spectacular growth of this sector and how new markets for information change our economic environment. Research in economics, business strategy, and marketing has shown that information is different from other goods and services; this is especially true in competitive settings and may result in strange competitive market outcomes. For example, the book points out, unreliable information may be more expensive than reliable information; information sellers may be better off inviting competitors into their market because this may allow them to increase their prices; and competition may lead to increased media bias—but this may benefit consumers who want to discover the truth. The book explores the implications of these and other peculiarities for information buyers and sellers.
J. Bronner Simon
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813125282
- eISBN:
- 9780813135007
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813125282.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
This chapter discusses the totemistic images of blood and tradition of the public pigeon shoot at Hegins, Pennsylvania. It notes the chronicles of the animal rights movement that often mention the ...
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This chapter discusses the totemistic images of blood and tradition of the public pigeon shoot at Hegins, Pennsylvania. It notes the chronicles of the animal rights movement that often mention the protest against public pigeon shooting, which garnered international media notoriety. The chapter aims to explain the high stakes in the contested tradition by analyzing how the protests rhetorically serve to present tradition as a “problem” in the ethical modernization of society. It notes that the battle in Hegins became a staged moral drama based on a clash of rural cosmopolitan values in modern America that derives from fundamentally different views of human dominion over the land and its creatures.Less
This chapter discusses the totemistic images of blood and tradition of the public pigeon shoot at Hegins, Pennsylvania. It notes the chronicles of the animal rights movement that often mention the protest against public pigeon shooting, which garnered international media notoriety. The chapter aims to explain the high stakes in the contested tradition by analyzing how the protests rhetorically serve to present tradition as a “problem” in the ethical modernization of society. It notes that the battle in Hegins became a staged moral drama based on a clash of rural cosmopolitan values in modern America that derives from fundamentally different views of human dominion over the land and its creatures.
Verner P. Bingman
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262016636
- eISBN:
- 9780262298988
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262016636.003.0004
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Communication, social cognition, and the ability to solve problems are generally considered hallmarks of animal intelligence. The seemingly routine navigational behavior of birds, reflected in their ...
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Communication, social cognition, and the ability to solve problems are generally considered hallmarks of animal intelligence. The seemingly routine navigational behavior of birds, reflected in their ability to return to remote goal locations even when displaced to distant, unfamiliar places, seems to suggest a similarly remarkable ability. Why, then, is navigation only rarely discussed together with more traditional examples of intelligence? Two factors have nurtured this neglect: navigation can be understood as a purely computational process through which a simple algorithm can lead to goal-directed behavior, and there is uncertainty about whether the underlying neural organization of navigation has the same quality of a freely associating, distributed network, which would characterize mammalian prefrontal cortex and possibly the avian nidopallium. However, the experimental demonstration that the hippocampus is central for homing pigeons to carry out memory-based, corrective reorientation following a navigational error, and the occurrence of hippocampal path cells, which display prospective-like response properties suggesting their participation in representing future navigational outcomes, combine to show that at least hippocampal-dependent aspects of navigation rise to the level of traditional examples of animal intelligence.Less
Communication, social cognition, and the ability to solve problems are generally considered hallmarks of animal intelligence. The seemingly routine navigational behavior of birds, reflected in their ability to return to remote goal locations even when displaced to distant, unfamiliar places, seems to suggest a similarly remarkable ability. Why, then, is navigation only rarely discussed together with more traditional examples of intelligence? Two factors have nurtured this neglect: navigation can be understood as a purely computational process through which a simple algorithm can lead to goal-directed behavior, and there is uncertainty about whether the underlying neural organization of navigation has the same quality of a freely associating, distributed network, which would characterize mammalian prefrontal cortex and possibly the avian nidopallium. However, the experimental demonstration that the hippocampus is central for homing pigeons to carry out memory-based, corrective reorientation following a navigational error, and the occurrence of hippocampal path cells, which display prospective-like response properties suggesting their participation in representing future navigational outcomes, combine to show that at least hippocampal-dependent aspects of navigation rise to the level of traditional examples of animal intelligence.
Kazuo Fujita, Noriyuki Nakamura, Sumie Iwasaki, and Sota Watanabe
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199646739
- eISBN:
- 9780191745867
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646739.003.0004
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology
Avians have been shown to be highly cognitive. This chapter asks whether they are also metacognitive in two separate experimental situations. In Study 1, recognition of confidence of their immediate ...
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Avians have been shown to be highly cognitive. This chapter asks whether they are also metacognitive in two separate experimental situations. In Study 1, recognition of confidence of their immediate decision in perceptual tasks was tested. Pigeons and bantams performed a visual search to peck at a target colour among distracters. Completing the search led them to a choice between a ‘risk’ icon and a ‘safe’ icon. The ‘risk’ icon always rewarded the bird’s correct search responses by food but punished incorrect responses by a timeout. The ‘safe’ icon rewarded the response at a lower frequency irrespective of their responses. The birds chose the ‘safe’ icon more frequently after an incorrect search than after a correct search. This differential use of icons generalized to the same tasks with new stimuli in most birds, and in one pigeon to a novel line-length discrimination task. In Study 2, it was asked whether pigeons would seek a hint when they were unsure of what to do next. They performed a list learning task, in which they had to peck at three icons in an arbitrary sequence. When novel icons appeared, the birds had to find out a correct sequence by trial and error. However, on half of the trials, there was an additional ‘hint’ icon, and pecking at it marked the next icon in the sequence. Some of the birds used this ‘hint’ icon more frequently upon starting to learn novel lists and less frequently later. These results suggest that some birds could be metacognitive in some situations, although other non-metacognitive accounts were also considered.Less
Avians have been shown to be highly cognitive. This chapter asks whether they are also metacognitive in two separate experimental situations. In Study 1, recognition of confidence of their immediate decision in perceptual tasks was tested. Pigeons and bantams performed a visual search to peck at a target colour among distracters. Completing the search led them to a choice between a ‘risk’ icon and a ‘safe’ icon. The ‘risk’ icon always rewarded the bird’s correct search responses by food but punished incorrect responses by a timeout. The ‘safe’ icon rewarded the response at a lower frequency irrespective of their responses. The birds chose the ‘safe’ icon more frequently after an incorrect search than after a correct search. This differential use of icons generalized to the same tasks with new stimuli in most birds, and in one pigeon to a novel line-length discrimination task. In Study 2, it was asked whether pigeons would seek a hint when they were unsure of what to do next. They performed a list learning task, in which they had to peck at three icons in an arbitrary sequence. When novel icons appeared, the birds had to find out a correct sequence by trial and error. However, on half of the trials, there was an additional ‘hint’ icon, and pecking at it marked the next icon in the sequence. Some of the birds used this ‘hint’ icon more frequently upon starting to learn novel lists and less frequently later. These results suggest that some birds could be metacognitive in some situations, although other non-metacognitive accounts were also considered.
Mark I. Wallace
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780823281329
- eISBN:
- 9780823284955
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823281329.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Chapter 1 begins with the song of the wood thrush and then focuses on divine animals in the Bible. It examines the Gospels’ “pigeon God” in which the Spirit-bird alights on Jesus at the time of his ...
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Chapter 1 begins with the song of the wood thrush and then focuses on divine animals in the Bible. It examines the Gospels’ “pigeon God” in which the Spirit-bird alights on Jesus at the time of his baptism, signaling the unity of all things: divine life and birdlife, divinity and animality, spirit and flesh. And it argues that the Bible’s seeming prohibitions against animal deities is vitiated by Moses’ and Jesus’ ophidian shamanism that privileges snake-totemism as a source of salvation in Numbers and John, respectively. It examines intimations of “Christian animism”—the belief that all things, including so-called inanimate objects, are alive with sacred presence—in George E. “Tink” Taylor, Lynn White Jr., and the Martyrdom of Polycarp, a second-century CE avian spirit possession narrative. It concludes that insofar as the Spirit is ornithomorphic, it behooves us to care for the natural world as the site of God’s daily presence.Less
Chapter 1 begins with the song of the wood thrush and then focuses on divine animals in the Bible. It examines the Gospels’ “pigeon God” in which the Spirit-bird alights on Jesus at the time of his baptism, signaling the unity of all things: divine life and birdlife, divinity and animality, spirit and flesh. And it argues that the Bible’s seeming prohibitions against animal deities is vitiated by Moses’ and Jesus’ ophidian shamanism that privileges snake-totemism as a source of salvation in Numbers and John, respectively. It examines intimations of “Christian animism”—the belief that all things, including so-called inanimate objects, are alive with sacred presence—in George E. “Tink” Taylor, Lynn White Jr., and the Martyrdom of Polycarp, a second-century CE avian spirit possession narrative. It concludes that insofar as the Spirit is ornithomorphic, it behooves us to care for the natural world as the site of God’s daily presence.
Jessica Yeung
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789622099210
- eISBN:
- 9789882207042
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789622099210.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
Before Gao Xingjian left China in 1987, eighteen of his short stories were published. Like his essays on modernism, these stories show a similar transition from a relatively conservative to a more ...
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Before Gao Xingjian left China in 1987, eighteen of his short stories were published. Like his essays on modernism, these stories show a similar transition from a relatively conservative to a more experimental position. This change is most obviously marked by a shift from the dominance of naturalist realism to psychological realism. It is worth noting that the act of narration is presented as a conscious action in both “Stars” and “Pigeon,” although it serves different purposes respectively. Such an awareness later becomes a consistent feature in the repertoire of Gao's writings. In “Stars” it highlights the existence of a source of the story and promotes a sense of factuality, whereas in “Pigeon” it celebrates fictionality by demonstrating the narrative capacity of the artistic imagination. This view is very close to the one suggested in his call for modernism in A Preliminary Exploration.Less
Before Gao Xingjian left China in 1987, eighteen of his short stories were published. Like his essays on modernism, these stories show a similar transition from a relatively conservative to a more experimental position. This change is most obviously marked by a shift from the dominance of naturalist realism to psychological realism. It is worth noting that the act of narration is presented as a conscious action in both “Stars” and “Pigeon,” although it serves different purposes respectively. Such an awareness later becomes a consistent feature in the repertoire of Gao's writings. In “Stars” it highlights the existence of a source of the story and promotes a sense of factuality, whereas in “Pigeon” it celebrates fictionality by demonstrating the narrative capacity of the artistic imagination. This view is very close to the one suggested in his call for modernism in A Preliminary Exploration.
Dietrich Bilo
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195068207
- eISBN:
- 9780199847198
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195068207.003.0012
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Sensory and Motor Systems
Gaze stabilization in birds is primarily achieved by a stabilization of the head as manifested, for example, by the head bobbing phenomenon. During this particular kind of head movement, forward ...
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Gaze stabilization in birds is primarily achieved by a stabilization of the head as manifested, for example, by the head bobbing phenomenon. During this particular kind of head movement, forward thrusts of the head regularly alternate with hold phases in which the head is almost perfectly stabilized in space. This behavior is most often manifested by species that pick up their food from the ground while walking, such as chickens and pigeons. In the pigeon, not only does head bobbing happen during walking, but the same pattern of head movements can also be seen during landing flight. Horizontal angular head bobbing can be observed during slow-turning flights of the pigeon.Less
Gaze stabilization in birds is primarily achieved by a stabilization of the head as manifested, for example, by the head bobbing phenomenon. During this particular kind of head movement, forward thrusts of the head regularly alternate with hold phases in which the head is almost perfectly stabilized in space. This behavior is most often manifested by species that pick up their food from the ground while walking, such as chickens and pigeons. In the pigeon, not only does head bobbing happen during walking, but the same pattern of head movements can also be seen during landing flight. Horizontal angular head bobbing can be observed during slow-turning flights of the pigeon.
Sue Healy, Zoë Hodgson, and Victoria Braithwaite
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198515241
- eISBN:
- 9780191687914
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198515241.003.0006
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience
This chapter takes an ethological perspective and describes the advantages and disadvantages that having a cognitive map would confer upon an animal. It also explores a range of instances of ...
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This chapter takes an ethological perspective and describes the advantages and disadvantages that having a cognitive map would confer upon an animal. It also explores a range of instances of navigation in order to arrive at an understanding of what it is that animals in the real world appear able to do. It then evaluates a number of the extant models of navigation and the evidence for and against each of them. The data shows that most of the homing pigeon data have been more helpful for understanding compass use, than the possibilities of cognitive mapping or even of landmark use. In this review of cognitive mapping, it concentrates on the two outcomes of the possession of such a map that are considered the most valuable to a navigating animal: planning and shortcutting. It is concluded that a reasonable jury must still be undecided on the question of whether map use can be ruled in or out. Complex spatial behaviour may involve a map, but equally, it may arise from the flexible and opportunistic use of other, simpler kinds of stimuli and behaviours.Less
This chapter takes an ethological perspective and describes the advantages and disadvantages that having a cognitive map would confer upon an animal. It also explores a range of instances of navigation in order to arrive at an understanding of what it is that animals in the real world appear able to do. It then evaluates a number of the extant models of navigation and the evidence for and against each of them. The data shows that most of the homing pigeon data have been more helpful for understanding compass use, than the possibilities of cognitive mapping or even of landmark use. In this review of cognitive mapping, it concentrates on the two outcomes of the possession of such a map that are considered the most valuable to a navigating animal: planning and shortcutting. It is concluded that a reasonable jury must still be undecided on the question of whether map use can be ruled in or out. Complex spatial behaviour may involve a map, but equally, it may arise from the flexible and opportunistic use of other, simpler kinds of stimuli and behaviours.
Helmut Satz
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- March 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198853398
- eISBN:
- 9780191888052
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198853398.003.0019
- Subject:
- Physics, Soft Matter / Biological Physics, Particle Physics / Astrophysics / Cosmology
Although swarm structure can lead to negative consequences, such as the extermination of passenger pigeons and (almost) of the American buffalo, it generally greatly enhances the survival of the ...
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Although swarm structure can lead to negative consequences, such as the extermination of passenger pigeons and (almost) of the American buffalo, it generally greatly enhances the survival of the species. Today, the most numerous societies are those of insects, using a self-organized caste system.Less
Although swarm structure can lead to negative consequences, such as the extermination of passenger pigeons and (almost) of the American buffalo, it generally greatly enhances the survival of the species. Today, the most numerous societies are those of insects, using a self-organized caste system.
Edmund Fantino and Stephanie Stolarz-Fantino
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199856800
- eISBN:
- 9780199301508
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199856800.003.0021
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience
This chapter compares decision-making in humans and pigeons. The authors first highlight base-rate neglect, in which pigeons are more influenced by actual experiences and generally less influenced ...
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This chapter compares decision-making in humans and pigeons. The authors first highlight base-rate neglect, in which pigeons are more influenced by actual experiences and generally less influenced than humans by prior expectations in predicting an outcome. Next is the sunk-cost effect; here pigeons and humans are similarly likely to choose in ways consistent with investments already made rather than in ways that can maximize future reward. The authors also consider error by humans in using rules that often provide useful shortcuts when those rules are transferred inappropriately to novel contexts. And issues surrounding altruism by humans are investigated using the sharing game, which uncovers major differences between the sexes and more altruism overall than has been detected in other primate species. The authors note the potential for future work on altruism in human decision making, a topic of exceptionally broad interest.Less
This chapter compares decision-making in humans and pigeons. The authors first highlight base-rate neglect, in which pigeons are more influenced by actual experiences and generally less influenced than humans by prior expectations in predicting an outcome. Next is the sunk-cost effect; here pigeons and humans are similarly likely to choose in ways consistent with investments already made rather than in ways that can maximize future reward. The authors also consider error by humans in using rules that often provide useful shortcuts when those rules are transferred inappropriately to novel contexts. And issues surrounding altruism by humans are investigated using the sharing game, which uncovers major differences between the sexes and more altruism overall than has been detected in other primate species. The authors note the potential for future work on altruism in human decision making, a topic of exceptionally broad interest.
David Ehrenfeld
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780195148527
- eISBN:
- 9780197561867
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780195148527.003.0031
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Social Impact of Environmental Issues
One of the joys of science is its steady production of wonderful discoveries. At irregular but not intolerable intervals, it throws out to the waiting ...
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One of the joys of science is its steady production of wonderful discoveries. At irregular but not intolerable intervals, it throws out to the waiting world findings that add spice to a thousand morning newspapers and enliven the conversations of countless barbers and taxi drivers. Some branches of science are especially fruitful in their production of wonders: physics doles out an inexhaustible supply of elemental particles with clever, memorable names like quark. Medicine provides powerful antibiotics freshly isolated from weird sources such as exotic muds and frogskin, arraying them against an equally fresh crop of antibiotic-resistant microbes. Geology reveals previously unsuspected earthquake faults under major cities and dazzles us with hidden, underwater chains of volcanoes in secret, violent eruption. Even paleontology can be counted on for the latest, well-documented theory of how birds came to fly or, as I have already discussed, why the dinosaurs became extinct. And then, every ten years or so, like the return of a speeded-up Halley’s Comet, animal behavior brightens the scientific horizon with a new and incredible explanation of how animals find their way home. Not long ago, the wires were humming, or would have hummed if wires hummed anymore, with the discovery by P. Berthold and three colleagues that bird migration has a rapidly evolving genetic basis. Evidently, the inherited tendency of a population to choose a particular migratory direction can change in a few years, with the selection of another direction. Berthold, working in Radolfzell, in southwest Germany, made the most of an earlier observation: since the 1950s, increasing numbers of blackcaps, Old World warblers, have been spending the winter in Britain, traveling from their breeding grounds in Germany and Austriaduring the fall migration. Traditional wintering grounds are in the western Mediterranean countries far to the south; most blackcaps still go there in the fall. But the blackcaps wintering in Britain have done well; global warming (or chance) has ameliorated the winter climate, and the British are dedicated bird feeders. What Berthold did was to capture forty male and female blackcaps in England, transport them to Germany, breed them, and raise their young.
Less
One of the joys of science is its steady production of wonderful discoveries. At irregular but not intolerable intervals, it throws out to the waiting world findings that add spice to a thousand morning newspapers and enliven the conversations of countless barbers and taxi drivers. Some branches of science are especially fruitful in their production of wonders: physics doles out an inexhaustible supply of elemental particles with clever, memorable names like quark. Medicine provides powerful antibiotics freshly isolated from weird sources such as exotic muds and frogskin, arraying them against an equally fresh crop of antibiotic-resistant microbes. Geology reveals previously unsuspected earthquake faults under major cities and dazzles us with hidden, underwater chains of volcanoes in secret, violent eruption. Even paleontology can be counted on for the latest, well-documented theory of how birds came to fly or, as I have already discussed, why the dinosaurs became extinct. And then, every ten years or so, like the return of a speeded-up Halley’s Comet, animal behavior brightens the scientific horizon with a new and incredible explanation of how animals find their way home. Not long ago, the wires were humming, or would have hummed if wires hummed anymore, with the discovery by P. Berthold and three colleagues that bird migration has a rapidly evolving genetic basis. Evidently, the inherited tendency of a population to choose a particular migratory direction can change in a few years, with the selection of another direction. Berthold, working in Radolfzell, in southwest Germany, made the most of an earlier observation: since the 1950s, increasing numbers of blackcaps, Old World warblers, have been spending the winter in Britain, traveling from their breeding grounds in Germany and Austriaduring the fall migration. Traditional wintering grounds are in the western Mediterranean countries far to the south; most blackcaps still go there in the fall. But the blackcaps wintering in Britain have done well; global warming (or chance) has ameliorated the winter climate, and the British are dedicated bird feeders. What Berthold did was to capture forty male and female blackcaps in England, transport them to Germany, breed them, and raise their young.
Kazuo Fujita
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195377804
- eISBN:
- 9780199848461
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377804.003.0003
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter discusses three aspects of visual perception in nonhuman primates (rhesus monkeys and chimpanzees) and birds (pigeons). The first ...
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This chapter discusses three aspects of visual perception in nonhuman primates (rhesus monkeys and chimpanzees) and birds (pigeons). The first is the Ponzo illusion — we perceive the object located near the apex of the inverted V to be larger than that located farther from the apex. The second is amodal completion — we complete the portion of a figure that is partly occluded by another to perceive an intact figure. The third is spatiotemporal boundary formation — we perceive a boundary of a figure that is never explicitly presented from fragmentary information. This chapter also examines the perception of object unity in nonhuman primates.Less
This chapter discusses three aspects of visual perception in nonhuman primates (rhesus monkeys and chimpanzees) and birds (pigeons). The first is the Ponzo illusion — we perceive the object located near the apex of the inverted V to be larger than that located farther from the apex. The second is amodal completion — we complete the portion of a figure that is partly occluded by another to perceive an intact figure. The third is spatiotemporal boundary formation — we perceive a boundary of a figure that is never explicitly presented from fragmentary information. This chapter also examines the perception of object unity in nonhuman primates.
