Cross-modal recognition of familiar conspecifics in goats.

Benjamin J Pitcher,Alan G Mcelligott,Luigi Baciadonna,Elodie F Briefer

doi:10.1098/rsos.160346

Benjamin J Pitcher, Alan G Mcelligott + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160346

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Abstract

When identifying other individuals, animals may match current cues with stored information about that individual from the same sensory modality. Animals may also be able to combine current information with previously acquired information from other sensory modalities, indicating that they possess complex cognitive templates of individuals that are independent of modality. We investigated whether goats (Capra hircus) possess cross-modal representations (auditory–visual) of conspecifics. We presented subjects with recorded conspecific calls broadcast equidistant between two individuals, one of which was the caller. We found that, when presented with a stablemate and another herd member, goats looked towards the caller sooner and for longer than the non-caller, regardless of caller identity. By contrast, when choosing between two herd members, other than their stablemate, goats did not show a preference to look towards the caller. Goats show cross-modal recognition of close social partners, but not of less familiar herd members. Goats may employ inferential reasoning when identifying conspecifics, potentially facilitating individual identification based on incomplete information. Understanding the prevalence of cross-modal recognition and the degree to which different sensory modalities are integrated provides insight into how animals learn about other individuals, and the evolution of animal communication.

Highlights

Despite once being regarded as uniquely human [1], crossmodal recognition of individuals among non-human animals has received recent interest, with the aim of understanding how2017 The Authors
Subjects presented with a choice between their stablemate and a herd member (Playback Series One) looked faster (Z = 2.61, n = 51 latencies, p = 0.009; figure 2) and for a longer duration (LMM: Z = −3.37, n = 120 durations, p = 0.0008; figure 3) at the congruent compared to the incongruent stimulus goat, regardless of whether the calls played were those of the stablemate or herd member
Our results show that familiarity influences cross-modal recognition with goats showing cross-modal recognition of close social partners but not of less familiar individuals, and that goats potentially use inference when processing conspecific signals

Summary

Introduction

Animals integrate information from multiple sensory modalities. Many species are capable of identifying 2 conspecific as well as heterospecific individuals through single sensory modalities The ability to integrate identity cues across sensory modalities would demonstrate the presence of higher-order cognitive representations that are independent of modality [9,10]. This may suggest that individuals form multimodal internal representations or templates of other individuals [10]

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