An Exploration of Rhythm Perception in African Penguins (Spheniscus demersus)

Rhythmic properties in penguin vocalizations may be unique to individuals. Rhythm perception is a cognitive ability previously thought to be exclusive to vocal-learning species who have the neurological complexities required to mimic conspecific and heterospecific vocalizations. Discovering rhythm perception in penguins would provide insight on penguins’ ability to recognize kin using auditory cues, and discount theories constraining rhythm perception to vocal-learning animals. The goal of this study was to learn if African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) could perceive changes in rhythm using a habituation-dishabituation paradigm. Subjects were 32-38 African penguins housed at the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester, NY. Penguins were presented with four rhythms at 4 kHz and head turns per bird were counted in 24 sessions. Each session was composed of ten familiarization trials followed by six test trials that alternated between the familiar and novel rhythm. The number of head turns per bird did not significantly increase from the last three familiarization trials to the first novel test trial. Results did not provide evidence for auditory rhythm perception in penguins. This may be because subjects met the habituation criterion in only 9 out of 24 sessions or because of other limitations of the method. It is also possible that a habituation-dishabituation methodology was not ideal for discovering rhythm perception in penguins. More research on auditory rhythm perception in penguins is needed

Visual Discrimination of Geometric and Complex 2D Shapes in Goldfish (Carassius auratus)

Visual object recognition allows fish to locate prey, avoid predators, recognize individuals, choose mates, and navigate. Previous studies have examined shape discrimination in goldfish, but without controlling multiple dimensions of the stimuli to closely examine which features are salient for fish. The goal of this study was to explore features that goldfish (Carassius auratus) may use to discriminate between 2D geometric and complex shapes (e.g., length, width, area, diameter, symmetry). We assessed shape perception in fish using a two-alternative forced choice task. Five stimulus pairs were presented to goldfish: (1) a solid circle and rectangle matched for area; (2) a solid circle and rectangle matched for length; (3) a solid circle and square matched for length and width; (4) an unfilled circle and four-blade fan matched for diameter, area, and symmetry; and (5) two concentric unfilled circles and six-blade fan matched for diameter, area, and symmetry. Fish were tested using the ‘correction method’ in Experiment 1 and the ‘non-correction method’ in Experiment 2. Goldfish visually discriminated between the geometric shapes (stimulus pairs 1-3), but failed to discriminate between complex shapes (stimulus pair 5). Only the fish in Experiment 1 learned to discriminate between the complex shapes in stimulus pair 4. This study provided preliminary evidence for shape discrimination in goldfish when stimulus features are controlled. However, further work is needed to determine whether goldfish use a single feature that changes from stimulus pair to stimulus pair, a combination of features, or holistic processing to discriminate among shape stimuli

Jardins per a la salut

Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona. Ensenyament: Grau de Farmàcia. Assignatura: Botànica farmacèutica. Curs: 2014-2015. Coordinadors: Joan Simon, Cèsar Blanché i Maria Bosch.Els materials que aquí es presenten són el recull de les fitxes botàniques de 128 espècies presents en el Jardí Ferran Soldevila de l’Edifici Històric de la UB. Els treballs han estat realitzats manera individual per part dels estudiants dels grups M-3 i T-1 de l’assignatura Botànica Farmacèutica durant els mesos de febrer a maig del curs 2014-15 com a resultat final del Projecte d’Innovació Docent «Jardins per a la salut: aprenentatge servei a Botànica farmacèutica» (codi 2014PID-UB/054). Tots els treballs s’han dut a terme a través de la plataforma de GoogleDocs i han estat tutoritzats pels professors de l’assignatura. L’objectiu principal de l’activitat ha estat fomentar l’aprenentatge autònom i col·laboratiu en Botànica farmacèutica. També s’ha pretès motivar els estudiants a través del retorn de part del seu esforç a la societat a través d’una experiència d’Aprenentatge-Servei, deixant disponible finalment el treball dels estudiants per a poder ser consultable a través d’una Web pública amb la possibilitat de poder-ho fer in-situ en el propi jardí mitjançant codis QR amb un smartphone