User:HayleyMercer/sandbox

This is my user sandbox page for Animal Behaviour!

Article Evaluation: Classical Conditioning

• Everything in the article is relevant to the subject. The article includes definitions of unconditioned stimuli/conditioned stimuli, various types of classical conditioning and many theories associated with Pavlov's findings.
• The table of contents was distracting when I first opened the article, perhaps because it is so lengthy and takes up a lot of space on the page. However, I understand the role of the table contents and deem it necessary to the article.
• Overall, the article was neutral. However, there is one statement that says that evidence may not support the Rescorla hypothesis. This statement is cited but I think the editors should have included why it may not be supported to give the readers some clarity.
• Viewpoints were equally distributed throughout the article.
• I checked a few of the references and there were some issues. The 24th reference was not working and I could not access it. In addition, I would not consider the first source to be credible. The information is taken from About.com in a sort of magazine article. I would find a better source for this information such as a scientific article. Overall, most of the references were reliable and credible with no issues.
• There were no citations in the introduction paragraph. I would include at least 1 citation per paragraph, especially with facts I am using from various sources.
• Under Pavlov's research, it states that Pavlov called the anticipated salivation response in dogs the "Psychic secretion" but there is no citation.
• On the talk page of the article, there is ongoing edits to clarify definitions of various classical conditioning paradigms.
• The photographs and illustrations in the article were a very helpful aid to understand the various learning extinction and acquisition concepts.
• Overall, the information in the article is up to date and fives a very informative overview of classical conditioning concepts and other related information.

Add to an Article

• Added to Classical Conditioning article - further explained the extinction process.

Assigned Article Topic - Vocalization in Banded penguins

• I plan to contribute information to an existing wikipedia page on banded penguins
• The existing page contains information regarding taxonomy, types or species, habitat range and fossil records.
• There is no information on the existing page regarding vocalization in various species of banded penguins and how this contributes to their social behaviour
• I plan to explain how/why banded penguins use vocalizations and contact calls and how they differ among species of banded penguins

Points based on references:

• penguins use vocalizations for localization, socialization, and recognizing conspecifics and/or mates.

• 4 different types of vocalizations: contact calls, agonistic calls, ecstatic display songs and mutual display songs (seen in adult penguins)
• African, Humboldt and Magellanic species are very closely related. However, even humans can tell the distinctive difference between their ecstatic display songs.
• Contact calls are most often used when banded penguins form flocks at sea as they travel and forage. It is easy to get out of contact with the group while diving for food so they use contact calls to locate each other when they are out of sight (maintain group cohesion).
• There is evidence that contact calls are individually distinctive.

• Banded penguins breed in large colonies and are nest builders (unlike emperor penguins)
• Evidence that suggests body size is related to the frequency of the vocalizations
• Studied display songs in Humboldt and Magellanic penguin species
• Heavier birds vocalize longer and at lower pitches
• source filter theory of vocal production

• African penguin (one of the 4 species types)

• Makes reference to PLOS article
• Discusses the African penguin and how they communicate

• Contains some facts about penguins and their vocalizations
• Might be a useful source (check reliability)

• Discusses the role vocalizations play for nesting penguins such as banded penguin species
• Acoustic recognition of parents as they call from the nest; young penguin can recognize the call while in a crowd

Briefer, E. F., Te amanti, F., & McElligo , A. G. (2015). Emotions in goats: mapping physiological, behavioural and vocal profiles. Animal Behaviour, 99, 131-143. 

Article Outline

Heading: Introduction of vocalization - what is it, how it's produced, etc. (brief summary)

Sub-header 1 : Different types of vocalizations

Sub-header 2:

• contact calls
• agonistic calls
• ecstatic display songs
• mutual display songs

Sub-header 1: Reasons for vocalizing

Sub-header 2:

• communication
• recognition
• maintaining group cohesion

Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RfmpesIEbQ contact calls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RfmpesIEbQ agonistic calls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni5B3GSOLZ8 ecstatic display song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4lxNixEQ2A African penguin individuality

Existing Article Evaluation

• May want to update the "lead" section of the existing article.
• First sentence is awkward. Might want to change it to "banded penguins belong to the genus ___".
• Perhaps the "Range" heading should come after the "Species" heading instead of before; it makes more sense to talk about the genus name and then the species name immediately after so that systematics section is concluded.
• Update "Range" to "Habitat" and explain in more detail.
• Add information about vocalizations

Vocalizations

Banded penguins use vocalizations for localization, socialization and to allow recognition for conspecifics or mates. Vocalizations in birds are produced by vibrations of the syrinx, located at the bottom of the trachea. These penguins are sometimes referred to as "jack-ass" penguins, since their vocalizations tend to sound similar to a donkey braying. Vocalizations in adult penguins can be classified into 4 distinct categories based on its acoustic properties and the behavioural context in which a vocalization is produced. The 4 categories of vocalizations include contact calls, agonistic calls, ecstatic display songs or mutual display songs .

Contact calls

Contact calls are vocalizations used primarily to maintain unity within a social group, to identify ones self and to maintain contact with a mate. Vocal individuality has evolved in banded penguins due to their large social group sizes. Contact calls are frequently used by banded penguins to form large flocks when foraging at sea. Since it is easy to become separated while diving for food, these penguins use contact calls to stay in contact with each other when they are out of sight. A contact call can relay an excess of information about an individual penguin, including the penguins sex, age, social status within a group and emotional state.

Agonistic calls

Agonistic calls are vocalizations used when a banded penguin is demonstrating agonistic behaviour, which is characterized by aggressive interactions or fighting. Typically, banded penguins vocalize agonistic calls when defending a territory, such as their nest, against conspecifics. For nesting penguin species, such as banded penguins, the mating pair and their offspring are the only individuals allowed on their nest. Thus, any conspecific from the large colony that intrudes this territory will be a threat and a agonistic call will be produced.

Display songs

There are two types of display songs vocalized by banded penguins; ecstatic display songs and mutual display songs. Ecstatic display songs are the loudest and most complex vocalization performed by banded penguins. They are composed of a sequence of distinct acoustic syllables that combine to form a complete phrase and are often displayed during their breeding season. Despite the close relatedness of banded penguin species, the ecstatic display calls of African, Humboldt and Magellanic penguins are distinctly recognizable, even to human listeners. Typically, females respond more strongly to ecstatic display calls from their mates than from other conspecifics. Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that ecstatic display songs may convey vocal individuality through the type of syllables the song produces. This vocal individuality can convey information such as body size and weight, since heavier penguins typically emit longer and lower-pitched vocalizations. Mutual display songs are performed by mates at their nests.

Source-filter Theory

The source-filter theory is a framework used for studying the communication of mammalian animals through vocalizations. According to this theory, acoustic calls are produced by a source and then must be filtered to remove certain frequencies or leave others unchanged, which produces vocal individuality. In mammals, the source is the vibrations in the larynx and the filter is the super laryngeal vocal tract. However, birds use a different source and filter to produce vocalizations. They use a structure called the syrinx as their source of vibrations and their trachea acts as the filter. The source-filter theory has become increasingly popular to study birds, such as various species of banded penguins. This theory can be used to investigate how acoustic variation and individualilty within a set of closely related species is attributed to distinct morphological differences in their vocal organs. The equivalence of the source-filter theory in humans is the source-filter model of speech production.