St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Biology (School of)
  • Biology
  • Biology Theses
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Biology (School of)
  • Biology
  • Biology Theses
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Biology (School of)
  • Biology
  • Biology Theses
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Timing and episodic-like memory in the rufous hummingbird

Thumbnail
View/Open
RachaelMarshallPhDThesis.pdf (3.217Mb)
Date
2013
Author
Marshall, Rachael
Supervisor
Healy, Sue
Brown, Gillian R.
Funder
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Metadata
Show full item record
Altmetrics Handle Statistics
Abstract
How animals remember past events has recently received a lot of attention, as researchers search for an animal model of episodic memory, the system used by humans to remember their pasts and imagine the future. It has now been repeatedly demonstrated that animals can remember what they did where and when, although how similar these memories might be to episodic memory remains controversial. Another broader point highlighted by this research is the variety of different ways an event’s location can be specified in time, and how little we know of how animals in the real world organise their behaviour in time. In this thesis I had two aims: to expand our understanding of the timing systems used by a free-living animal to organise its behaviour and, to look for novel ways of assessing the similarities and differences between animal and human memory. To this end, I investigated the timing abilities of free-living rufous hummingbirds Selasphorus rufus, in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada. In particular, I looked at the cues birds use to learn floral refill schedules, the types of temporal rules birds could learn, and the relationships between their memories for What, Where, and When. I also adapted a test used to study bird memory for use with human participants. Together, the studies presented in this thesis suggest two potentially useful future avenues for research into human episodic memory: investigating whether animal memory is subject to similar distortions to human memory, and looking at human memory under similar situations to those used to test animals. This research also highlights the variety of temporal systems hummingbirds can use to guide their behaviour, and points to the study of timing as a potentially fruitful arena for investigating how an animal’s cognitive abilities can be predicted by its environment.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
Description
Electronic version excludes material for which permission has not been granted by the rights holder
Collections
  • Biology Theses
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3610

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter