OOIR: Observatory of International Research

Papers

(The median citation count of Animal Cognition is 4. The table below lists those papers that are above that threshold based on CrossRef citation counts [max. 250 papers]. The publications cover those that have been published in the past four years, i.e., from 2021-11-01 to 2025-11-01.)

Article	Citations
Nest sanitation as an effective defence against brood parasitism	56
Correction to: If horses had toes: demonstrating mirror self recognition at group level in Equus caballus	29
Learning to anticipate mate presence shapes individual sex roles in the hermaphroditic pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis	25
Does owner handedness influence paw preference in dogs?	23
Assessment of predation risk through conspecific cues by anuran larvae	23
House sparrows use learned information selectively based on whether reward is hidden or visible	22
Spaced training enhances equine learning performance	22
Thinking about order: a review of common processing of magnitude and learned orders in animals	22
“Cognition in marine mammals: the strength of flexibility in adapting to marine life”	20
Life is in motion (through a chick’s eye)	18
Pet dogs (Canis familiaris) re-engage humans after joint activity	18
Disentangling help-seeking and giving up: differential human-directed gazing by dogs in a modified unsolvable task paradigm	18
Mutual mother–pup vocal recognition in the highly colonial Cape fur seal: evidence of discrimination of calls with a high acoustic similarity	17
Grouping rule in tadpole: is quantity more or size assortment more important?	16
Horses discriminate between human facial and vocal expressions of sadness and joy	16
Cognitive flexibility in a Tanganyikan bower-building cichlid, Aulonocranus dewindti	16
Spot the odd one out: do snake pictures capture macaques’ attention more than other predators?	16
Injury shortens life expectancy in ants and affects some risk-related decisions of workers	16
Sex differences in social buffering and social contagion of alarm responses in zebrafish	16
A new protocol for investigating visual two-choice discrimination learning in lizards	14
Learning and organization of within-session sequences by pigeons (Columba livia)	14
Both age and experience are important for successful problem solving in juvenile fawn-footed mosaic-tailed rats Melomys cervinipes	14
Lessons learned in animal acoustic cognition through comparisons with humans	14
On being a Hydra with, and without, a nervous system: what do neurons add?	14
The PROUST hypothesis: the embodiment of olfactory cognition	14

What drives horse success at following human-given cues? An investigation of handler familiarity and living conditions	13
A promising novel judgement bias test to evaluate affective states in dogs (Canis familiaris)	13
Cognitive control of song production by humpback whales	13
A comparative study of mirror self-recognition in three corvid species	12
Context specificity of latent inhibition in the snail Cornu aspersum	12
Penguins perceive variations of source- and filter-related vocal parameters of species-specific vocalisations	12
Incrementing non-matching- but not matching-to-sample is rapidly learned in an automated version of the odor span task	12
Decision making under risk: framing effects in pigeon risk preferences	12
Impact of environmental complexity and stocking density on affective states of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)	12
Smart sharks: a review of chondrichthyan cognition	12
Cue polarization and representation in mouse home base behaviors	11
Behavioral laterality is correlated with problem-solving performance in a songbird	11
Overlooked evidence for semantic compositionality and signal reduction in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)	11
Left or right, that is the question: use of egocentric frame of reference and the right-eye advantage for understanding gestural signs in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)	11
Impact of exploration behavior, aptitude for pellet consumption, and the predation practice on the performance in consecutive live prey foraging tests in a piscivorous species	11
Orientation by environmental geometry and feature cues in the green and black poison frog (Dendrobates auratus)	10
Context-dependent use of olfactory cues by foragers of Vespula germanica social wasps	10
Evidence of successive negative contrast in terrestrial toads (Rhinella arenarum): central or peripheral effect?	10
Testing use of the first multi-partner cognitive enrichment devices by a group of male bottlenose dolphins	10
Host parent responses to heterospecific parasite nestling alarm calls are independent of past and current experience with experimental brood parasitism	10
Emulative learning of a two-step task in free-ranging domestic pigs	9
After 150 years of watching: is there a need for synthetic ethology?	9
Volumetric and connectivity assessment of the caudate nucleus in California sea lions and coyotes	9
Performance on inhibitory tasks does not relate to handedness in several small groups of Callitrichids	9
Are you better than me? Social comparisons in carrion crows (Corvus corone)	9
Can rats and ants exchange information between the horizontal and vertical domains?	9
Individual recognition and long-term memory of inanimate interactive agents and humans in dogs	9
African jewel fish (Hemichromis bimaculatus) distinguish individual faces based on their unique iridophore patterns	9
Basal cognition: shifting the center of gravity (again)	9
Novel object recognition in Octopus maya	8
Wild skuas can use acoustic cues to locate hidden food	8
First record of geophagy in Jungle Babbler (Turdoides striata) prior to egg-laying: an instinct for calcium supplement	8
Repeated testing does not confound cognitive performance in the Western Australian magpie (Cracticus tibicen dorsalis)	8
Through the eyes of a hunter: assessing perception and exclusion performance in ground-hornbills	8
Varieties of visual navigation in insects	8
Tolerant macaque species are less impulsive and reactive	8
Nest box entrance hole size can influence nest site selection and nest defence behaviour in Japanese tits	8
Cognition of the manatee: past research and future developments	8
Behavioural synchronization and social referencing of dogs and humans: walking in dyad vs in group	8
Count-based decision-making in mice: numerosity vs. stimulus control	8
Plasticity for the kin and conspecific preferences in the frog tadpoles (Rana ornativentris)	8
The deterrent effects of individual monoterpene odours on the dietary decisions of African elephants	8
Visual perception of emotion cues in dogs: a critical review of methodologies	8
Bold and bright: shy and supple? The effect of habitat type on personality–cognition covariance in the Aegean wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii)	8
Mirror self-recognition in gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla): a review and evaluation of mark test replications and variants	8
Social experience drives the development of holistic face processing in paper wasps	8
Quantity discrimination by kittens of the domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus)	7
Assessing the performance of brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) on the Mechner counting procedure	7
Interspecific differences in developmental mode determine early cognitive abilities in teleost fish	7
Context-effect bias in capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.): exploring decoy influences in a value-based food choice task	7

Visual categories and concepts in the avian brain	7
Juvenile vervet monkeys rely on others when responding to danger	7
Meowing dogs: can dogs recognize cats in a cross-modal violation of expectancy task (Canis familiaris)?	7
Innovative problem-solving in a small, wild canid	7
Domestication effects on social information transfer in chickens	7
Gender differences in animal cognition science	7
Slowly walking down to the more food: relative quantity discrimination in African spurred tortoises (Centrochelys sulcata)	7
Active oscillations in microscale navigation	7
Correction: Do chimpanzees see a face on Mars? A search for face pareidolia in chimpanzees	7
Puppies in the problem-solving paradigm: quick males and social females	7
Adjustment in the point-following behaviour of free-ranging dogs – roles of social petting and informative-deceptive nature of cues	6
Mice make temporal inferences about novel locations based on previously learned spatiotemporal contingencies	6
Mirror image stimulation could reverse social-isolation-induced aggressiveness in the high-level subsocial lactating spider	6
Vocal signals with different social or non-social contexts in two wild rodent species (Mus caroli and Rattus losea)	6
Color is necessary for face discrimination in the Northern paper wasp, Polistes fuscatus	6
Orcas remember what to copy: a deferred and interference-resistant imitation study	6
The current state of carnivore cognition	6
Two-action task, testing imitative social learning in kea (Nestor notabilis)	6
Grey wolves (Canis lupus) discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar human voices	6
What is it like to be a choanoflagellate? Sensation, processing and behavior in the closest unicellular relatives of animals	6
First acoustic evidence of signature whistle production by spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris)	6
An investigation on the olfactory capabilities of domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)	6
Horses form cross-modal representations of adults and children	6
A small step for rats alters spatial behavior: rats on a bi-level arena explore each level separately	6
Object use in communication of semi-wild chimpanzees	6
Oscillatory extraction behaviour suggests functional attributes of crows’ hooked-stick tools	6
Effects of predation risk on the sensory asymmetries and defensive strategies of Bufotes balearicus tadpoles	6
Nest size matters: common cuckoos prefer to parasitize larger nests of Oriental reed warblers	6
Geckos differentiate self from other using both skin and faecal chemicals: evidence towards self-recognition?	6
Does quantity matter to a stingless bee?	6
Breed group differences in the unsolvable problem task: herding dogs prefer their owner, while solitary hunting dogs seek stranger proximity	6
Social cognition and metacognition in great apes: a theory	6
When should we ascribe sentience to animals? A commentary on “Hermit crabs, shells and sentience” (Elwood 2022)	6
Context-dependent and seasonal fluctuation in bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) vocalizations	5
Mother–pup recognition mechanisms in Australia sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) using uni- and multi-modal approaches	5
The influence of visual illusion perception on numerosity estimation could be evolutionarily conserved: exploring the numerical Delboeuf illusion in humans (Homo sapiens) and fish (Poecilia reticulata	5
“The song remains the same”: not really! Vocal flexibility in the song of the indris	5
Detecting surface changes in a familiar tune: exploring pitch, tempo and timbre	5
On the role of training in delay of gratification paradigms: a reply to Pepperberg 2022	5
Use of anvils by the Great Kiskadee (Aves, Tyrannidae): a description based on citizen science data	5
Prior experience modifies acquisition trajectories via response–strategy sampling	5
Perceptual grouping and detection of trial-unique emergent structures by pigeons	5
Why wait to mark? Possible reasons behind latency from olfactory exploration to overmarking in four African equid species	5
Language preference in the domestic dog (Canis familiaris)	5
Intentional gestural communication amongst red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus)	5
Llamas use social information from conspecifics and humans to solve a spatial detour task	5
Heterospecific eavesdropping on disturbance cues of a treefrog	5
Star finches Neochmia ruficauda have a visual preference for white dot patterns: a possible case of trypophilia	5
Stepwise learning of compound multidimensional visual stimuli by sorting out the dimensions of which they are composed in pigeons	5
Bioelectric networks: the cognitive glue enabling evolutionary scaling from physiology to mind	5
Use of the sun compass by monocularly occluded homing pigeons in a food localisation task in an outdoor arena	5
Why an animal needs a brain	5
Does social motivation mitigate fear caused by a sudden sound in horses?	5
Searching for nothing: placing zero on the temporal continuum	4
The effect of repeated testing on judgement bias in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris)	4
Under pressure: the interaction between high-stakes contexts and individual differences in decision-making in humans and non-human species	4
Stressfulness of the design influences consistency of cognitive measures and their correlation with animal personality traits in wild mice (Mus musculus)	4
Zebrafish excel in number discrimination under an operant conditioning paradigm	4
Naïve chicks do not prefer objects with stable body orientation, though they may prefer behavioural variability	4
Spontaneous object recognition in capuchin monkeys: assessing the effects of sex, familiarization phase and retention delay	4
Play face in Japanese macaques reflects the sender’s play motivation	4
Cetacean responses to violation of expectation paradigm in a free-swim context	4
Do you see what I see? Testing horses’ ability to recognise real-life objects from 2D computer projections	4
Azure-winged Magpies would rather avoid losses than strive for benefits based on reciprocal altruism	4
Animal cognition, past present and future, a 25th anniversary special issue	4
Well-developed spatial reversal learning abilities in harbor seals (Phoca vitulina)	4
Frog embryos use multiple levels of temporal pattern in risk assessment for vibration-cued escape hatching	4
The use of an intermittent schedule of reinforcement to evaluate detection dogs’ generalization from smokeless-powder	4
Captivity and habituation to humans raise curiosity in vervet monkeys	4
Variation in inhibitory control does not influence social rank, foraging efficiency, or risk taking, in red junglefowl females	4
Why it hurts: with freedom comes the biological need for pain	4
Correction to: Does inequity aversion depend on a frustration effect? A test with capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella)	4
Come with me: experimental evidence for intentional recruitment in Tonkean macaques	4
A comparison of personality traits of gifted word learner and typical border collies	4
Congratulations to Animal Cognition on its 50th birthday! Some thoughts on the last 50 years of animal cognition research	4
Structural environmental enrichment and the way it is offered influence cognitive judgement bias and anxiety-like behaviours in zebrafish	4
Navigational roots of spatial and temporal memory structure	4
Correlations begin at home: drivers of co-occurrence patterns in personality and cognitive ability in wild populations of zebrafish	4
Correction: Two-action task, testing imitative social learning in kea (Nestor notabilis)	4