Ana Vieira de Castro

Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology | IBMC · Laboratory of Animal Science

Prison-Based Dog Training Programs (PBDTPs) are gaining popularity across the world for their benefits to inmates in terms of mental and emotional health, and reduced recidivism. However, the implications for the dogs have never been studied. This study aims to assess the outcomes of PBDTPs from an animal behavior and welfare perspective through co...

Unsocialised stray dogs are dogs that live freely in urban areas with limited to no direct human contact. If left free to roam, they may present a public safety problem, since they can facilitate the spread of zoonotic diseases and resort to aggressive behaviours towards humans. If captured, their chance of rehoming into human families is low as a...

Dogs play an important role in our society as companions and work partners, and proper training of these dogs is pivotal. For companion dogs, training helps preventing or managing dog behavioral problems—the most frequently cited reason for relinquishing and euthanasia, and it promotes successful dog-human relationships and thus maximizes benefits...

Dog training methods range broadly from those using mostly positive punishment and negative reinforcement (aversive-based) to those using primarily positive reinforcement (reward-based). Although aversive-based training has been strongly criticized for negatively affecting dog welfare, there is no comprehensive research focusing on companion dogs a...

There is a growing number of dogs kept as companion animals, and the methods by which they are trained range broadly from those using mostly positive punishment and negative reinforcement (aversive-based methods) to those using primarily positive reinforcement (reward-based methods). Although the use of aversive-based methods has been strongly crit...

The use of aversive-based training methods has been suggested to negatively affect dog-human attachment. However, the scientific evidence for this claim is relatively limited. Previous studies relied upon owner reports of training methods or on potentially confounded measures of attachment (e.g., eye gaze). The aim of the present study was to compr...

We investigated the effects of interdimensional discrimination training in the temporal generalization gradient. In a matching-to-sample task, pigeons learned to choose key S after a T-s houselight sample and key NS in the absence of the houselight sample. For one group of pigeons, T = 20 s; for another, T = 10 s. Subsequently, houselight duration...

The goal of the present chapter is to open up for discussion some of the major ethical issues involved in animal-based neuroscience research. We begin by approaching the question of the moral acceptability of the use of animals in research at all, exploring the implications of three different ethical theories: contractarianism, utilitarianism, and...

Resumo Desde o início do século XX que a psicologia se tem interessado pelo estudo experimental da regula-ção temporal do comportamento, mas esta área de pesquisa, conhecida como timing, só se consolidou a partir da década de 1960. Desde então, vários procedimentos utilizados com sujeitos de diferentes espécies têm permitido identifi car as caracte...

In a temporal double bisection task, animals learn two discriminations. In the presence of Red and Green keys, responses to Red are reinforced after 1-s samples and responses to Green are reinforced after 4-s samples; in the presence of Blue and Yellow keys, responses to Blue are reinforced after 4-s samples and responses to Yellow are reinforced a...

In the time-left procedure, a task used to study prospective timing, animals choose between two stimuli that signal different delays to reinforcement. Trials begin with one stimulus signaling C seconds to reinforcement and, at different moments since its onset, another stimulus, signaling S seconds to reinforcement, with C>S, is introduced. Optimal...

Birdsong is a sexually selected and culturally transmitted multidimensional signal. Sexually selected traits are generally assumed to indicate condition. In oscine songbirds, song is learned early in life. The developmental stress hypothesis proposed that poor early developmental condition can adversely affect song learning. The quality and accurac...