Successive negative contrast in a bird: starlings’ behaviour after unpredictable negative changes in food quality

In a successive negative contrast (SNC) procedure, subjects used to a familiar contingency are unexpectedly shifted to a less favourable one. Typically, mammals in the new condition show lower anticipatory and consummatory responses than controls that only experience the low contingency, but similar experiments in birds have failed to show SNC. We investigated SNC in […]

Changing Conceptions of Care Humanization of the Companion Animal-Human Relationship

This paper explores the changing nature of companion animal-human relationships in Britain over the past 30 years. This period has seen rapid change in attitudes and practices towards companion animals, with notable advances in medical treatment, nutrition, and understanding of non-human animal behavior, as well as re-evaluations of the position of animals within the home. […]