Behavioral Cues, Acoustic Cues, and Working Memory in Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) During a Behavioral Innovation Task

Author

• Raymond John Van Steyn, CUNY Graduate CenterFollow

Date of Degree

6-2026

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Psychology

Advisor

Diana Reiss

Committee Members

Marcelo Magnasco

Martin Chodorow

Peter Serrano

Subject Categories

Animal Studies | Cognitive Psychology | Cognitive Science | Comparative Psychology

Keywords

Innovate, behavioral synchrony, communication, memory, cognition

Abstract

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) frequently engage in synchronous behavior and can be trained to ‘do something different,’ both individually and with a partner. However, the mechanisms supporting behavioral synchrony in these contexts remain unclear. In Study 1, we examined behavioral and acoustic cues used by dolphin dyads during a ‘do something different in tandem’ task. Video analysis revealed a leader–follower dynamic in which one dolphin initiated a behavior that the partner then matched, consistent with partially shared decision‑making models observed in other social species. Acoustic analyses showed increased vocal activity in tandem sessions relative to individual sessions, suggesting that vocal cues may support behavioral synchrony in some way. However, when dolphins wore body‑mounted hydrophones they produced few vocalizations despite performing the task successfully, indicating reliance on a hierarchy of cues in which behavioral cues may substitute acoustic cues when necessary.

In Study 2, we assessed how working memory constraints affected performance on the individual version of the task. Dolphins were more likely to generate ‘different’ behaviors early in each session, with success declining as additional behaviors had to be maintained in working memory to avoid repetition. Although this pattern was not consistent across individuals, group‑level analyses suggest that recently performed behaviors are encoded and retained in dolphins’ working memory. To our knowledge, this is the first use of a behavioral innovation task to assess working memory in a nonhuman species.

Recommended Citation

Van Steyn, Raymond John, "Behavioral Cues, Acoustic Cues, and Working Memory in Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) During a Behavioral Innovation Task" (2026). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6709