Imitative learning in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) using the bidirectional control procedure

Theoretical models of social learning predict that animals should copy others in variable environments where resource availability is relatively unpredictable. Although short-term exposure to unpredictable conditions in adulthood has been shown to encourage social learning, virtually nothing is known concerning whether and how developmental conditions affect social information use. Unpredictable food availability increases levels of the stress hormone corticosterone (CORT). In birds, CORT can be transferred from the mother to her eggs, and have downstream behavioural effects. We tested how pre-natal CORT elevation through egg injection, and chick post-natal development in unpredictable food conditions, affected social information use in adult Japanese quail ( Coturnix japonica ). Pre-natal CORT exposure encouraged quail to copy the foraging decisions of demonstrators in video playbacks, whereas post-natal food unpredictability led individuals to avoid the demonstrated food source. An individual's exposure to stress and uncertainty during development can thus affect its use of social foraging information in adulthood. However, the stressor's nature and developmental timing determine whether an adult will tend to copy conspecifics or do the opposite. Developmental effects on social information use might thus help explain individual differences in social foraging tactics and leadership.

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“…Furthermore, quail can imitate conspecifics to solve a novel foraging problem [13] and recognize conspecifics on video [14].…”

Section: Materials and Methods (A) Model Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pre- and post-natal stress have opposing effects on social information use

2013

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“…The apparatus used in the present experiment (see Figure 1) combined features from the apparatus used in similar imitative learning studies involving Japanese quail (Akins et al, 2002;Akins & Zentall, 1996). It consisted of two large modular chambers (Colbourn Instruments, Model H10-11R-TC, Lehigh Valley, PA) placed side by side.…”

Section: Apparatusmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Later research, however, suggested that the direction that observers pushed the pole may have been influenced by odor cues left by the demonstrators on the side of the pole that they pushed, rather than by the visual observation of the demonstrators (Mitchell, Heyes, Gardner, & Dawson 1999). Akins, Klein, and Zentall (2002) modified this procedure to test for imitation in Japanese quail, a species less likely to be influenced by odor cues. In their design, observer quail viewed a demonstrator push a feeder-blocking screen to the left or right of a feeder opening.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Imitation of a two-action sequence by pigeons

Nguyen

Klein

Zentall

2005

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

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Developmental psychologists have described imitation as a process that suggests perspective-taking abilities. However, imitative behavior has been found in animals, which are generally not considered capable of taking the perspective of another. Previous studies with birds have demonstrated the imitation of a single response (sometimes referred to as action-level imitation). In the present experiment, we examined the extent to which pigeons would imitate an unfamiliar sequence of two behaviors (sometimes referred to as program-level imitation). Our results indicate that, although there are individual differences, pigeons show a significant tendency to match a demonstrated sequence of behavior involving, first, a response to a treadle (pecking at it or stepping on it) and, second, pushing aside a screen that blocks access to food (a left-vs.-right push).

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“…In two, the task proved inappropriate for demonstrating social learning in the first place (rats, Heyes et al 1994, Mitchell et al 1999chimpanzees, Tennie et al 2006). Of the remaining five non-human studies, four have generated negative results in the emulation condition ( Japanese quail, Akins et al 2002;starlings, Fawcett et al 2002;rhesus macaques, Subiaul et al 2004;chimpanzees, Hopper et al 2007). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observational learning in chimpanzees and children studied through ‘ghost’ conditions

et al. 2008

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Emulation has been distinguished from imitation as a form of observational learning because it focuses not on the model's actions but on the action's environmental results. Whether a species emulates, imitates or displays only simpler observational learning is expected to have profound implications for its capacity for cultural transmission. Chimpanzees' observational learning has been suggested to be primarily emulative, but this is an inference largely based upon low fidelity copying in experiments when comparing chimpanzees with humans rather than direct testing. Here we test directly for emulation learning by chimpanzees and children using a 'ghost' condition in which a sliding door obscuring a reward was moved to left or right with no agent visible, a context associated with the only published evidence for emulation learning in a nonhuman species (pigeons). Both children and chimpanzees matched the observed direction of ghost door movement on their first test trial. This is the first evidence for emulation in a non-human primate in the restricted context of a ghost condition. However, only the children continued to match in later trials. Individuals of both species continued to match with 99% or better fidelity when viewing a conspecific model operates the door. We conclude that chimpanzees can and will display emulation learning when the task is as simple as the present one, which contrasts with a failure to do so in a more complex manipulative task tested earlier. However, even with a simple task, emulation alone creates only fleeting fidelity compared with the opportunity to copy a conspecific, when considerable conformity is displayed.

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Imitative learning in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) using the bidirectional control procedure

Cited by 49 publications

References 15 publications

Pre- and post-natal stress have opposing effects on social information use

Pre- and post-natal stress have opposing effects on social information use

Imitation of a two-action sequence by pigeons

Observational learning in chimpanzees and children studied through ‘ghost’ conditions

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