Social demonstration of colour preference improves the learning of associated demonstrated actions
Abstract We studied how different types of social demonstration improve house sparrows' (Passer domesticus) success in solving a foraging task that requires both operant learning (opening covers) and discrimination learning (preferring covers of the rewarding colour). We provided learners with...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer
2024-04-01
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| Series: | Animal Cognition |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-024-01865-7 |
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| author | Noam Zurek Na’ama Aljadeff Donya Khoury Lucy M. Aplin Arnon Lotem |
| author_facet | Noam Zurek Na’ama Aljadeff Donya Khoury Lucy M. Aplin Arnon Lotem |
| author_sort | Noam Zurek |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract We studied how different types of social demonstration improve house sparrows' (Passer domesticus) success in solving a foraging task that requires both operant learning (opening covers) and discrimination learning (preferring covers of the rewarding colour). We provided learners with either paired demonstration (of both cover opening and colour preference), action-only demonstration (of opening white covers only), or no demonstration (a companion bird eating without covers). We found that sparrows failed to learn the two tasks with no demonstration, and learned them best with a paired demonstration. Interestingly, the action of cover opening was learned faster with paired rather than action-only demonstration despite being equally demonstrated in both. We also found that only with paired demonstration, the speed of operant (action) learning was related to the demonstrator’s level of activity. Colour preference (i.e. discrimination learning) was eventually acquired by all sparrows that learned to open covers, even without social demonstration of colour preference. Thus, adding a demonstration of colour preference was actually more important for operant learning, possibly as a result of increasing the similarity between the demonstrated and the learned tasks, thereby increasing the learner’s attention to the actions of the demonstrator. Giving more attention to individuals in similar settings may be an adaptive strategy directing social learners to focus on ecologically relevant behaviours and on tasks that are likely to be learned successfully. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c5726037a8df4080847e98175319b317 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1435-9456 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-04-01 |
| publisher | Springer |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animal Cognition |
| spelling | doaj-art-c5726037a8df4080847e98175319b3172025-01-26T12:43:59ZengSpringerAnimal Cognition1435-94562024-04-0127111610.1007/s10071-024-01865-7Social demonstration of colour preference improves the learning of associated demonstrated actionsNoam Zurek0Na’ama Aljadeff1Donya Khoury2Lucy M. Aplin3Arnon Lotem4School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv UniversitySchool of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv UniversitySchool of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv UniversityDepartment of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Science, University of ZurichSchool of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv UniversityAbstract We studied how different types of social demonstration improve house sparrows' (Passer domesticus) success in solving a foraging task that requires both operant learning (opening covers) and discrimination learning (preferring covers of the rewarding colour). We provided learners with either paired demonstration (of both cover opening and colour preference), action-only demonstration (of opening white covers only), or no demonstration (a companion bird eating without covers). We found that sparrows failed to learn the two tasks with no demonstration, and learned them best with a paired demonstration. Interestingly, the action of cover opening was learned faster with paired rather than action-only demonstration despite being equally demonstrated in both. We also found that only with paired demonstration, the speed of operant (action) learning was related to the demonstrator’s level of activity. Colour preference (i.e. discrimination learning) was eventually acquired by all sparrows that learned to open covers, even without social demonstration of colour preference. Thus, adding a demonstration of colour preference was actually more important for operant learning, possibly as a result of increasing the similarity between the demonstrated and the learned tasks, thereby increasing the learner’s attention to the actions of the demonstrator. Giving more attention to individuals in similar settings may be an adaptive strategy directing social learners to focus on ecologically relevant behaviours and on tasks that are likely to be learned successfully.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-024-01865-7Social learningSocial learning mechanismsCognitive mechanismsCognitive evolutionMechanistic constraintsHouse sparrows |
| spellingShingle | Noam Zurek Na’ama Aljadeff Donya Khoury Lucy M. Aplin Arnon Lotem Social demonstration of colour preference improves the learning of associated demonstrated actions Animal Cognition Social learning Social learning mechanisms Cognitive mechanisms Cognitive evolution Mechanistic constraints House sparrows |
| title | Social demonstration of colour preference improves the learning of associated demonstrated actions |
| title_full | Social demonstration of colour preference improves the learning of associated demonstrated actions |
| title_fullStr | Social demonstration of colour preference improves the learning of associated demonstrated actions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social demonstration of colour preference improves the learning of associated demonstrated actions |
| title_short | Social demonstration of colour preference improves the learning of associated demonstrated actions |
| title_sort | social demonstration of colour preference improves the learning of associated demonstrated actions |
| topic | Social learning Social learning mechanisms Cognitive mechanisms Cognitive evolution Mechanistic constraints House sparrows |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-024-01865-7 |
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