Assessing preferences for adult vs juvenile features in young animals: newly-hatched chicks spontaneously approach red and large stimuli

Freeland, Laura; Vasas, Vera; Gomes, Josephine Valentina; Versace, Elisabetta

doi:10.1101/2023.02.17.528933

Cited by 2 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 55 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This corresponds to a scenario where neonate chicks operate as Bayesian observers 31 . In fact, red and blue colours are disproportionately present in objects that are likely to be the imprinting target, rather than in background objects, as shown by our analysis of fowl and environmental colours [53][54][55] (section 5). Second, we observed preferences for the unfamiliar stimulus Red2 (Exp.…”

Section: General Discussion: Rara Avis In Terrismentioning

confidence: 71%

“…These biases are likely to reflect the evolutionary significance of particular colours. A predisposition to approach red has a selective advantage, because the head region of the red jungle fowl hens, the closest relatives to ancestral chickens before domestication, is reddish 53 . Hence, a predisposed preference for red could help chicks to selectively process and learn from reddish stimuli, that are associated with the target imprinting stimulus.…”

Section: General Discussion: Rara Avis In Terrismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6B 53 ). In a previous study, we investigated the feather and head colours of red junglefowl hens (the specimens closest to ancestral chickens before domestication), using spectral reflectance measurements of bird skins 53 . The reflectance curves of the feathers show a gradual increase with larger wavelengths (characteristic of phaeomelanin), giving the specimens their yellowish-brown appearance.…”

Section: Bayesian Conditional Probabilities Drive the Evolution Of Pr...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The feather colours of various areas of red junglefowl hens fall close the achromatic middle point, except for the lack of UV. In addition to the feathers, the soft parts of the head regions (comb, eye) appear reddish 53 . Hence, red junglefowl hens are equally likely to display reddish and yellowish hues, and the coloration of the mother hens does not explain the chicks' preference for red in itself.…”

Section: Bayesian Conditional Probabilities Drive the Evolution Of Pr...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(B) The red junglefowl hen (the closest relative of the domestic chicken) is predominantly yellow/brown, with reddish areas in the head region. Photo credit: Brian Gratwicke, downloaded from junglefowl hen feathers 53 and of (D) natural objects, plotted in the tetrahedral colour space of birds. The tips of the tetrahedron correspond to situations where only one receptor is activated.…”

Section: Fig 6 (A)mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Spontaneous biases enhance generalisation in the neonate brain

Wang¹,

Vasas²,

Freeland³

et al. 2023

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The ability to use sparse evidence to produce adaptive responses in new contexts and to new stimuli (inductive generalisation) is central to biological and artificial intelligence. Young and inexperienced animals require very little evidence to generalise, raising the question of whether the neonate brain is evolutionarily prepared (predisposed) for generalisation. To understand the principles of spontaneous generalisation, we exposed neonate chicks to an artificial social partner of a specific colour, and measured generalisation by comparing responses to novel and familiar stimuli along either the red-yellow or the blue-green colour continuum. Generalisation responses were inconsistent with an unbiased model, showing biases such as asymmetrical generalisation gradients, faster learning for particular colours (red and blue over yellow and green), preferences for unfamiliar stimuli and different time courses in learning. Moreover, the chicks' generalisation behaviour was consistent with a Bayesian theoretical model that explicitly incorporates predispositions as initial preferences and treats the learning process as an update of spontaneous preferences. These results show that neonate animals are evolutionarily prepared for generalisation, via biases that do not depend on experience, reinforcement or supervision. Biases that facilitate generalisation are tuned to distinctive features that are unusual in the natural environment, such as the red and blue colours. Predispositions facilitate or hinder learning in the inexperienced brain, determining how experience is used to update the likelihood of predictive models. Neonate animals use spontaneous biases to solve the problem of induction.

show abstract