Imprinting

McCabe, Brian J.

doi:10.1002/wcs.1231

Cited by 60 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 111 publications

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“…This feedback is very important to maintain proximity with the stimulus and induce the filial imprinting process. Filial imprinting is a fast learning process that enables chicks to learn the features of their social partners and to restrict their affiliative responses to them by mere exposure (reviewed in293031). Not only movement and auditory signals27323334 of the object increase its attractiveness and effectiveness as imprinting object, but the interaction with the mother induces greater preferences for it, compared to experience with a moving stuffed model27.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Newborn chicks show inherited variability in early social predispositions for hen-like stimuli

Versace

Fracasso

Baldan³

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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Predispositions of newborn vertebrates to preferentially attend to living beings and learn about them are pervasive. Their disturbance (e.g. in neonates at risk for autism), may compromise the proper development of a social brain. The genetic bases of such predispositions are unknown. We use the well-known visual preferences of newly-hatched chicks (Gallus gallus) for the head/neck region of the hen to investigate the presence of segregating variation in the predispositions to approach a stuffed hen vs. a scrambled version of it. We compared the spontaneous preferences of three breeds maintained genetically isolated for at least eighteen years while identically raised. Visually-naïve chicks of all breeds (Padovana, Polverara and Robusta maculata) showed the same initial preference for the predisposed stimulus, suggesting that the direction of the initial preference might be genetically fixed. A few minutes later though, striking differences emerged between breeds, which could indicate different strategies of dealing with affiliative objects: while the Polverara breed maintained a constant preference across the entire test, the Padovana and Robusta breeds progressively explored the alternative stimulus more. We hence documented the presence of inherited genetic variability in the expression of early social predispositions in interaction with environmental stimuli.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Newborn chicks show inherited variability in early social predispositions for hen-like stimuli

Versace

Fracasso

Baldan³

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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“…Moreover, since chicks rapidly learn features of their social partners by mere exposure through filial imprinting [26,27], they are a valuable model to study the role of experience in modifying spontaneous preferences. To this aim we investigated how imprinting modified unlearned preferences for hollow and filled objects ( Experiment 2 ) after imprinting on hollow objects (Experiment 2a), filled objects (Experiment 2b) and objects who could not be perceived hollow or filled because their sides were occluded (Experiment 2c).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Naïve Chicks Prefer Hollow Objects

et al. 2016

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Biological predispositions influence approach and avoid responses from the time of birth or hatching. Neonates of species that require parental care (e.g. human babies and chicks of the domestic fowl) are attracted by stimuli associated with animate social partners, such as face-like configurations, biological motion and self-propulsion. The property of being filled is used as a cue of animacy by 8-month-old human infants but it is not known whether this reflects the effect of previous experience. We used chicks of the domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) to investigate whether the property of being filled vs. hollow elicits spontaneous or learned preferences. To this aim we tested preferences of naïve and imprinted chicks for hollow and closed cylinders. Contrary to our expectations, we documented an unlearned attraction for hollow stimuli. The preference for hollow stimuli decreased when chicks were imprinted on filled stimuli but did not increase when chicks were imprinted on hollow stimuli, suggesting that hollowness is not crucial to determine affiliative responses for imprinting objects. When chicks were imprinted on occluded stimuli that could be either filled or hollow, the preference for hollow stimuli emerged again, showing that imprinting does not disrupt the spontaneous preference for hollow objects. Further experiments revealed that hollow objects were mainly attractive by means of depth cues such as darker innards, more than as places to hide or as objects with high contrast. Our findings point to predisposed preferences for hollow objects, and suggest that early predispositions might be driven by factors different from animacy cues.

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“…Belonging to a precocial species, chicks show immediately after hatching good motor control and early developing perceptual acuity, features that allow them to be tested at a precocial age when experiences are extremely limited. When imprinting objects are made to move and disappear, chicks immediately respond with following behaviour (review in McCabe, ). Imprinting proved to be an efficacious phenomenon to investigate several aspects of cognition in the first post‐hatching days (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inexperienced newborn chicks use geometry to spontaneously reorient to an artificial social partner

Chiandetti

Spelke

Vallortígara

2014

Developmental Science

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A fundamental process underlying navigation behaviour, shown to occur in every species tested, uses geometric properties of the environment for location memory and orientation. Here we employ a new method to ask whether this basic geometric orientation ability is innately predisposed in the brain or depends on specific experiences navigating in a geometrically rich environment. Using the newborn domestic chick as a model system, we present a working memory task testing reorientation towards a filial imprinting object under rigorous controlled rearing conditions. In the absence of any previous exposure to a geometrically rich environment, newly hatched chicks spontaneously recovered their bearings by making use of distances and directional relations to reorient themselves to an artificial social partner. These findings provide evidence for an innate capacity to navigate by the geometric structure of the environment.

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Imprinting

Cited by 60 publications

References 111 publications

Newborn chicks show inherited variability in early social predispositions for hen-like stimuli

Newborn chicks show inherited variability in early social predispositions for hen-like stimuli

Naïve Chicks Prefer Hollow Objects

Inexperienced newborn chicks use geometry to spontaneously reorient to an artificial social partner

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