Stability and individual variability of social attachment in imprinting

Lemaire, Bastien S.; Rucco, Daniele; Josserand, Mathilde; Vallortígara, Giorgio; Versace, Elisabetta

doi:10.1101/2020.04.04.025072

Cited by 3 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…As mentioned in the introduction, this would also enable the subsequent development of neural mechanisms specialised for the processing of various aspects of social information (Di Giorgio et al, 2016;Johnson, 2005). This idea is supported by evidence of enhanced imprinting responses elicited by predisposed stimuli, such as red colour on the head of a creature that moves according to biological motion (Lemaire et al, 2020;Miura et al, 2020;Miura & Matsushima, 2016) or such as "start from rest" (Mascalzoni et al, 2010). However, similar early predispositions have been found in solitary animals with no parental care, such as land tortoises (Versace et al, 2020).…”

Section: The Study Of Early Predispositions As Adaptive Responsesmentioning

confidence: 88%

Sensitive periods for social development: Interactions between predisposed and learned mechanisms

et al. 2021

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We analysed research that makes use of precocial species as animal models to describe the interaction of predisposed mechanisms and environmental factors in early learning, in particular for the development of social cognition. We also highlight the role of sensitive periods in this interaction, focusing on domestic chicks as one of the main animal models for this field. In the first section of the review, we focus on the emergence of early predispositions to attend to social partners. These attentional biases appear before any learning experience about social stimuli. However, nonspecific experiences occurring during critical periods of the early post-natal life determine the emergence of these predisposed mechanisms for the detection of social partners. Social predispositions have an important role for the development learningbased social cognitive functions, showing the interdependence of predisposed and learned mechanisms in shaping social development. In the second part of the review we concentrate on the reciprocal interactions between filial imprinting and spontaneous (not learned) social predispositions. Reciprocal influences between these two sets of mechanisms ensure that, in the natural environment, filial imprinting will target appropriate social objects. Neural and physiological mechanisms regulating the sensitive periods for the emergence of social predispositions and for filial imprinting learning are also described.

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Section: The Study Of Early Predispositions As Adaptive Responsesmentioning

confidence: 88%

Sensitive periods for social development: Interactions between predisposed and learned mechanisms

et al. 2021

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“…where 100 indicates a full preference for the familiar stimulus, 0 a full preference for the unfamiliar stimulus, and 50% no preference (see also 3,30 ). For each imprinting experiment, we compared the experimentally observed generalisation curve with the predictions of an unbiased model 7 , derived from Shepard's universal law of generalisation 4 , as shown in Fig.…”

Section: Spontaneous Colour Generalisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A central question is whether naïve animals, such as neonate chicks or human infants, have expectations (predispositions) for perceptual attributes including colour that can drive generalisation, or whether they build expectations by sampling their environment. To investigate spontaneous generalisation at the onset of life, we investigated poultry chicks, whose visual experience can be fully controlled from hatching until the moment of test 2,3 . We compared observed generalisation with the predictions of an unbiased model derived from the universal law of generalisation 4 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chickens use colour in feeding 25 and social interactions 26,27 , including imprinting 8,9 . In imprinting, colour is crucial in determining approach responses 3,[28][29][30] . Colour generalisation in imprinting can be controlled using visual displays 3,12 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In imprinting, colour is crucial in determining approach responses 3,[28][29][30] . Colour generalisation in imprinting can be controlled using visual displays 3,12 . In this paper, we report three sets of experiments on visual imprinting, generalisation and spontaneous preferences for colours: Experiments 1-2 compare observed generalisation behaviour to the predictions of an unbiased model after a short imprinting exposure (1-day); Experiment 3 identifies the spontaneous colour preferences present at hatching that might underlie the biases revealed in Experiments 1-2; Experiment 4 then examines the time course of learning and generalisation, looking at the effects of the biases on longer term learning (5-day imprinting exposure).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spontaneous biases enhance generalisation in the neonate brain

Wang¹,

Vasas²,

Freeland³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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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.

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