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Automatic imitation in budgerigars

Mui, Rosetta, Haselgrove, Mark ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8981-1181, Pearce, John Martindale ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6121-8650 and Heyes, Cecilia 2008. Automatic imitation in budgerigars. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 275 (1651) , pp. 2547-2553. 10.1098/rspb.2008.0566

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Abstract

A fully automated procedure, involving computer-controlled stimulus presentation and computer-recorded response measurement, was used for the first time to study imitation in non-human animals. After preliminary training to peck and step on a manipulandum, budgerigars were given a discrimination task in which they were rewarded with food for pecking during observation of pecking and for stepping during observation of stepping (Compatible group), or for pecking while observing stepping and for stepping while observing pecking (Incompatible group). The Incompatible group, which had to counter-imitate for food reward, showed weaker discrimination performance than the Compatible group. This suggests that, like humans, budgerigars are subject to ‘automatic imitation’; they cannot inhibit online the tendency to imitate pecking and/or stepping, even when imitation of these behaviours interferes with the performance of an ongoing task. The difference between the two groups persisted over 10 test sessions, but the Incompatible group eventually acquired the discrimination, making more counter-imitative than imitative responses in the final sessions. These results are consistent with the associative sequence learning model, which suggests that, across species, the development of imitation and the mirror system depends on sensorimotor experience and phylogenetically ancient mechanisms of associative learning.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Psychology
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Uncontrolled Keywords: associative sequence learning; automatic imitation; budgerigars; discrimination learning; stimulus–response compatibility; mirror system
Publisher: Royal Society
ISSN: 0962-8452
Last Modified: 20 Oct 2022 09:12
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/31021

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