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Preliminary Study on Preferences for Hollow vs. Filled Social Partners in Domestic Chicks
Versace, Elisabetta
Vallortigara, Giorgio
2014
Abstract
Human infants as young as 8 months old are surprised when
animated objects have no insides. This observation has
suggested that infants might attribute biological properties
such as “having an inside” to animated objects. Do chicks
(Gallus gallus) exhibit similar biological expectations for
social partners? In a series of experiments we take advantage
of social motivation of newly hatched chicks to investigate
whether: (a) naïve chicks exhibit an unlearned preference for
hollow vs. filled social objects; (b) visual experience and
imprinting affects the preference for hollow vs. filled objects;
(c) how imprinting on hollow, filled or occluded objects
influences filial responses. We show that naïve chicks exhibit
an unlearned preference to approach hollow objects,
irrespectively of their visual experience, that this preference is
maintained in imprinted chicks and partially modulated by
imprinting. Our data show that “being filled” is not a
requirement of social stimuli and that a short experience can
influence the preferences for social partners in these precocial
birds.
Publisher
EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste
Source
Elisabetta Versace, Giorgio Vallortigara, "Preliminary Study on Preferences for Hollow vs. Filled Social Partners in Domestic Chicks" in: Paolo Bernardis, Carlo Fantoni, Walter Gerbino (eds.) "TSPC2014. Proceedings of the Trieste Symposium on Perception and Cognition, November 27-28", Trieste, EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2014, pp. 50-52.
Languages
en
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