Journal
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 116, Issue 3, Pages 277-285Publisher
AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC
DOI: 10.1037/0735-7036.116.3.277
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Funding
- NIMH NIH HHS [5 F31 MH12046-02, MH55118, MH59194] Funding Source: Medline
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In the present experiments, the 2-action method was used to determine whether pigeons could learn to imitate a conditional discrimination. Demonstrator pigeons (Columba livia) stepped on a treadle in the presence of 1 light and pecked at the treadle in the presence of another light. Demonstration did not seem to affect acquisition of the conditional discrimination (Experiment 1) but did facilitate its reversal of the conditional discrimination (Experiments 2 and 3). The results suggest that pigeons are not only able to learn a specific behavior by observing another pigeon, but they can also learn under which circumstances to perform that behavior. The results have implications for proposed mechanisms of imitation in animals.
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