Article published in:
Avian Cognition and Social InteractionEdited by Irene M. Pepperberg
[Interaction Studies 12:2] 2011
► pp. 208–232
Social cognition and learning mechanisms
Experimental evidence in domestic chicks
Jonathan N. Daisley | University of Padova, Italy; University of Trento, Italy
Orsola Rosa Salva | University of Padova, Italy; University of Trento, Italy
Lucia Regolin | University of Padova, Italy; University of Trento, Italy
Giorgio Vallortigara | University of Padova, Italy; University of Trento, Italy
In this paper we review the literature on social learning mechanisms in the domestic chick, focusing largely on work from our own laboratories. The domestic chicken is a social-living bird that searches for food in flocks, avoids predators by following warnings from other flock members, and forms (stable) social hierarchies. All of these behaviors develop throughout ontogeny, largely during the very early stages post-hatch. Newly hatched chicks appear to have predispositions to orient towards and to pay greatest attention to the biologically relevant characteristics of their immediate environment (i.e. to conspecifics: the mother bird and/or fellow hatchlings) from which they may subsequently learn. In addition, the chick has a lateralized brain; left and right hemispheres being specialized for certain behavioral functions and responses, and it appears that such behavioral lateralization is also transposed onto certain social learning situations, which will also be considered.
Keywords: social learning; social cognition; chick; brain asymmetry
Published online: 21 July 2011
https://doi.org/10.1075/is.12.2.02dai
https://doi.org/10.1075/is.12.2.02dai