Comparative Assessment of Food Preferences and Aversions Acquired by Blackbirds via Observational Learning

The Auk ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 101 (4) ◽  
pp. 796-803 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Russell Mason ◽  
Adam H. Arzt ◽  
Russell F. Reidinger
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Observational Learning ◽  
Food Preferences ◽  
Social Cues ◽  
Agelaius Phoeniceus ◽  
Visual Contact ◽  
Avian Predators ◽  
Choice Tests ◽  
Opposite Behavior ◽  
Predator Abundance

AbstractRed-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) can acquire food preferences and aversions merely by observing conspecifics. In Experiment 1, red-wings were trained to prefer or avoid food paired with yellow, as conspecifics watched. After training, all birds were given two-choice tests between food paired with yellow or green for 12 days. Trainers were tested in visual isolation, whereas watchers were tested either in visual isolation or in visual contact with birds who had observed the opposite behavior during training. Food aversions were more resistant to extinction than food preferences (P < 0.05), and, among watchers, social cues facilitated avoidance (P < 0.05). In Experiment 2, red-wings were trained to avoid food paired with yellow, as Common Grackles (Quiscalus quiscula) and red-wings watched, or vice versa, and then two-choice tests were given between yellow and green. Both grackles and red-wings exhibited observational learning, regardless of the training species (P's < 0.05).Social interactions among avian predators may influence how predator abundance affects the Batesian model-mimic complex. We speculate that avoidance learning, which occurs when a predator observes the ingestion of a model, is stronger than preference learning, which occurs when a mimic is ingested. Relatively few models would be needed for the model-mimic complex to operate successfully, and the number of mimics could exceed the number of models without jeopardizing the mimetic advantage.

Observational Effects on the Food Preferences of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

2020 ◽  
pp. 108835762095436
Author(s):  
Joseph H. Cihon ◽  
Mary Jane Weiss ◽  
Julia L. Ferguson ◽  
Justin B. Leaf ◽  
Thomas Zane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Observational Learning ◽  
Food Preferences ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Food Selectivity ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Simple Task ◽  
Learning Procedure ◽  
Reversal Design ◽  
Selection Of

Research addressing food selectivity has involved intrusive techniques such as escape extinction. It is possible that observational learning methods employed in previous studies could provide the desired results with respect to food selectivity without the need for invasive physical interventions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an observational learning procedure on the selection of food items of three children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Baseline consisted of a simple task after which a choice was presented between high- and low-preferred foods. The intervention consisted of observing an adult engage in the same task and selecting the low-preferred food while making favorable comments and engaging with the food in novel ways. The results of a reversal design demonstrated that selection of the low-preferred food only occurred following the introduction of the intervention, and all three participants engaged in flexible responding as a result of the intervention.

Supporting Social Interactions In Human-Ai Teams: Profiling Human Teammates From Sparse Data

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 665-669
Author(s):  
Rhyse Bendell ◽  
Jessica Williams ◽  
Stephen M. Fiore ◽  
Florian Jentsch
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Social Cognition ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Team Performance ◽  
Intelligent Agents ◽  
Social Intelligence ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Social Cues ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Human Agent

Artificial intelligence has been developed to perform all manner of tasks but has not gained capabilities to support social cognition. We suggest that teams comprised of both humans and artificially intelligent agents cannot achieve optimal team performance unless all teammates have the capacity to employ social-cognitive mechanisms. These form the foundation for generating inferences about their counterparts and enable execution of informed, appropriate behaviors. Social intelligence and its utilization are known to be vital components of human-human teaming processes due to their importance in guiding the recognition, interpretation, and use of the signals that humans naturally use to shape their exchanges. Although modern sensors and algorithms could allow AI to observe most social cues, signals, and other indicators, the approximation of human-to-human social interaction -based upon aggregation and modeling of such cues is currently beyond the capacity of potential AI teammates. Partially, this is because humans are notoriously variable. We describe an approach for measuring social-cognitive features to produce the raw information needed to create human agent profiles that can be operated upon by artificial intelligences.

scholarly journals Social cues and ideology

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Mansell
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Social Attitudes ◽  
Social Cues ◽  
Social Partner ◽  
Biological Factors ◽  
Alternative Strategies ◽  
Democrats And Republicans

Research shows that individuals with liberal and conservative ideological orientations display different value positions concerning the acceptance of social change and inequality. Research also links the expression of different values to a number of biological factors, including heredity. In light of these biological influences, I investigate whether differences in social values associated with liberal and conservative ideologies reflect alternative strategies to maximize returns from social interactions. Using an American sample of Democrats and Republicans, I test whether information about shared and unshared social values in the form of implicit social attitudes have a disproportionate effect on the willingness of Democrats and Republicans to trust an anonymous social partner. I find evidence that knowledge of shared values significantly increases levels of trust among Democrats but not Republicans. I further find that knowledge of unshared values significantly decreases trust among Republicans but not Democrats. These findings are consistent with studies indicating that differences in ideological orientation are linked to differences in cognition and decision-making.

scholarly journals Neural Circuits for Social Interactions: From Microcircuits to Input-Output Circuits

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sen Xu ◽  
Ming Jiang ◽  
Xia Liu ◽  
Yahan Sun ◽  
Liang Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Social Preference ◽  
Neural Circuits ◽  
Social Behaviors ◽  
Social Cues ◽  
Input Output ◽  
Social Exploration ◽  
Pathological Development

Social behaviors entail responses to social information and requires the perception and integration of social cues through a complex cognition process that involves attention, memory, motivation, and emotion. Neurobiological and molecular mechanisms underlying social behavior are highly conserved across species, and inter- and intra-specific variability observed in social behavior can be explained to large extent by differential activity of a conserved neural network. However, neural microcircuits and precise networks involved in social behavior remain mysterious. In this review, we summarize the microcircuits and input-output circuits on the molecular, cellular, and network levels of different social interactions, such as social exploration, social hierarchy, social memory, and social preference. This review provides a broad view of how multiple microcircuits and input-output circuits converge on the medial prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala to regulate complex social behaviors, as well as a potential novel view for better control over pathological development.

scholarly journals Food preferences of wild house-mice (Mus musculus L.)

1974 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. P. Rowe ◽  
A. Bradfield ◽  
R. Redfern
Keyword(s):  
Mus Musculus ◽  
Corn Oil ◽  
Food Preferences ◽  
Mineral Oil ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Choice Tests ◽  
Wild House Mice ◽  
Phalaris Canariensis

SummaryThe relative acceptance of various plain foods by wild house-mice (Mus musculus L.) was compared in laboratory choice tests. The palatability of glycerine and six oils, each included at 5% in pinhead oatmeal, was compared in a similar manner.The most favoured food was found to be whole canary seed (Phalaris canariensis). Pinhead oatmeal and wheat were also comparatively well accepted. Glycerine, corn oil, arachis oil and mineral oil were more palatable than either olive, linseed or cod-liver oils.The results of the choice tests are considered in relation to the use of poison baits for the control of free-living mice.

scholarly journals Is breeding of farmland wading birds depressed by a combination of predator abundance and grazing?

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
R van der Wal ◽  
S.C.F Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Stakeholder Participation ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
Agricultural Practice ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Farmland Birds ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Avian Predators ◽  
Predator Abundance

Agri-environment schemes have been implemented across Europe to counter biodiversity loss in agricultural landscapes and halt the continual decline of farmland birds, including waders. Such schemes provide financial compensation for changes in agricultural practice, including livestock grazing regimes. Scheme uptake has been variable, partly because farmers believe that other factors, notably predation, are key to wader population declines. On the basis of wader breeding surveys across Shetland, UK, we show that predator density and livestock grazing, through reducing sward height, interact to influence territoriality and thereby are likely to affect wader breeding success. Our results appear to reflect views of both farmers and government agencies, which indicates that future agri-environment schemes would benefit from genuine stakeholder participation to maximize scheme uptake, implementation and beneficial effects on biodiversity. Our findings also imply that agri-environment schemes will reap the greatest benefits for waders through reducing stocking rate where avian predators are abundant.

Development of the Activity Response: Effect of a Manipulatable Environment and Observational Learning

1977 ◽  
Vol 40 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1263-1269
Author(s):  
R. O. Pihl ◽  
Howard Shore
Keyword(s):  
Observational Learning ◽  
Maze Learning ◽  
The Other ◽  
Visual Contact ◽  
Response Effect ◽  
Observational Measures ◽  
Activity Response ◽  
Y Maze ◽  
Modifying Effect ◽  
Learning Trials

At 21 days 24 hooded rats were assigned to two different rearing environments, a manipulatable environment where moveable objects were available and a search for food was required and a static environment where objects were fixed and food was presented in a dish bolted to the floor. To determine whether effects could be transferred visually, each manipulatable environment was paired with a static environment; half of the 12 pairs had adjoining Plexiglas walls and the other half wooden walls. Observational measures of activity were begun when rats were 70 days old, followed eight days later by an ultrasonic measure of activity and at 90 days old by Y-maze learning trials Subjects raised in the manipulatable situation were more active and explorative than those reared in the static environment. Subjects reared in Plexiglas cages were less reactive, ate more, were observed to be more active but were less active as measured ultrasonically and were consistently better on learning than animals reared in wooden cages. The results are discussed in terms of the development of the activity response, the non-unitary aspects of the response and the modifying effect of visual contact.

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