Records |
Author |
Zentall, T.R. |
Title |
Imitation: definitions, evidence, and mechanisms |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Animal cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
9 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
335-353 |
Keywords |
Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; Motivation; *Social Environment; Transfer (Psychology) |
Abstract |
Imitation can be defined as the copying of behavior. To a biologist, interest in imitation is focused on its adaptive value for the survival of the organism, but to a psychologist, the mechanisms responsible for imitation are the most interesting. For psychologists, the most important cases of imitation are those that involve demonstrated behavior that the imitator cannot see when it performs the behavior (e.g., scratching one's head). Such examples of imitation are sometimes referred to as opaque imitation because they are difficult to account for without positing cognitive mechanisms, such as perspective taking, that most animals have not been acknowledged to have. The present review first identifies various forms of social influence and social learning that do not qualify as opaque imitation, including species-typical mechanisms (e.g., mimicry and contagion), motivational mechanisms (e.g., social facilitation, incentive motivation, transfer of fear), attentional mechanisms (e.g., local enhancement, stimulus enhancement), imprinting, following, observational conditioning, and learning how the environment works (affordance learning). It then presents evidence for different forms of opaque imitation in animals, and identifies characteristics of human imitation that have been proposed to distinguish it from animal imitation. Finally, it examines the role played in opaque imitation by demonstrator reinforcement and observer motivation. Although accounts of imitation have been proposed that vary in their level of analysis from neural to cognitive, at present no theory of imitation appears to be adequate to account for the varied results that have been found. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. Zentall@uky.edu |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:17024510 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
217 |
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Author |
de Waal, F.B. |
Title |
Food transfers through mesh in brown capuchins |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1997 |
Publication |
Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Comp Psychol |
Volume |
111 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
370-378 |
Keywords |
Animals; Cebus/*psychology; *Feeding Behavior; Female; Food Preferences/psychology; Male; *Motivation; Sex Factors; *Social Behavior; Social Environment |
Abstract |
Capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) share food even if their partner is behind a mesh restraint. Pairs of adult capuchins were moved into a test chamber in which 1 monkey received cucumber pieces for 20 min and the other received apple slices during the following 20 min. Tolerant transfers of food occurred reciprocally among females: The rate of transfer from Female B to A in the second test phase varied with the rate from Female A to B in the first test phase. Several social mechanisms may explain this reciprocity. Whereas this study does not contradict cognitively complex explanations (e.g., mental record keeping of given and received food), the results are consistent with a rather simple explanation: that food sharing reflects a combination of affiliative tendency and high tolerance. The study suggests that sharing mechanisms may be different for adult male capuchins, with males sharing food more readily and less discriminatingly than females. |
Address |
Yerkes Primate Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30329, USA. dewaal@emory.edu |
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ISSN |
0735-7036 |
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Notes |
PMID:9419882 |
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no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
198 |
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Author |
de Waal, F.B.M.; Davis, J.M. |
Title |
Capuchin cognitive ecology: cooperation based on projected returns |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Neuropsychologia |
Abbreviated Journal |
Neuropsychologia |
Volume |
41 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
221-228 |
Keywords |
Animals; Attention; Cebus/*psychology; *Cooperative Behavior; Decision Making; Dominance-Subordination; Female; Male; *Motivation; Reaction Time; Reinforcement Schedule; *Social Behavior |
Abstract |
Stable cooperation requires that each party's pay-offs exceed those available through individual action. The present experimental study on brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) investigated if decisions about cooperation are (a) guided by the amount of competition expected to follow the cooperation, and (b) made instantaneously or only after a period of familiarization. Pairs of adult monkeys were presented with a mutualistic cooperative task with variable opportunities for resource monopolization (clumped versus dispersed rewards), and partner relationships (kin versus nonkin). After pre-training, each pair of monkeys (N=11) was subjected to six tests, consisting of 15 2 min trials each, with rewards available to both parties. Clumped reward distribution had an immediate negative effect on cooperation: this effect was visible right from the start, and remained visible even if clumped trials alternated with dispersed trials. The drop in cooperation was far more dramatic for nonkin than kin, which was explained by the tendency of dominant nonkin to claim more than half of the rewards under the clumped condition. The immediacy of responses suggests a decision-making process based on predicted outcome of cooperation. Decisions about cooperation thus take into account both the opportunity for and the likelihood of subsequent competition over the spoils. |
Address |
Living Links, Yerkes Primate Center, Emory University, 954 N. Gatewood Road, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. dewaal@emory.edu |
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0028-3932 |
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Notes |
PMID:12459220 |
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no |
Call Number |
refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
182 |
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Author |
Beckers, T.; Miller, R.R.; De Houwer, J.; Urushihara, K. |
Title |
Reasoning rats: forward blocking in Pavlovian animal conditioning is sensitive to constraints of causal inference |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Journal of experimental psychology. General |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Psychol Gen |
Volume |
135 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
92-102 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Association Learning; *Cognition; *Conditioning, Classical; Cues; Fear; Female; Inhibition (Psychology); Male; Motivation; *Problem Solving; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley |
Abstract |
Forward blocking is one of the best-documented phenomena in Pavlovian animal conditioning. According to contemporary associative learning theories, forward blocking arises directly from the hardwired basic learning rules that govern the acquisition or expression of associations. Contrary to this view, here the authors demonstrate that blocking in rats is flexible and sensitive to constraints of causal inference, such as violation of additivity and ceiling considerations. This suggests that complex cognitive processes akin to causal inferential reasoning are involved in a well-established Pavlovian animal conditioning phenomenon commonly attributed to the operation of basic associative processes. |
Address |
Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, State University of New York, NY, USA. tom.beckers@psy.kuleuven.be |
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0096-3445 |
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Notes |
PMID:16478318 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
155 |
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