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Animal Minds > Social Learning > Flashcards

Social Learning Flashcards

1
Q

What is social learning

A

Learning from other’s behaviors

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2
Q

What four questions arise from the definition of social learning

A

Is learning from others different in mechanism or in function to learning from own experiences?

Is social learning associated with special intelligence?

Under what circumstances is it better to learn from others than through own experience (and vice versa)?

What, when, and from whom should animals learn socially?

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3
Q

What is one animal that exhibits social learning and how?

A

Blue tits - many of them started knowing how to open milk bottles

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4
Q

What five processes could the transmission of bottle opening be due to?

A

Imitation
Emulation
Stimulus enhancement
Local enhancement
Social facilitation

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5
Q

Imitation

A

Copying sequences of anothers actions.

Implies putting theirselves in someone else’s place

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6
Q

Emulation

A

Striving for the same outcome as the other, but does not copy actions

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7
Q

Stimulus enhancement

A

Interactions with object draws an observers attention to it.

Observer tries out various things, and eventually learns how to perform an action

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8
Q

Local enhancement

A

Activity of a conspecific at a specific site attracts observer to same site.

Leads to observer interacting with objects at the site.

Learns again by trial and error

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9
Q

Social facilitation

A

Presence of conspecific acts to increase general activity level in observer and reduces neophobia

Facilitates obervers interactions with objects in the environment

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10
Q

What is conspecific

A

Belonging to same species

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11
Q

What is neophobia

A

Fear of anything new/unfamiliar

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12
Q

Describe rat’s food preferences

A

Prefer to eat foods others have eaten

Leads to social transmission of food habits

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13
Q

Describe mobbing responses in blackbirds

A

Young birds learn to target mobbing through the influence of others’ behavior

Mobbing and certain targets seem pre-programmed, but new targets can be learned socially

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14
Q

Describe mobbing across generations in blackbirds

A

Multi-generational transmission

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15
Q

What is crucial in the case of black bird mobbing and why

A

Sovial factor is crucial because blackbirds respond directly to (and learn from) their own species’ mobbing calls

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16
Q

What type of conditioning is blackbird mobbing

A

Observational conditioning

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17
Q

What is an animal that can aquire novel actions through social learning, and which action is it?

A

Black rats can learn to strip pinecones for food

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18
Q

In which conditions can pinecone stripping in black rats be learned?

A

PCS’s pups + PCS mothers
Naive’s pups + PCS mothers
Naive adults + partially stripped cones

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19
Q

How can transmission of novel skills occur?

A

Through the products of others activity

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20
Q

What is not needed in the learning of pinecone stripping

A

Special attention to conspecifics

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21
Q

What is the learning of pine cone stripping known as?

A

Stimulus enhancement

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22
Q

How was the opening of milk bottles by black capped chickadees studied?

A

They were allowed to observe demonstrations or to interact with bottles

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23
Q

What were the four conditions of the milk bottle experiment and their outcomes?

A

Demonstrator present and seen opening bottle (learn - imitation/emulation)

No demonstrator present, milk bottle is already open (learn - stimulus/local enhancement)

No demonstrator present, bottle is closed (no learn)

Demonstrator present but not seen opening bottle and bottle is closed (learn - social facilitation)

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24
Q

In an experiment of bees, how did being in a social group impact learning?

A

More social observers learnt the task than individual innovators (social learning is important)

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25
What happened with non-social bee observers
Did not learn the task (observation of conspecific is important)
26
What did a detailed analysis of observer's behavior reveal?
They learn by attending to - Demonstrator location of activity (local enhancement) - Position of string (stimulus enhancement)
27
Which non-social animal exhibited social learning
Red footed tortoises
28
What task was used on red-footed tortoises
Detour task
29
What happened in the detour task
Couldnt learn to solve task alone. After watching demonstrator, all subjects solved the task
30
When do humans start imitating others
From within days of birth
31
What can be seen in infants in terms of imitation
They will faithfully copy arbitrary actions in the absence of transparency
32
What does true imitation require
The ability to project someone else's body and actions onto your body
33
What is the ability to project someone else's body and actions onto your body called?
The correspondence problem
34
Describe true imitation in terms of non human animals
Evidence for apparent imitation exists, but clear experiments are hard to find
35
What is the benefit of imitation
Allows behaviors to be passed on quickly with high fidelity
36
What does high fidelity transmission facilitate?
Ratcheting
37
What is ratcheting
Accumulation of incremental improvements in a behavior
38
What is a drawback of imitation
May allow non-adaptive behaviors to persist
39
What task is used to test for imitation?
Two action task
40
Describe the two action task
Future demonstrators trained to solve task by one of two actions Naive individuals allowed to observe the demonstrators performing either first or second action Allowed to try to solve the task
41
What question does the two action task ask
Do observers learn to solve task in manner they observed (as opposed to alternative method?)
42
What would it mean if observers learn to solve task in manner they observed
They pay attention to the actions involved, rather than just objects, locations, or outcome
43
How was the two action task used to test milk bottle opening
Bird watches another pierce foil, flip lid, or have no solution (control) They are given the milk bottle after
44
What were the results of the two action task for milk bottles
Social learning was observed in the pierce foil and flip lid conditions
45
What was uncertain about the results of two action task for milk bottles
Was it imitation or fine-scale stimulus enhancement?
46
How was the two action task used in marmosets
Observer watched demonstrator using mouth-opening technique and hand-opening technique for a container Obeserver performed demonstrators technique
47
Why were the results of the marmoset two action task important?
Effect on the container was the same, so monkeys must have paid attention to demonstrators actions rather than just the object
48
How is imitation observed in both humans and chimps
Both prefer actions they've observed
49
What is the difference between imitation in humans and chimps?
It is clearer and increases with age in humans
50
How is imitation vs emulation tested
Box has opening on top and front, front opening connected to a reward (seen only when sides of the box were transparent) Subjects shown actions relevant (remove front defence) and irrelevant (remove top defence) to retrieving reward
51
What were the results of the imitation vs emulation experiment
Chimps and children reproduced the irrelevant action a lot in the opaque condition Chimps barely reproduced irrelevant action in clear condition, but humans reproduced it more than in the opaque condition
52
What are the implications of the imitate vs emulate experiment
When task becomes more transparent, chimps omit irrelevant action and switch to emulation. Humans do not
53
How was overimitation tested in children
Irrelevant and relevant actions for opening a box were shown to 3yos and 5yos Adult AND child demonstrators were used
54
What were the results of the overimitation experiment
Tendency to overimitate increases with age
55
What are the three difficulties with comparing imitative abilities in humans and non-humans
Imitation rewarded in children by adults during everyday interactions (long history of training) Difficult to separate motivation from ability (if you can efficiently solve task on your own, why imitate?) Using human demonstrator for non-human subjects can be unfair
56
What does it mean for an individual A to teach individual B? (3 things)
A must modify behavior in response to presence of B A incurs cost, or derives no immediate benefit from instruction B is able to squire behavior more rabidly than they would on their own
57
What is teaching not the same as?
Facilitating someone's learning by allowing them to watch you, or by leaving the environment in a state which facilitates learning in others
58
What are four cases in the wild in which teaching has been demonstrated
Thorton et al 2006 - Prey handling in meerkats Franks and Richardson 2006 - tandem running to food source in ants Raihani and Ridley 2008 - food calls in pied babblers Musgrave et al 2016 - tool use in chimps
59
What does most social learning appear to be
Solely the responsibility of the learner
60
Describe the study of teaching prey handling skills in meerkats
Adults modify own behavior in response to pups present Adults incur cost (time and effort capturing pray before handing it to pups; monitored ups after) Pups gradually improve prey handling skills (also shown by providing pups with dead vs live prey and watching for improvement in skills)
61
Describe how routes to food sources can be taught in ants
Tandem leader regulate speed to keep follower within antenna reach Tandem leader slowed down 4x compared to when they walk alone Tandem follower find food more quickly than individual explorers, and learn the route of leader
62
Describe teaching of tool use in chimps
Adults modify behavior in young's presence Adults termite-fishing efficiency temporarily reduced when handing over tools Young's termite-fishing efficiency temporarily increased when they receive adult tools
63
What is unclear about teaching of tool use in chimps
If this helps them with learning in the long run
64
What are the three proposed contexts in which teaching may be beneficial
High relatedness High risk High utility
65
Why is high relatedness important in teaching?
Teachers invest time and energy into teaching- should benefit them at least indirectly by promoting offspring survival
66
Why is high risk important in teaching?
Learning alone by trial-and-error can be too dangerous
67
Why is high utility important in teaching?
Some tasks have high rewards but are difficult to learn alone
68
What are two benefits to social learning?
Help avoid negative effects of trying things themselves Novel adaptive behaviors can spread quickly
69
What are two drawbacks to social learning
Can impair individual learning Learner may acquire wrong/outdated info
70
How can social learning impair individual learning
Reliance on others may lead to excessive neophobia and/or lower attention to environmental cues
71
How can social learning cause aquisition of wrong/outdated info
Needs mechanism for regulating who/what/when to copy
72
What should social learning not be and why
Shouldnt be indiscriminate - risks learning wrong/outdated info
73
What can social learning strategies help with?
Targeting learner's attention towards individuals/behaviors most likely to be useful
74
What three questions should you ask about social learning
Who should you copy? What should you copy? When should you copy?

Animal Minds (17 decks)

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