title: Spontaneous generalization of abstract multimodal patterns in young domestic chicks.
abstract: From the early stages of life, learning the regularities associated with specific objects is crucial for making sense of experiences. Through filial imprinting, young precocial birds quickly learn the features of their social partners by mere exposure. It is not clear though to what extent chicks can extract abstract patterns of the visual and acoustic stimuli present in the imprinting object, and how they combine them. To investigate this issue, we exposed chicks (Gallus gallus) to three days of visual and acoustic imprinting, using either patterns with two identical items or patterns with two different items, presented visually, acoustically or in both modalities. Next, chicks were given a choice between the familiar and the unfamiliar pattern, present in either the multimodal, visual or acoustic modality. The responses to the novel stimuli were affected by their imprinting experience, and the effect was stronger for chicks imprinted with multimodal patterns than for the other groups. Interestingly, males and females adopted a different strategy, with males more attracted by unfamiliar patterns and females more attracted by familiar patterns. Our data show that chicks can generalize abstract patterns by mere exposure through filial imprinting and that multimodal stimulation is more effective than unimodal stimulation for pattern learning.
authors.affiliation: Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Piazza della Manifattura 1, 38068, Rovereto, Italy. elisabetta.versace@unitn.it.
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7674-3383
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Versace
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Biology, Institute of Biology Leiden, Leiden University, Leiden, 2300 RA, The Netherlands.|Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, 2300 RC, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Michelle J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Spierings
authors.affiliation: Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Piazza della Manifattura 1, 38068, Rovereto, Italy.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caffini
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Biology, Institute of Biology Leiden, Leiden University, Leiden, 2300 RA, The Netherlands.|Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, 2300 RC, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Carel
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ten Cate
authors.affiliation: Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Piazza della Manifattura 1, 38068, Rovereto, Italy.
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vallortigara
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D002645:Chickens / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007173:Imprinting, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012737:Sex Factors
keywords: Abstract rule; Chicks; Filial imprinting; Generalization; Pattern learning; Rule learning