Effects of social influence on neonatal approach responses of Gallus chicks

Although most laboratory studies of imprinting rear and test subjects individually, in the natural setting birds are imprinted in groups. In order to approximate and evaluate naturally occuring conditions, the present study compared the approach responses of chicks reared and trained alone to those reared and trained in pairs to an audio-visual imprinting stimulus. The responses of both groups were virtually identical during the presence of the imprinting stimulus. However, under conditions of experimental extinction, the paired trained birds (now tested alone) were more resistant to extinction than their isolated counterparts, thus suggesting that birds with prior social experience are more strongly imprinted than has been previously reported.