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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 22, 2025

P50 Sensory Gating in Infants

P50 Sensory Gating in Infants

Published on: December 26, 2013

Sensitive periods for social development: Interactions between predisposed and learned mechanisms.

Orsola Rosa-Salva¹, Uwe Mayer¹, Elisabetta Versace²

¹Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Piazza Manifattura 1, 38068 Rovereto, TN, Italy.

|January 6, 2021

Summary

Precocial species research reveals how innate predispositions and environmental factors interact during sensitive periods for early social learning. This interplay is crucial for developing social cognition, particularly in domestic chicks.

Keywords:

Domestic chicks Learning Predispositions Sensitive periods Social cognition

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Area of Science:

Developmental psychology
Neuroscience
Animal behavior

Background:

Early learning is shaped by both innate predispositions and environmental influences.
Precocial species, like domestic chicks, offer valuable models for studying early social development.
Sensitive periods are critical windows for the development of social cognition.

Purpose of the Study:

To review research on how predisposed mechanisms and environmental factors interact in early learning.
To highlight the role of sensitive periods in the development of social cognition using precocial species.
To examine the relationship between filial imprinting and spontaneous social predispositions.

Main Methods:

Analysis of existing research on precocial species as animal models.
Focus on domestic chicks as a primary model for social cognition studies.
Examination of attentional biases and their emergence before learning experiences.

Main Results:

Attentional biases towards social partners emerge before learning, influenced by early experiences during sensitive periods.
Social predispositions are essential for developing learned social cognitive functions, demonstrating interdependence.
Filial imprinting and spontaneous social predispositions reciprocally influence each other to ensure appropriate social object targeting.

Conclusions:

Innate predispositions and environmental factors interact dynamically during sensitive periods to shape social cognition.
The interdependence of predisposed and learned mechanisms is fundamental to social development.
Understanding these mechanisms in models like domestic chicks provides insights into early social learning.