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Response timing of budgerigars in a turn-taking task under operant conditioning
Reiki Kishimoto1, Yoshimasa Seki1
1Department of Psychology, Aichi University, Japan, 1-1 Machihata-cho, Toyohashi, 4418522, Japan.
Behavioural Processes
|April 11, 2022
Summary
Budgerigars learned to take turns for rewards, mimicking human behavior. Male budgerigars showed peck timing influenced by partner preference, suggesting elements of true turn-taking.
Area of Science:
- Animal behavior
- Comparative psychology
- Avian cognition
Background:
- Turn-taking is a fundamental human social behavior observed across various tasks.
- While turn-taking exists in non-human animals, it's often linked to innate, stereotypic actions, potentially differing from human interaction.
- Investigating animal turn-taking provides insights into the evolution of social coordination and communication.
Purpose of the Study:
- To train budgerigars to engage in turn-taking behavior under controlled operant conditions.
- To explore whether budgerigars can develop turn-taking sequences similar to those observed in humans.
- To investigate the influence of social preference on the development and execution of turn-taking in budgerigars.
Main Methods:
- Budgerigar pairs were housed in adjacent cages, each with a response key.
- Birds were trained to peck the key sequentially to earn rewards, establishing an operant turn-taking task.
- Preference tests were conducted to assess the impact of social bonds on behavior.
Main Results:
- All budgerigar pairs successfully learned the operant turn-taking task.
- Some birds initiated pecks slightly before the signal, indicating proactive rather than purely reactive behavior.
- Male budgerigars exhibited faster pecking rates with preferred partners, suggesting a link between social preference and turn-taking timing.
Conclusions:
- Budgerigars can learn and exhibit pseudo turn-taking behavior, showing similarities to human interaction patterns.
- Partner preference appears to influence the timing of actions within the turn-taking sequence in male budgerigars.
- While not demonstrating collective goal-directedness, partner-dependent behaviors in budgerigars may represent foundational elements for true turn-taking.
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