Feathered Lectures-Evidence of Perceptual Factors on Social Learning in Kea Parrots (Nestor notabilis).

Social learning describes the acquisition of knowledge through observation of other individuals, and it is fundamental for the development of culture and traditions within human groups. Although previous studies suggest that Kea (Nestor notabilis) benefit from social learning, experimental evidence has been inconclusive, as in a recent two-action task, all perceptual factors were ignored. The present study attempts to address this by investigating social learning in Kea with a focus on social enhancement processes. In an experiment with a captive group of Kea, we investigated whether individuals that had the opportunity to observe a conspecific performing a simple task subsequently show better performance in that task than a control group without prior demonstration. This study provides a strong tendency of greater success in skill acquisition in Kea as a result of social learning. Kea that observed a conspecific solving a task showed clear evidence of perceptual factors drawing attention to the relevant parts of the experimental apparatus and manipulated these significantly more (100% of trials) than control birds (77.8% of trials). Combined with a strong trend (p = 0.056) of the test subjects solving the task more than the control subjects, this shows conclusively that Kea, at least when required to solve a task, do attend to perceptual factors of a demonstrated action.

Two-action task, testing imitative social learning in kea (Nestor notabilis).

Social learning is an adaptive way of dealing with the complexity of life as it reduces the risk of trial-and-error learning. Depending on the type of information acquired, and associations formed, several mechanisms within the larger taxonomy of social learning can be distinguished. Imitation is one such process within this larger taxonomy, it is considered cognitively demanding and is associated with high-fidelity response matching. The present study reproduced a 2002 study conducted by Heyes and Saggerson, which successfully illustrated motor imitation in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus). In our study, eighteen kea (Nestor notabilis) that observed a trained demonstrator remove a stopper from a test box (1) took less time from hopping on the box to feeding (response duration) in session one and (2) were faster in making a vertical removal response on the stopper once they hopped on the box (removal latency) in session one than non-observing control group individuals. In contrast to the budgerigars (Heyes and Saggerson, Ani Behav. 64:851-859, 2002) the present study could not find evidence of motor imitation in kea. The results do illustrate, however, that there were strong social effects on exploration rates indicating motivational and attentional shifts. Furthermore, the results may suggest a propensity toward emulation in contrast to motor imitation or alternatively selectivity in the application of imitation.

Vocal conditioning in kea parrots (Nestor notabilis).

In laboratory studies of vocal behavior in animals, subjects are normally isolated in a sound-insulated chamber for recording, but such socially isolated conditions may reduce the chances that they will vocalize. Indeed, past studies using such methods have faced the challenge that subjects remained silent. Knowledge of conditions under which subjects are more likely to vocalize could thus improve experimental design. This study investigated (a) whether kea (Nestor notabilis) could be trained to increase vocal production using operant conditioning and (b) the conditions under which such training was feasible. We found that visual contact with other kea increased the chances that a subject would vocalize spontaneously, therefore making training through positive reinforcement possible. In the conditions where kea could only hear but not see the rest of the group, they were much less likely to vocalize. Subjects were quickly trained to increase vocal production while in visual contact with other kea, and the training remained effective even when visual access later was removed. The procedure described here could be used as a first step in future laboratory studies of vocal behavior, carried out before subjects are isolated, to overcome the challenge of inducing isolated subjects to vocalize. (PsycINFO Database Record

Positive emotional contagion in a New Zealand parrot.

Positive emotional contagions are outwardly emotive actions that spread from one individual to another, such as glee in preschool children [1] or laughter in humans of all ages [2]. The play vocalizations of some animals may also act as emotional contagions. For example, artificially deafened rats are less likely to play than their non-hearing-impaired conspecifics, while no such effect is found for blinded rats [3]. As rat play vocalizations are also produced in anticipation of play, they, rather than the play itself, may act as a contagion, leading to a hypothesis of evolutionary parallels between rat play vocalizations and human laughter [4]. The kea parrot (Nestor notabilis) has complex play behaviour and a distinct play vocalization [5]. We used acoustic playback to investigate the effect of play calls on wild kea, finding that play vocalizations increase the amount of play among both juveniles and adults, likely by acting as a positive emotional contagion.

Kea cooperate better with sharing affiliates.

Controlled studies that focus on intraspecific cooperation tasks have revealed striking similarities, but also differences, in abilities across taxa as diverse as primates, fish, and birds. Such comparisons may provide insight into the specific socio-ecological selection pressures that led to the evolution of cooperation. Unfortunately, however, compared to primates data on birds remain relatively scarce. We tested a New Zealand psittaciform, the kea, in a dyadic cooperation task using the loose-string design. During trials our subjects were in separate compartments, but obtained a common reward that could be divided multiple ways, allowing the examination of reward division effects. Ten individuals were tested twice in 44 combinations of partners. Dyads with a high affiliation score attempted to cooperate more often and were also more often successful in doing so. Furthermore, dyads that shared rewards more equally seemed to be more likely to attempt cooperation in the next trial. Like other bird and some monkey species, but unlike, for example, chimpanzees, kea did not spontaneously show understanding of either the role of the partner or the mechanism behind the cooperation task. This may point to true disparities between species, but may also be due to differences in task design and/or the amount of exposure to similar tasks and individual skills of the subjects.