GrrlScientist writes:

A recently published study reports that parrots can learn new tricks simply by observing their peers performing the desired behavior in response to a physical cue from a human. The study, by an international group of scientists, discovered that this method of learning – known as third-party imitation – is not exclusive to humans as was widely thought, and could help explain the subtleties of parrot culture and social interactions.

Third-party imitation is a social learning trait associated exclusively with humans. It is commonly employed when a person is trying to understand how to fit in with an already established group. Third-party imitation involves observing interactions between two individuals then faithfully copying those interactions.

But third-party imitation has never been documented in any animals outside of humans. For example, even though companion dogs are thought to be keen observers of human behaviors, it is interesting to note that they are unable to learn “tricks” merely through passive observation, without prior training. Surprisingly (at least to me), this observation is also true for at least one parrot species: keas, a highly intelligent and curious parrot that is famous for causing mayhem and chaos (mostly of the destructive type), also did not show any evidence of third-party imitation.

Yet at the same time, the methods used by Irene Pepperberg to train Alex the African Grey parrot certainly look like they qualify as a form of third-party imitation. But this observation is confounded because Pepperberg used direct interactive training concurrently with Alex and his colleagues so the effect of learning solely as a third party observer cannot be isolated and specifically examined from these experiments.

An international team of researchers proposed that third-party imitation should probably prevail in social animals whose social behavioral repertoire varies within and across populations. For example, third-party imitation may be observed in animal societies with fission-fusion dynamics which brings about frequent changes in group composition or in matrilocal/patrilocal societies, where one sex of the species disperses to join unrelated groups. In these situations, cultural learning about group-typical social behaviors, including idiosyncratic behaviors, might aid group cohesion and may in fact be required for successful integration into a group. [Continue reading…]