Unsupervised statistical learning in newly hatched chicks

Curr Biol. 2016 Dec 5;26(23):R1218-R1220. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.10.011.

Abstract

The ability to extract probabilistic information from visual inputs has been reported in human adults and infants (reviewed in [1,2]), and in adults of non-human species, though only under supervised (conditioning) procedures [3]. Here, we report spontaneous sensitivity to the probabilistic structure underlying sequences of visual stimuli in newly hatched domestic chicks using filial imprinting, suggesting that statistical learning may be fully operating at the onset of life in precocial avian species.

Publication types

  • Letter

MeSH terms

  • Aging
  • Animals
  • Chickens / physiology*
  • Imprinting, Psychological
  • Learning / physiology*
  • Time Factors
  • Visual Perception / physiology*