Imitative learning

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Imitative learning is a type of social learning whereby new behaviors are acquired via imitation. [1] Imitation aids in communication, social interaction, and the ability to modulate one's emotions to account for the emotions of others, and is "essential for healthy sensorimotor development and social functioning". [1] The ability to match one's actions to those observed in others occurs in humans and animals; [1] imitative learning plays an important role in humans in cultural development. [2] Imitative learning is different from observational learning in that it requires a duplication of the behaviour exhibited by the model, whereas observational learning can occur when the learner observes an unwanted behaviour and its subsequent consequences and as a result learns to avoid that behaviour.

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Imitative learning in animals

On the most basic level, research performed by A.L. Saggerson, David N. George, and R.C. Honey showed that pigeons were able to learn a basic process that would lead to the delivery of a reward by watching a demonstrator pigeon. [3] A demonstrator pigeon was trained to peck a panel in response to one stimulus (e.g. a red light) and hop on the panel in response to a second stimulus (e.g. a green light). After proficiency in this task was established in the demonstrator pigeon, other learner pigeons were placed in a video-monitored observation chamber. After every second observed trial, these learner pigeons were then individually placed in the demonstrator pigeon's box and presented the same test. The learner pigeons displayed competent performance on the task, and thus it was concluded that the learner pigeons had formed a response-outcome association while observing. However, the researchers noted that an alternative interpretation of these results could be that the learner pigeons had instead acquired outcome-response associations that guided their behavior and that further testing was needed to establish if this was a valid alternative.

A similar study was conducted by Chesler, which compared kittens learning to press a lever for food after seeing their mother do it to kittens who had not. [4] A stimulus in the form of a flickering light was presented, after which the kitten has to press a lever in order to obtain a food reward. The experiment tested the responses of three groups of kittens: those that observed their mother's performance first before attempting the task, those that observed a strange female's performance, and those that did not have a demonstrator and had to complete it through trial and error (the control group). The study found that the kittens that observed their mother before attempting the task acquired the lever-pressing response faster than the kittens that observed a strange female's response. The kittens conducting the task through trial and error never acquired the response. This result suggests that the kittens learned from imitating a model. The study also speculates whether the primacy of imitative learning, as opposed to trial end error, was due to a social and biological response to the mother (a type of learning bias).

Whether true imitation occurs in animals is a debated topic. For an action to be an instance of imitative learning, an animal must observe and reproduce the specific pattern of movements produced by the model. Some researchers have proposed evidence that true imitation does not occur in non-primates, and that the observational learning exhibited involves less cognitively complex means such as stimulus enhancement. [5] [6]

Chimpanzees are more apt to learning by emulation rather than true imitation. The exception is encultured chimpanzees, which are chimpanzees raised as if they were children. In one study by Buttelman et al., encultured chimpanzees were found to behave similarly to young children and imitate even those actions that were non instrumental to achieving the desired goal. [7] In other studies of true imitation, encultered chimpanzees even imitated the behaviour of a model some time after initially observing it. [8] [9]

Imitative learning in humans

Imitative learning has been well documented in humans; they are often used as a comparison group in studies of imitative learning in primates. [8] [9] A study by Horner and Whiten compared the actions of (non-encultured) chimpanzees to human children and found that the children over-imitated actions beyond necessity. [10] In the study, children and chimpanzees between the ages of 3-4 were shown a series of actions to open an opaque puzzle box with a reward inside. Two of the actions were necessary to open the box, but one was not, however this was not known by the subjects. A demonstrator performed all three actions to open the box, after which both the chimpanzees and the children attempted the task. Both the children and the chimpanzees copied all three of the behaviours and received the reward inside of the box. The next phase of the study involved a transparent box instead of the opaque box. Due to the transparency of this box, it could clearly be seen that one of the three actions was not necessary to receive the reward. The chimpanzees did not perform the unnecessary action and only performed the two actions necessary to achieve the desired goal. The young children imitated all three actions, despite the fact that they could have selectively ignored irrelevant actions.

One explanation for this is that humans follow conventions. A study by Clegg and Legare tested this by demonstrating a method of making a necklace to young children. [11] In demonstrations, the model added a step which was not necessary for the achievement of the final goal of completing the necklace. In one demonstration, the model used a language cue to inform the children that the making of the necklace is instrumental, e.g., "I am going to make a necklace. Let's watch what I am doing. I am going to make a necklace." [12] In another demonstration, the model used language cues to imply that they were making the necklace according to convention, e.g., "I always do it this way. Everyone always does it this way. Let's watch what I am doing. Everyone always does it this way." [12] In the conventional condition, children copied the model with more fidelity, including the unnecessary step. In the instrumental condition, they did not copy the unnecessary step. The study suggests that children discern when to imitate, viewing convention as a salient reason for copying behaviour in order to fit in with the convention. Taking cues for proper behaviour from the actions of others, rather than using independent judgement, is called a conformity bias.

Recent research has shown that humans are also subject to other biases when selecting whose behaviour to imitate. Humans imitate individuals they deem successful in the field they also wish to be successful in (success bias), as well respected, prestigious individuals that others preferentially learn from (prestige bias). [13] In a study by Chudek et al., an attentional cue was used to indicate to children that a particular model was prestigious. [14] In an experiment with two models playing with a toy in different ways, prestige was indicated by two observers watching the prestigious model for 10 seconds. The study found that children picked up on the cue that signified prestige and preferentially imitated the prestigious model. The study suggests that such biases help humans pick up direct and indirect cues that an individual possesses knowledge that is worth learning.

These cues can lead to humans imitating harmful behaviours. Copycat suicides occur when the person attempting suicide copies the method of a suicide attempt they had heard about or seen in the media, with a significant rise in attempts seen after celebrity suicides (see Werther effect). Suicides can spread through social networks like an epidemic due large groups of people imitating the behaviour of a model or group of models (see Blue Whale Challenge).

Imitative learning in robotics

Initiative learning can be used in robotics as an alternative to traditional reinforcement learning. Traditional reinforcement learning algorithms start from essentially taking random actions, and are left to figure out the correct sequence of actions to achieve the goal by themselves. However, this approach can fail in robotics, where the reward function may be extremely sparse (e.g. the robot either succeeds or fails, no in-between). If success requires the robot to complete a complex sequence of actions, the reinforcement learning algorithm may struggle to make progress in training. Imitative learning can be used to create a set of successful examples for the reinforcement learning algorithm to learn from by having a human researcher manually pilot the robot, and record the actions taken. These successful examples can guide the reinforcement learning algorithm to the right path better than taking purely random actions would. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethology</span> Scientific objective study of non-human animal behaviour

Ethology is a branch of zoology that studies the behaviour of non-human animals. It has its scientific roots in the work of Charles Darwin and of American and German ornithologists of the late 19th and early 20th century, including Charles O. Whitman, Oskar Heinroth, and Wallace Craig. The modern discipline of ethology is generally considered to have begun during the 1930s with the work of the Dutch biologist Nikolaas Tinbergen and the Austrian biologists Konrad Lorenz and Karl von Frisch, the three winners of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Ethology combines laboratory and field science, with a strong relation to neuroanatomy, ecology, and evolutionary biology.

Observational learning is learning that occurs through observing the behavior of others. It is a form of social learning which takes various forms, based on various processes. In humans, this form of learning seems to not need reinforcement to occur, but instead, requires a social model such as a parent, sibling, friend, or teacher with surroundings. Particularly in childhood, a model is someone of authority or higher status in an environment. In animals, observational learning is often based on classical conditioning, in which an instinctive behavior is elicited by observing the behavior of another, but other processes may be involved as well.

Operant conditioning, also called instrumental conditioning, is a learning process where voluntary behaviors are modified by association with the addition of reward or aversive stimuli. The frequency or duration of the behavior may increase through reinforcement or decrease through punishment or extinction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operant conditioning chamber</span> Laboratory apparatus used to study animal behavior

An operant conditioning chamber is a laboratory apparatus used to study animal behavior. The operant conditioning chamber was created by B. F. Skinner while he was a graduate student at Harvard University. The chamber can be used to study both operant conditioning and classical conditioning.

Social learning is a theory of learning process social behavior which proposes that new behaviors can be acquired by observing and imitating others. It states that learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context and can occur purely through observation or direct instruction, even in the absence of motor reproduction or direct reinforcement. In addition to the observation of behavior, learning also occurs through the observation of rewards and punishments, a process known as vicarious reinforcement. When a particular behavior is rewarded regularly, it will most likely persist; conversely, if a particular behavior is constantly punished, it will most likely desist. The theory expands on traditional behavioral theories, in which behavior is governed solely by reinforcements, by placing emphasis on the important roles of various internal processes in the learning individual.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal cognition</span> Intelligence of non-human animals

Animal cognition encompasses the mental capacities of non-human animals including insect cognition. The study of animal conditioning and learning used in this field was developed from comparative psychology. It has also been strongly influenced by research in ethology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary psychology; the alternative name cognitive ethology is sometimes used. Many behaviors associated with the term animal intelligence are also subsumed within animal cognition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobo doll experiment</span> Psychology experiment

The Bobo doll experiment is the collective name for a series of experiments performed by psychologist Albert Bandura to test his social learning theory. Between 1961 and 1963, he studied children's behaviour after watching an adult model act aggressively towards a Bobo doll. The most notable variation of the experiment measured the children's behavior after seeing the adult model rewarded, punished, or experience no consequence for physically abusing the Bobo doll.

Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understand the behavior of humans and other animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex evoked by the pairing of certain antecedent stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that individual's history, including especially reinforcement and punishment contingencies, together with the individual's current motivational state and controlling stimuli. Although behaviorists generally accept the important role of heredity in determining behavior, they focus primarily on environmental events. The cognitive revolution of the late 20th century largely replaced behaviorism as an explanatory theory with cognitive psychology, which unlike behaviorism examines internal mental states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imitation</span> Behaviour in which an individual observes and replicates anothers behaviour

Imitation is a behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's behavior. Imitation is also a form of that leads to the "development of traditions, and ultimately our culture. It allows for the transfer of information between individuals and down generations without the need for genetic inheritance." The word imitation can be applied in many contexts, ranging from animal training to politics. The term generally refers to conscious behavior; subconscious imitation is termed mirroring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Echolalia</span> Speech disorder

Echolalia is the unsolicited repetition of vocalizations made by another person. In its profound form it is automatic and effortless. It is one of the echophenomena, closely related to echopraxia, the automatic repetition of movements made by another person; both are "subsets of imitative behavior" whereby sounds or actions are imitated "without explicit awareness". Echolalia may be an immediate reaction to a stimulus or may be delayed.

Extinction is a behavioral phenomenon observed in both operantly conditioned and classically conditioned behavior, which manifests itself by fading of non-reinforced conditioned response over time. When operant behavior that has been previously reinforced no longer produces reinforcing consequences the behavior gradually stops occurring. In classical conditioning, when a conditioned stimulus is presented alone, so that it no longer predicts the coming of the unconditioned stimulus, conditioned responding gradually stops. For example, after Pavlov's dog was conditioned to salivate at the sound of a metronome, it eventually stopped salivating to the metronome after the metronome had been sounded repeatedly but no food came. Many anxiety disorders such as post traumatic stress disorder are believed to reflect, at least in part, a failure to extinguish conditioned fear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emotion in animals</span> Research into similarities between non-human and human emotions

Emotion is defined as any mental experience with high intensity and high hedonic content. The existence and nature of emotions in non-human animals are believed to be correlated with those of humans and to have evolved from the same mechanisms. Charles Darwin was one of the first scientists to write about the subject, and his observational approach has since developed into a more robust, hypothesis-driven, scientific approach. Cognitive bias tests and learned helplessness models have shown feelings of optimism and pessimism in a wide range of species, including rats, dogs, cats, rhesus macaques, sheep, chicks, starlings, pigs, and honeybees. Jaak Panksepp played a large role in the study of animal emotion, basing his research on the neurological aspect. Mentioning seven core emotional feelings reflected through a variety of neuro-dynamic limbic emotional action systems, including seeking, fear, rage, lust, care, panic and play. Through brain stimulation and pharmacological challenges, such emotional responses can be effectively monitored.

Animal culture can be defined as the ability of non-human animals to learn and transmit behaviors through processes of social or cultural learning. Culture is increasingly seen as a process, involving the social transmittance of behavior among peers and between generations. It can involve the transmission of novel behaviors or regional variations that are independent of genetic or ecological factors.

Comparative cognition is the comparative study of the mechanisms and origins of cognition in various species, and is sometimes seen as more general than, or similar to, comparative psychology. From a biological point of view, work is being done on the brains of fruit flies that should yield techniques precise enough to allow an understanding of the workings of the human brain on a scale appreciative of individual groups of neurons rather than the more regional scale previously used. Similarly, gene activity in the human brain is better understood through examination of the brains of mice by the Seattle-based Allen Institute for Brain Science, yielding the freely available Allen Brain Atlas. This type of study is related to comparative cognition, but better classified as one of comparative genomics. Increasing emphasis in psychology and ethology on the biological aspects of perception and behavior is bridging the gap between genomics and behavioral analysis.

Modeling is:

  1. a method used in certain cognitive-behavioral techniques of psychotherapy whereby the client learns by imitation alone, without any specific verbal direction by the therapist, and
  2. a general process in which persons serve as models for others, exhibiting the behavior to be imitated by the others This process is most commonly discussed with respect to children.

In emulation learning, subjects learn about parts of their environment and use this to achieve their own goals and is an observational learning mechanism.

Episodic-like memory is the memory system in animals that is comparable to human episodic memory. The term was first described by Clayton & Dickinson referring to an animal's ability to encode and retrieve information about 'what' occurred during an episode, 'where' the episode took place, and 'when' the episode happened. This ability in animals is considered 'episodic-like' because there is currently no way of knowing whether or not this form of remembering is accompanied by conscious recollection—a key component of Endel Tulving's original definition of episodic memory.

Cultural group selection is an explanatory model within cultural evolution of how cultural traits evolve according to the competitive advantage they bestow upon a group. This multidisciplinary approach to the question of human culture engages research from the fields of anthropology, behavioural economics, evolutionary biology, evolutionary game theory, sociology, and psychology.

Social learning refers to learning that is facilitated by observation of, or interaction with, another animal or its products. Social learning has been observed in a variety of animal taxa, such as insects, fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals.


Human contingency learning (HCL) is the observation that people tend to acquire knowledge based on whichever outcome has the highest probability of occurring from particular stimuli. In other words, individuals gather associations between a certain behaviour and a specific consequence. It is a form of learning for many organisms.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ganos C, Ogrzal T, Schnitzler A, Münchau A (September 2012). "The pathophysiology of echopraxia/echolalia: relevance to Gilles de la Tourette syndrome". Mov. Disord. 27 (10): 1222–9. doi:10.1002/mds.25103. PMID   22807284. S2CID   22422642.
  2. ↑ Heyes C (Aug 5, 2012). "Grist and mills: on the cultural origins of cultural learning". Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 367 (1599): 2181–91. doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0120. PMC   3385685 . PMID   22734061.
  3. ↑ Saggerson, George; Honey (2005). "Imitative Learning of Stimulus-Response and Response-Outcome Associations in Pigeons". Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes. 31 (3): 289–300. doi:10.1037/0097-7403.31.3.289. PMID   16045384.
  4. ↑ Chesler, P. (1969). "Maternal Influence in Learning by Observation in Kittens". Science. 166 (3907): 901–903. Bibcode:1969Sci...166..901C. doi:10.1126/science.166.3907.901. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   5345208. S2CID   683297.
  5. ↑ Byrne, Richard W.; Russon, Anne E. (1998). "Learning by imitation: A hierarchical approach". Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 21 (5): 667–684. doi:10.1017/S0140525X98001745. ISSN   0140-525X. PMID   10097023. S2CID   988905.
  6. ↑ Zentall, Thomas R. (2006). "Imitation: definitions, evidence, and mechanisms". Animal Cognition. 9 (4): 335–353. doi:10.1007/s10071-006-0039-2. ISSN   1435-9448. PMID   17024510. S2CID   16183221.
  7. ↑ Buttelmann, David; Carpenter, Malinda; Call, Josep; Tomasello, Michael (2007). "Enculturated chimpanzees imitate rationally". Developmental Science. 10 (4): F31–F38. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00630.x. ISSN   1467-7687. PMID   17552931.
  8. 1 2 Bjorklund, David F.; Yunger, Jennifer L.; Bering, Jesse M.; Ragan, Patricia (2002). "The generalization of deferred imitation in enculturated chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)". Animal Cognition. 5 (1): 49–58. doi:10.1007/s10071-001-0124-5. ISSN   1435-9448. PMID   11957402. S2CID   11537264.
  9. 1 2 Tomasello, Michael; Savage-Rumbaugh, Sue; Kruger, Ann Cale (1993). "Imitative Learning of Actions on Objects by Children, Chimpanzees, and Enculturated Chimpanzees". Child Development. 64 (6): 1688–1705. doi:10.2307/1131463. ISSN   0009-3920. JSTOR   1131463. PMID   8112113.
  10. ↑ Horner, Victoria; Whiten, Andrew (2005). "Causal knowledge and imitation/emulation switching in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and children (Homo sapiens)". Animal Cognition. 8 (3): 164–181. doi:10.1007/s10071-004-0239-6. ISSN   1435-9448. PMID   15549502. S2CID   1949770.
  11. ↑ Clegg, Jennifer M.; Legare, Cristine H. (2015-12-19). "Instrumental and Conventional Interpretations of Behavior Are Associated With Distinct Outcomes in Early Childhood". Child Development. 87 (2): 527–542. doi:10.1111/cdev.12472. ISSN   0009-3920. PMID   26682522.
  12. 1 2 Clegg, Jennifer M.; Legare, Cristine H. (2015-12-19). "Instrumental and Conventional Interpretations of Behavior Are Associated With Distinct Outcomes in Early Childhood". Child Development. 87 (2): 527–42. doi:10.1111/cdev.12472. ISSN   0009-3920. PMID   26682522.
  13. ↑ Henrich, J.; Broesch, J. (2011). "On the nature of cultural transmission networks: evidence from Fijian villages for adaptive learning biases". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 366 (1567): 1139–1148. doi:10.1098/rstb.2010.0323. ISSN   0962-8436. PMC   3049092 . PMID   21357236.
  14. ↑ Chudek, Maciej; Heller, Sarah; Birch, Susan; Henrich, Joseph (2012). "Prestige-biased cultural learning: bystander's differential attention to potential models influences children's learning". Evolution and Human Behavior. 33 (1): 46–56. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.05.005.
  15. ↑ Tianhao Zhang; Zoe McCarthy; Owen Jow; Dennis Lee; Xi Chen; Ken Goldberg; Pieter Abbeel (2018-03-06). "Deep Imitation Learning for Complex Manipulation Tasks from Virtual Reality Teleoperation". arXiv: 1710.04615v2 [cs.LG].
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