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dc.contributor.authorvan de Waal, Erica
dc.contributor.authorWhiten, Andrew
dc.date.accessioned2012-10-17T08:31:01Z
dc.date.available2012-10-17T08:31:01Z
dc.date.issued2012-10-10
dc.identifier30926511
dc.identifiere892b5b9-dc61-4c56-ad61-e73a9f4dd94f
dc.identifier84867378275
dc.identifier000312385200067
dc.identifier.citationvan de Waal , E & Whiten , A 2012 , ' Spontaneous emergence, imitation and spread of alternative foraging techniques among groups of vervet monkeys ' , PLoS ONE , vol. 7 , no. 10 , e47008 . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047008en
dc.identifier.issn1932-6203
dc.identifier.otherRIS: urn:38EDEDFB5230B4F44F913D1CBA6A2152
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0003-2426-5890/work/65013958
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10023/3186
dc.description.abstractAnimal social learning has become a subject of broad interest, but demonstrations of bodily imitation in animals remain rare. Based on Voelkl and Huber's study of imitation by marmosets, we tested four groups of semi-captive vervet monkeys presented with food in modified film canisters (“aethipops’). One individual was trained to take the tops off canisters in each group and demonstrated five openings to them. In three groups these models used their mouth to remove the lid, but in one of the groups the model also spontaneously pulled ropes on a canister to open it. In the last group the model preferred to remove the lid with her hands. Following these spontaneous differentiations of foraging techniques in the models, we observed the techniques used by the other group members to open the canisters. We found that mouth opening was the most common technique overall, but the rope and hands methods were used significantly more in groups they were demonstrated in than in groups where they were not. Our results show bodily matching that is conventionally described as imitation. We discuss the relevance of these findings to discoveries about mirror neurons, and implications of the identity of the model for social transmission.
dc.format.extent7
dc.format.extent220334
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofPLoS ONEen
dc.subjectEvolutionary biologyen
dc.subjectBirdsen
dc.subjectChimpanzees Pan-Troglodytesen
dc.subjectCultureen
dc.subjectAnimalsen
dc.subjectMirror neuronsen
dc.subjectMechanismsen
dc.subjectPremotor Cortexen
dc.subjectQL Zoologyen
dc.subject.lccQLen
dc.titleSpontaneous emergence, imitation and spread of alternative foraging techniques among groups of vervet monkeysen
dc.typeJournal articleen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. School of Psychology and Neuroscienceen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. ‘Living Links to Human Evolution’ Research Centreen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciencesen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Centre for Social Learning & Cognitive Evolutionen
dc.identifier.doi10.1371/journal.pone.0047008
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden


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