Haldar Esha, Subramanya Padmini, von Bayern Auguste M P
Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Seewiesen 82319, Germany.
Division of Evolutionary Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, 82152 Munich, Germany.
iScience. 2024 Dec 1;27(12):111514. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.111514. eCollection 2024 Dec 20.
Automatic imitation is the involuntary tendency of humans to copy others' actions even when counterproductive. We examined the automatic imitation of actions in blue-throated macaws (), employing a stimulus-response-compatibility task. After training seven macaws to perform two different actions with legs and wings upon specific hand commands, the subjects were divided into a compatible and incompatible group. We rewarded the subjects for performing the same action as the conspecific model in the compatible group and the opposite action in the incompatible group. Involuntarily imitating the demonstrated actions, the incompatible group made more errors than the compatible group and took longer to eventually respond correctly. The study provides evidence for the automatic imitation of intransitive actions in non-human animals- parrots, suggesting that arbitrary action imitation facilitated by a mirror-neuron system in parrot brain may be adaptive in the ever-changing complex social environment of parrots and possibly drive cultural evolution.
自动模仿是人类即使在适得其反的情况下也会不自觉地模仿他人动作的倾向。我们通过一项刺激-反应兼容性任务，研究了蓝喉金刚鹦鹉的动作自动模仿。在训练了七只金刚鹦鹉根据特定的手部指令用腿和翅膀执行两种不同的动作后，将这些受试鹦鹉分为兼容组和不兼容组。我们奖励兼容组的受试鹦鹉做出与同种模型相同的动作，奖励不兼容组的受试鹦鹉做出相反的动作。不兼容组不自觉地模仿示范动作，比兼容组犯的错误更多，最终做出正确反应所需的时间也更长。该研究为非人类动物——鹦鹉的不及物动作自动模仿提供了证据，表明鹦鹉大脑中的镜像神经元系统促进的任意动作模仿可能在鹦鹉不断变化的复杂社会环境中具有适应性，并可能推动文化进化。
