The effects of social influence on neonatal approach latencies of domestic chicks (Gallus domesticus)

Schulman, Rimpau, & Lythgoe (1975) showed that chicks that were housed and trained in pairs demonstrated a greater resistance to extinction of the neonatal approach response than did chicks that were housed and trained in isolation. The purpose of the present study was to attempt to replicate the results of Schulman, et.al. and determine whether housing or training is the more important factor in generating the previous finding. Eighty-three, white leghorn chicks were run in an experiment employing a 2 x 2 factorial design comparing social vs isolate housing and social vs isolate imprinting training. The data was consistent with the findings of Schulman, Rimpau, & Lythgoe. The data also revealed that the housing condition is more important in producing greater resistance to extinction than is the training condition. It was suggested that resistance to extinction of an imprinted approach response is a highly sensitive measure of imprinting strength. It was further suggested that certain stimulus properties of the imprinting object that is used during imprinting training may be important in determining whether or not imprinting will occur in chicks that have been raised in the presence of peers.