Response facilitation in the domestic fowl

Response facilitation is an alternative learning process that could account for some imitative phenomena. It occurs when the presence of a conspecific performing an act temporarily increases the probability that an observing animal will perform the same act. This process could have important implications for social-learning research, because it provides a plausible means by which social learning could occur in animals, yet it superficially resembles imitation and consequently affects the interpretation of current popular ‘two-action’ tests of imitation. However, there is little good evidence on response facilitation effects, because cases of behavioural synchrony can usually be explained by other factors, so some researchers remain sceptical as to the importance of the process. We conducted an experimental study of social-learning processes in domestic fowl to evaluate whether response facilitation is a plausible explanatory term. Strong behavioural synchrony was observed in hens in preening, sitting and dustbathing behaviour. In the case of preening, we found strong evidence that this synchrony was unlikely to be accounted for by alternative social-learning processes or by external factors influencing birds in the same way. We conclude that there is compelling evidence for response facilitation in the domestic fowl.