Social enhancement and interference of food finding in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata)

In Experiment 1, pairs of naive zebra finches were allowed to find food in a same (local enhancement) or a different (local interference) location and in the presence of the same (stimulus enhancement) or different (stimulus interference) stimulus situation. The local interference condition resulted in significantly more time taken to find food and more search errors compared with both local enhancement and control (visually isolated) conditions. The stimulus interference condition resulted in searches of the stimulus associated with the partner's food source on an extinction posttest. In Experiment 2 the foraging behavior of a naive conspecific disrupted the performance of its knowledgeable partner and had stimulus interference effects on the knowledgeable partner in an extinction posttest like those found in Experiment 1.