EFFECTS OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF PARTNERS ON LEARNING RATES IN ZEBRA FINCHES TAENIOPYGIA-GUTTATA

Many interpretations of the adaptive value of group living involve tranfer of knowledge. However, according to learning theory, being in a pair with a knowledgeable partner can have paradoxical consequences. Obtaining food by following a skilled companion may reduce the ability of naive individuals to learn about clues that signal the occurrence of food. This study examined the relation between learning and following in paris of zebra finches. Knowledgeable partners were trained to obtain food from a computer-controlled dispenser by using the information provided by a signal. For non-knowledgeable partners, the signal was irrelevant and could not be used to predict foraging opportunities. The rate of learning about the signal by naive birds that shared the experience of either knowledgeable or nonknowledgeable tutors was then examined. Naive birds learned more slowly as a result of being in a pair with a knowledgeable than a non-knowledgeable partner. Well-informed mates acted as a reliable cue to predict foraging opportunities, and thus overshadowed the independent signal. The knowledge of a partner influences learning rates in naive individuals, but in the opposite direction to that predicted by earlier accounts of learning in social contexts. © 1991 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.