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Adaptive Behavior and Learning: How Cognitive Processing and Social Interaction Might Affect Allospecific Vocal Learning in Grey Parrots (Psittacus erithacus)

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Prerational Intelligence: Adaptive Behavior and Intelligent Systems Without Symbols and Logic, Volume 1, Volume 2 Prerational Intelligence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Behavior of Natural and Artificial Systems, Volume 3

Part of the book series: Studies in Cognitive Systems ((COGS,volume 26))

Abstract

“Parrot” generally refers to certain hookbill birds, but the term has a second equally well-known connotation. “Parrot” is synonymous with facile, mindless mimicry — a consequence of numerous anecdotal reports in the popular press (e.g., Amsler 1947; Hensley 1980). In captivity, parrots reproduce everything from the sound of water gurgling down a drain to the human voice, yet we actually know little about their patterns of vocal mimicry and whether cognitive processes might be involved in mimetic behavior.

Based on material previously published in Balda, Pepperberg, & Kamil (1998). Animal cognition in nature. New York: Academic Press.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Irene M. Pepperberg

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  1. Irene M. Pepperberg
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

    Holk Cruse  & Helge Ritter  & 

  2. Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

    Jeffrey Dean

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Pepperberg, I.M. (2000). Adaptive Behavior and Learning: How Cognitive Processing and Social Interaction Might Affect Allospecific Vocal Learning in Grey Parrots (Psittacus erithacus). In: Cruse, H., Dean, J., Ritter, H. (eds) Prerational Intelligence: Adaptive Behavior and Intelligent Systems Without Symbols and Logic, Volume 1, Volume 2 Prerational Intelligence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Behavior of Natural and Artificial Systems, Volume 3. Studies in Cognitive Systems, vol 26. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0870-9_69

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0870-9_69

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