Volume 69, October 2016, Pages 1–14
- a Laboratoire Ethologie Cognition Développement, LECD EA3456, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, 200 avenue de la République, F92001 Nanterre cedex, France
- b Institut Universitaire de France, France
- Received 1 December 2015, Revised 24 June 2016, Accepted 28 June 2016, Available online 25 July 2016
Highlights
- •
- Exposure of birds to self-stimuli is widespread in behavioral studies.
- •
- Bird species exhibit different reactions to their own reflection in a mirror.
- •
- Self-odor recognition was evidenced in seabirds.
- •
- Oscine songbirds exhibit a strong response to the broadcast of the Bird’s Own Song.
- •
- One should consider the role of experience and development in the perception of self.
Abstract
The
perception of self is an important topic in several disciplines such as
ethology, behavioral ecology, psychology, developmental and cognitive
neuroscience. Self-perception is investigated by experimentally exposing
different species of animals to self-stimuli such as their own image,
smell or vocalizations. Here we review more than one hundred studies
using these methods in birds, a taxonomic group that exhibits a rich
diversity regarding ecology and behavior. Exposure to self-image is the
main method for studying self-recognition, while exposing birds to their
own smell is generally used for the investigation of homing or
odor-based kin discrimination. Self-produced vocalizations – especially
in oscine songbirds – are used as stimuli for understanding the
mechanisms of vocal coding/decoding both at the neural and at the
behavioral levels. With this review, we highlight the necessity to study
the perception of self in animals cross-modally and to consider the
role of experience and development, aspects that can be easily monitored
in captive populations of birds.
Keywords
- Self;
- awareness;
- Consciousness;
- Recognition;
- Birds;
- Aves;
- Mirror self recognition;
- Odor recognition;
- Vocalizations;
- Bird’s Own Song;
- Oscine songbirds;
- Vocal labeling;
- Vocal signature;
- Song playback;
- Animal cognition;
- Neuro-ethology;
- Comparative psychology
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
