ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2016
Social learning in nest-building birds: a role for familiarity.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 83 citations in OpenAlex.
- What do zebra finches learn besides singing? Systematic mapping of the literature and presentation of an efficient associative learning test.Animal cognition · 2023Pooled it
- Preferences for pitch sequence complexity are consistent with an inverted U-shape in humans and parrots.Royal Society open science · 2026Article
- Conformity and individual preference shape nest material use in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata).PloS one · 2026Article
- Genetic Relatedness Promotes Equal Contributions of Males and Females to Brood Care in a Biparental Cichlid Fish.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Human recreational activity does not influence open cup avian nest survival in urban green spaces.Urban ecosystems · 2025Article
- Zebra finches have style: Nest morphology is repeatable and associated with experience.iScience · 2023Article
- Llamas use social information from conspecifics and humans to solve a spatial detour task.Animal cognition · 2023Article
- Bird nest building: visions for the future.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Review
- Adding the neuro to cognition: from food storing to nest building.Animal cognition · 2023Review
- The significance of building behavior in the evolution of animal architecture.Ecological research · 2022Article
- Involvement of the neural social behaviour network during social information acquisition in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata).Learning & behavior · 2022Article
- Casting the Net Widely for Change in Animal Welfare: The Plight of Birds in Zoos, Ex Situ Conservation, and Conservation Fieldwork.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Animal culture research should include avian nest construction.Biology letters · 2021Article
- Animal cognition in an urbanised world.Frontiers in ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Traffic noise inhibits cognitive performance in a songbird.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Social learning about construction behaviour via an artefact.Animal cognition · 2019Article
- Nest size is predicted by female identity and the local environment in the blue tit (Royal Society open science · 2018Article
- The roles of vocal and visual interactions in social learning zebra finches: A video playback experiment.Behavioural processes · 2017Article
- Eurasian jays do not copy the choices of conspecifics, but they do show evidence of stimulus enhancement.PeerJ · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
It is becoming apparent that birds learn from their own experiences of nest building. What is not clear is whether birds can learn from watching conspecifics build. As social learning allows an animal to gain information without engaging in costly trial-and-error learning, first-time builders should exploit the successful habits of experienced builders. We presented first-time nest-building male zebra finches with either a familiar or an unfamiliar conspecific male building with material of a colour the observer did not like. When given the opportunity to build, males that had watched a familiar male build switched their material preference to that used by the familiar male. Males that observed unfamiliar birds did not. Thus, first-time nest builders use social information and copy the nest material choices when demonstrators are familiar but not when they are strangers. The relationships between individuals therefore influence how nest-building expertise is socially transmitted in zebra finches.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.