Imprinting (psychology)

In psychology and ethology, imprinting is a relatively rapid learning process that occurs during a particular developmental phase of life and leads to corresponding behavioural adaptations. The term originally was used to describe situations in which an animal internalises (learns) the characteristics of a perceived object, for example of a dangerous predator or a sweet fruit. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, provided the first scientific explanation of how imprinting really works, developing the thesis that our brain can store experiences in its neural network through "a permanent change after an event" – one of the main functions of the long-term memory, which he called superego. Shaped by social experiences during childhood, this instance is connected to the ego (consciousness) which is necessary for controlling behaviour in order to satisfy a series of innate needs. Ultimately the imprinted superego performs the function of conscience, which makes aware of two types of feelings: warnings not to repeat wrong decisions; and anticipation of the repeated experience of satisfaction. Even in ancient times, philosophers pondered the material properties that would be necessary for the function of ‘remembering’ and the learning process as such. To illustrate this, they imagined a kind of writing tablet in the brain, which was like soft clay and remained blank until an experience was mechanically ‘imprinted’ onto it.

Filial imprinting In humans and other higher animals it is chiefly the limbic structures of the brain that embody the long-term memory shaped by experiences. The best-known form of imprinting is that of small children and young animals, who limit their social preferences to their conspecifics – usually their mother first – after coming into contact with them. This so called filial imprinting is most obvious in nidifugous birds, which follow their parents around due to imprinting with their visual appearance, sounds and other behavioural expressions. It was first reported in domestic chickens by Sir Thomas More in 1516, as described in his treatise Utopia. It was rediscovered 350 years later by the 19th-century amateur biologist Douglas Spalding, and again in the 20th century by the early ethologist Oskar Heinroth; it was studied extensively and popularized by his disciple Konrad Lorenz working with greylag geese. Lorenz demonstrated how incubator-hatched geese would imprint on the first suitable moving stimulus they saw within what he called a "critical period" between 13 and 16 hours shortly after hatching. For example, the goslings would imprint on Lorenz himself (to be more specific, on his wading boots), and he is often depicted being followed by a gaggle of geese who had imprinted on him. Lorenz also found that the geese could imprint on inanimate objects. In one notable experiment, they followed a box placed on a model train in circles around the track. Filial imprinting is not restricted to non-human animals that are able to follow their parents, however. The filial imprinting of birds was a primary technique used to create the movie Winged Migration (Le Peuple Migrateur), which contains a great deal of footage of migratory birds in flight. The birds imprinted on handlers, who wore yellow jackets and honked horns constantly. The birds were then trained to fly along with a variety of aircraft, primarily ultralights.

The Italian hang-glider pilot Angelo d'Arrigo extended this technique. D'Arrigo noted that the flight of a non-motorised hang-glider is very similar to the flight patterns of migratory birds; both use updrafts of hot air (thermal currents) to gain altitude that then permits soaring flight over distance. He used this to reintroduce threatened species of raptors. Because birds hatched in captivity have no mentor birds to teach them traditional migratory routes, D'Arrigo hatched chicks under the wing of his glider and they imprinted on him. Then, he taught the fledglings to fly and to hunt. The young birds followed him not only on the ground (as with Lorenz) but also in the air as he took the path of various migratory routes. He flew across the Sahara and over the Mediterranean Sea to Sicily with eagles, from Siberia to Iran (5,500 km) with a flock of Siberian cranes, and over Mount Everest with Nepalese eagles. In 2006, he worked with a condor in South America. In a similar project, orphaned Canada geese were trained to their normal migration route by the Canadian ultralight enthusiast Bill Lishman, as shown in the fact-based movie drama Fly Away Home. Chicks of domestic chickens prefer to be near large groups of objects that they have imprinted on. This behaviour was used to determine that very young chicks of a few days old have rudimentary counting skills. In a series of experiments, they were made to imprint on plastic balls and could figure out which of two groups of balls hidden behind screens had the most balls. American coot mothers have the ability to recognize their chicks by imprinting on cues from the first chick that hatches. This allows mothers to distinguish their chicks from parasitic chicks. It commonly occurs in falconry birds reared from hatching by humans. Such birds are called "imprints" in falconry. The advantages of imprinting raptors on man have been realized by many for years. Imprinted captors can be used for educational purposes and research, and in captive breeding. The peregrine falcon has also been known to imprint on specific structures for their breeding grounds such as cliff sides and bridges and thus will favour that location for breeding.

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