Practice question · True or false
A gosling will imprint on and follow a bouncing ball it encounters during the sensitive period, even though the ball never provides food.
Hints
- Does imprinting depend on reward, the way most learning does?
- The trigger is exposure to a moving object within the window, not food.
Show the answer
True
Why
True. Imprinting requires no reinforcement - exposure to a moving object during the window is enough, so a gosling will follow a food-less bouncing ball. This is exactly what distinguishes imprinting from reward-based learning.
Practise Imprinting and Sensitive Periods
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More questions on Imprinting and Sensitive Periods
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