Same but not the same: An eco-ethological model of automatic mimicry and behavioural contagion in primates
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The ability to copy others is rooted in biology, from invertebrates to non-human primates and Homo sapiens , including Müllerian–Batesian mimicry of permanent traits and automatic mimicry of transient behaviours. The latter is grouped with behavioural contagion under basic behavioural matching, but they differ phenomenologically along the dimensions of accuracy (fixed/modal components), latency (response delay), latency variability (delay range), and interactional properties (dyadic-to-supra-dyadic). Drawing on primate research and other scientific domains, I propose an eco-ethological model considering these dimensions, where the core is type of releasing stimulus. Signals (evolved to elicit responses in specific receivers) act as mirroring social releasers triggering automatic mimicry, which is accurate, fast, with reduced latency variability, and contingent on dyadic interaction. Cues (passively released sensory information) act as matching social releasers promoting behavioural contagion, which involves the replication of the same behaviour type (more than the same behaviour) and is slower, variably delayed, and primarily supra-dyadic. This distinction affects modelling, involving different levels of stochasticity and linear-to-nonlinear approaches. Because some signals can serve as cues - and some cues are signal-like - grey areas emerge, including mimicry-like behavioural contagion. When motor replication is coupled with emotional contagion (e.g. via the perception–action link), automatic mimicry may drive fine-grained, near-instantaneous/instantaneous, contingent, and dyadic emotional mirroring, whereas behavioural contagion may support coarse-grained, imminent/upcoming, temporally flexible, and collective emotional matching. As signal and cue processing has been shaped by natural selection over millions of years, the related emotional contagion is also tightly linked to human evolutionary history. • Automatic mimicry and behavioural contagion are not the same phenomenon • The proposed eco-ethological model links mimicry to signals and contagion to cues • This leads to differences in response accuracy, latency, variability, social scale • Such differences reflect on emotional contagion when coupled with motor replication • Signals and cues have evolved differently, as likely have mimicry and contagion
Author: Ivan Norscia
Institution: University of Turin
Language: English
Topic: Primate Behavior and Ecology
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,860
Awards: G3903734180, G7308234521
OpenAlex ID: W4416524388