Study
Sub-adult ravens synchronize their play: a case of emotional contagion?
Osvath, Mathias; Sima, Martina
Animal Behavior and Cognition, 2014
Object play in a group of sub-adult ravens was recorded, with attention to whether individuals played at the same time and with the same kind of object more often than chance would produce.
- Studied in
- Corvus corax
- Sample size
- observations of object play in a group of sub-adult ravens
Play bouts were synchronised beyond chance, and birds tended to take up the same play type as others rather than simply playing nearby at the same moment.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Synchronised play may reflect emotional contagion — one bird’s state spreading to others — rather than independent coincidence.
How NatureHQ reads it
Included with the hedge intact. Play is real and well documented in ravens, and it is genuinely useful for explaining the aerial rolling and object-carrying people film and ask about. "Emotional contagion" is an interpretation of a synchrony statistic in a small captive group, and NatureHQ records it as a proposal rather than a demonstration — the observation would look the same if the birds were simply responding to the same cue.
- Small captive group; sub-adults only.
- Synchrony is consistent with shared external cues as well as with contagion.
- Emotional state is inferred from behaviour and not independently measured.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: Academic book publishersPublished as an academic monograph.
doi.org/10.12966/abc.05.09.2014
This reference was resolved automatically against Crossref on 2026-08-11.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-10.