Research overview: observational learning from the mother in kittens

Classic experiments established that kittens learn instrumental tasks faster by watching their mother than an unfamiliar adult or by trial and error alone. This overview surveys this body of work on maternal-biased social learning, the role of attention and the mother-offspring bond in facilitating acquisition, and how observation of the mother's predatory behaviour shapes kitten hunting and prey preferences. It discusses the broader significance for understanding how skills are transmitted across generations in cats and how social context modulates what is learned. The topic remains a touchstone for debates about the breadth of social learning in non-primate mammals.