Paternal stimulation during infancy: effects upon aggression and open-field performance of mice.
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Newly hatched Khaki Campbell ducklings (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus) were initially housed in pairs and subsequently transferred to isolated housing conditions. Subjects living with another bird displayed filial behavior and little aggression upon encountering another duckling in a test arena. In contrast, ducklings housed in isolation exhibited aggressive pecking in addition to filial behavior when another duckling was subsequently encountered. In Experiment 2, ducklings were housed with an imprinting object (i.e., an object that elicits attachment behavior), but they were otherwise isolated from other birds. These subjects displayed little aggression when they were subsequently reunited with a conspecific, indicating that the aggression-precluding effects of social housing are not limited to the particular social stimulus with which the ducklings are housed. In Experiment 3, ducklings were again housed with an imprinting object, but this time the object was behind glass, thereby precluding tactile contact with it. Since these birds also exhibited little aggression when reunited with a conspecific, it is apparent that visual stimulation from an imprinting object is sufficient in itself to preclude subsequent aggression. These findings suggest that stimulation that elicits attachment behavior is the critical factor mediating isolation-induced aggression.
Mute ducklings, devocalized as embryos and maintained in auditory isolation, manifest a selective high-frequency perceptual deficit vis-à-vis the maternal call of their species at 24 hr after hatching. Since it takes a rather specific auditory experiential input to rectify this high-frequency insensitivity at 24 hr, it was predicted that, in the absence of auditory experience, devocal-isolated ducklings would fail to show sufficient endogenously mediated improvement to bring them up to the level of perceptual competence of vocal-communal ducklings at any age. This hypothesis proved wrong in that the proportion of devocalized ducklings showing a preference for the normal maternal call over the greater than 825-Hz attenuated one became equivalent to the vocal ducklings at 48 hr after hatching, as did their ability to discriminate the normal maternal call from greater than 1,800-Hz attenuated maternal call. At 65 hr, however, the devocalized ducklings' performance deteriorated back to the level observed at 24 hr. Embryonic exposure to the (sibling) contact-contentment call prevents the perceptual deficit at 24 hr and the deterioration at 65 hr.
The results of Schaefer and Hess showing that White Rock chicks described mirror-image response functions to spectral stimuli in approach and pecking behavior could not be replicated using Cornish-Cross chicks under more controlled conditions. Our results showed similar blue-orange bimodal functions for both behavioral responses, resembling the approach data of Schaefer and Hess and the earlier pecking data of Hess and others, but not the pecking data reported by Schaefer and Hess.
This study determined whether the visual characteristics of a familiar (imprinted) model or the auditory characteristics of the species maternal call are more important in determining the maternal preferences of visually imprinted ducklings. Domestic mallard (Peking) ducklings were visually imprinted to a stuffed model of a mallard duck during a 30-min following trial at 24 hr after hatching. Simultaneous choice tests between the familiar mallard model and an unfamiliar red-and-white striped box at 48 hr and 72 hr confirmed the efficacy of the imprinting procedure: When both models were silent, subjects preferred to follow the familiar mallard model. However, when a recording of the mallard maternal assembly call was played from a speaker mounted inside the red box, subjects imprinted to the mallard preferred to follow the unfamiliar box rather than the familiar mallard model (Experiment 1). That preference was not due merely to the audiovisual stimulation provided by athe box, since when a recording of intermittent tones was played from the mallard model, subjects imprinted to the mallard still preferred to follow the red box emitting the mallard call (Experiment 2). Playing only the tones from the red box disrupted the stability of the subjects' imprinted preferences between the first and second tests but did not produce a preference for the box (Experiment 3). These results show that the mallard maternal call is more important than visual experience with an inanimate model in determining the maternal preferences of visually imprinted Peking ducklings.
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