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Results for “IMPRINTING (PSYCHOLOGY)”
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Selection processes in living systems: role in cognitive construction and recovery from brain damage.
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Enhanced fos expression in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) brain following first courtship.
Young zebra finch males that court a female for the first time develop a stable preference for the females of that species. On the neuronal level, consolidation of the imprinted information takes place. Here we demonstrate that first courtship or being chased around in the cage leads to enhanced fos expression in forebrain areas implicated in learning and imprinting in zebra finch males compared with birds reared in isolation or in the aviary. Two of the forebrain areas highly active during first courtship (as demonstrated by the 14C-2-deoxyglucose technique), the imprinting locus latral neo/hyperstriatum ventrale (LNH) and the secondary visual area hyperstriatum accessorium/dorsale (HAD), demonstrate enhanced fos expression. Two other imprinting-related areas, the medial neo/hyperstriatum ventrale (MNH) and archistriatum/neostriatum caudale (ANC), do show c-fos induction; however, the areas are not congruous with those demarcated by the 2-DG autoradiographic studies. Additional telencephalic areas include the olfactory lobe, the information storage site lobus parolfactorius (LPO), the memory site hippocampus, the auditory caudomedial neostriatum implicated in the strength of song learning, and the caudolateral neostriatum, which is comparable to the mammalian prefrontal cortex. In addition, c-fos is induced by first courtship and chasing in neurosecretory cell groups of the preoptic area and hypothalamus associated with the repertoire of sexual behavior and stress or enhanced arousal. Enhanced fos expression is also observed in brainstem sources of specific (noradrenergic, catecholaminergic) and nonspecific (reticular formation) activating pathways with inputs to higher brain areas implicated in the imprinting process. Birds reared in isolation or alternatively in the aviary with social and sexual contact to conspecifics showed attenuated or no fos expression in most of the above-mentioned areas. First courtship and chasing both lead to enhanced uptake of 2-DG in the four imprinting areas, as well as subsequent changes in spine density-an anatomical manifestation of the imprinting process. fos expression in the imprinting and other telencephalic, preoptic, hypothalamic, and mesencephalic brain regions indicates processing of stimuli originating from exposure (like chasing) and the analysis of stimuli in a behaviorally relevant, sexually explicit context (like first courtship). c-fos induction in these brain areas indicates its involvement in the triggering of neural changes that accompany the learning process of imprinting, leading eventually to alterations in dendritic spine density in the zebra finch.
The effect of imprinting training on hyperstriatal EEG in young domestic chicks (Gallus domesticus).
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The development of visual flicker rate preference in the newly hatched chick.
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The effects of lifelong isolation on species identification in Zebra fish (Brachydanio rerio).
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Discrepancy from rearing conditions affects chicks' behavior in a novel situation.
Chicks raised in small or large cages were exposed to a relatively large novel situation at 12 or 24 hr of age. At both ages, chicks from small cages had longer latencies to begin moving and lower activity scores. Age itself had no effect. Apparently, chicks learn the characteristics of their home cage shortly after hatching, and discrepancy from the home affects their response to novel situations.
The influence of incubatory photic stimuli on chicks' visual intensity preference for approach behavior.
Incubating chicks were presented with a high-intensity or low-intensity photic flicker stimulus, or with no photic stimulation. The chicks were tested at 16 hr posthatching for approach behavior, or at 96 hr for imprinting performance to the 2 visual flicker stimuli. The data were analyzed in accord with the arguments of whether those stimuli that effectively elicit approach behavior are determined by interaction between maturation and experience or by a genetic program. The results show that prehatch exposure to photic flicker stimuli affects initial approach behavior and imprinting performance, supporting the interaction position in opposition to the genetically programmed position.
Increase of the corticosterone level in ducklings during the sensitive period of the following response.
Increased fear may be one of the factors limiting the sensitive imprinting period. Thus, we analyzed corticosterone levels in 121 Peking ducklings during and after this sensitive period using the method of competitive protein binding. The data pointed to a corticosterone increase within a period of 12-28 hr after hatching as well as to the presence of a circadian rythm. The low coefficient of determination of post-hatch age and corticosterone level (8%) pleads for a multi-dimensional system. However, the corticosterone increase may be the basis for an increase in fear and a decrease in the likelihood of imprinting.
Approach and departure patterns generated in the domestic chick by intermittent white light.
Newly hatched domestic chicks were given extended free access to 7 rates of intermittent white light between .5 and 24 flashes per sec. Inspection of the data showed approaches and departures directed toward the light that increased in number and formed an orderly pattern as the rates neared 4 per sec and as the chicks exposed to this rate became older. Also, no differences were found in the amount of time chicks remained next to the various rates during each approach but only in the amount of time they remained away during each departure. The bearing of these results on the proposal that flicker phototaxis might stem from the neural excitation produced through photic driving was discussed along with relating further evidence to recent work in imprinting.
Auditory imprinting in domestic chicks during tonic immobility.
In present study we attempted to determine whether the characteristic unresponsiveness of animals during tonic immobility is due to sensory or motor inhibition. Specifically, we exposed domestic chicks to an auditory imprinting stimulus during tonic immobility. Seventy-five White Leghorn chicks were tested in 1 of 5 conditions: (1) immobilized and imprinted; (2) restrained but not immobilized, and imprinted; (3) imprinted only; (4) immobilized but not imprinted; and (5) neither immobilized nor imprinted. Chicks in the 1st 3 groups all imprinted to the same degree in that they did not differ in median run times in a straight alley with the imprinting stimulus. These results demonstrate that chicks do process auditory stimuli during tonic immobility and the reduced responsiveness observed during tonic immobility is due mainly to motor inhibition.
Sexual imprinting in male Japanese quail: the effects of castration at hatching.
This study investigated whether gonadal hormones are required for sexual imprinting in male Japanese quail during the period of exposure to the imprinting stimulus. Brown males were either castrated or laparotomized on the day of hatching. Between Days 10 and 30 of age castrated males (N = 15) and intact laparotomized males (N = 10) were exposed individually to white females. A 2nd group of intact laparotomized males (N = 13) were exposed to brown females. When adult (Day 54), 7 of the castrated males were treated with testosterone propionate (TP): the remaining 8 castrated males and intact groups received saline. All males were given choices between novel white and novel brown females starting on Day 62. The TP-treated castrated males behaved like intact white-exposed males, preferring to approach and copulate with white females significantly more readily than did intact brown-exposed males. The untreated castrated males showed no sexual behavior. The results indicate that gonadal hormones are not required during the period of exposure to an imprinting stimulus in male Japanese quail.
Development of species identification in ducklings: IX. The necessity of experiencing normal variations in embryonic auditory stimulation.
The domestic mallard duck embryo must be exposed to its embryonic contract-contentment call at a repetition rate of 4 notes/sec if the neonate is to show the species-typical preference for the maternal call at its normal rate (3.7 notes/sec) after hatching. Exposing the embryo to the contact call at either 2.1 notes/sec or 5.8 notes/sec is no more effective than no auditory experience at all. To determine if there is a critical period for exposure, embryos were exposed to the 4 notes/sec call either before or after hatching. Both periods proved equally effective provided only that a 48-hr "consolidation" period was allowed to intervene between stimulation and testing. That is, the birds tested 24 hr after prenatal or postnatal stimulation behaved as if they were not stimulated at all. The present study was undertaken to determine whether the curious requirement for a consolidation period is a normal developmental phenomenon or a consequence of limiting the birds to exposure to a call with an abnormally invariant repetition rate of 4 notes/sec. To that end, embryos were stimulated with the same call as before but at variable rates of 2.1, 4, and 5.8 notes/sec, as happens under normal conditions of development. In this case, the neonates had no need for a consolidation period and showed the species-typical preference at 24 hr after hatching. Thus the previous results were a consequence of an abnormally narrow range of embryonic auditory stimulation. A 2nd experiment showed that, if the birds' postnatal perception was to be normal, the embryos could not be merely exposed to the rhythmic component of the contact call, but had to experience the characteristic frequency modulation of the call as well. These results indicate that we require surprisingly detailed information about the sensory stimulation present during the usual course of development of our subject species if we are to give an appropriate interpretation to the results of early experiential and critical period manipulations. Knowledge of usual sensory-stimulative variations has not been a conspicuous feature of developmental psychobiological studies in the past.
Perceptual imprinting: genetic influences and genotype-environment interactions.
One-day-old visually naive and experienced quail chicks (C. coturnix japonica) were mass-screened for approach preferences by pairs of stimuli that were identical in size and luminance but different in color, or pattern, or both color and pattern. Subjects were drawn from the 18th generation of quail lines that were bidirectionally selected for color preferences, and from an unselected genetic control line. Experience consisted of 12 hr of unreinforced perceptual exposure to colored or white stimuli, with and without associated pattern. Data indicated strong genetic influences in the preferences of exposure to color and pattern resulted in selective learning of color but not pattern. Systematic variations in postexposure choices between composite stimuli of colors and pattern. Systematic variations in postexposure choices between composite stimuli of colors and patterns were traced to variations of genotype, experience, and genotype-experience interactions.
Effects of age of chick on social transmission of pecking preferences from hen to chicks.
A "pecking" arrow releases and directs pecking by neonatal chicks. Distinctive stimuli placed on or near the tip of the moving arrow lead to pecking that is selectively directed to matching stimuli. A total of 3 min of exposure to such modeling conditions results in remarkable persistence of imitative behavior. Matching stimuli are preferentially pecked 3 days later after three intervening tests without modeling. In contrast to the sensitive period for filial imprinting within the first 3 days posthatch, age of chick at training has no permanent effect on the development of pecking preferences. If anything, filial imprinting interferes with released-directed pecking, suggesting that separate processes are involved.
Development of visually controlled maternal preferences in Peking ducklings.
The interaction between natural visual and auditory stimulation in the control of filial behavior was studied in domestic mallard (Peking) ducklings during the first 3 days of postnatal life. Visual imprinting at 24 hr resulted in a visual preference for the familiar model over an unfamiliar model in each of two choice tests, one at 48 hr and one at 72 hr, but only if both models were silent. If both models emitted a recording of the mallard maternal call, the visual preference was found only in the later (72-hr) test. Visuomotor experience between training and testing was found to be essential for the development of the visual preference at 72 hr, but the required experience was of a very general nature. Either a choice test with silent models or a period of social rearing (between 24 and 72 hr) provided effective experience. Thus, the ability to show a visual preference in the presence of the maternal call at 72 hr depends on experience, but not necessarily on further exposure to the imprinting object or to any specific aspects of the test situation. These results demonstrate the importance of normal visual, motor and/or social experience to the development of the visual control of filial behavior in ducklings.
Effects of social experience on visually imprinted maternal preferences in Peking ducklings.
If Peking ducklings are given social experience with agemates after their initial exposure to a maternal imprinting model (a stuffed mallard hen) their subsequent maternal preferences in simultaneous choice tests are different from those of isolate-reared ducklings. Early in development (at 48 hr after hatching), they show a visual preference for the mallard over a redhead model, a difficult discrimination that isolated birds do not make (Experiment I). However, later in development (at 72 hr after hatching) the social experience interferes with the birds' maternal preferences, in that socially reared birds do not show a visual preference for the mallard over a pintail model, a preference that isolated birds do show at that age (Experiment II). It was found that it is the later social experience with agemates (between 48 and 72 hr) that actively interferes with the preference for the mallard model, because birds that have had only early social experience with agemates (between 24 and 48 hr) prefer the familiar mallard to the pintail model at both 48 and 72 hr (Experiment III). The conventional view of visual imprinting is that it serves to establish a maternal bond that does not require further experience with the mother to be maintained. Our results suggest that in the natural situation, where potentially interfering social stimulation is provided by siblings, continual exposure to the mother may be necessary to maintain the maternal bond even after it has been established.
Effects of early experience on the development of filial preferences in the domestic chick.
Factors affecting the development of filial preferences in chicks were investigated. Four groups of chicks were hatched and maintained in darkness. When the chicks were 20-hr old, three of these groups were exposed to an overhead light ("primed") for .5 h. When 24-hr old, all groups were placed in running wheels for 2 hr. While in the wheels one group was exposed to a visually complex pattern, one group to diffuse overhead light, and the remaining two groups (one primed and one not primed) were in darkness. All chicks were then returned to a dark incubator until their preference for a red box or a stuffed jungle fowl was measured in a simultaneous choice test either 2 hr (Test I) or 24 hr (Test II) later. At Test I the chicks which had been exposed to the complex visual pattern showed a significant preference for the fowl. Chicks in the other groups showed no preference. At Test II all groups showed a significant preference for the fowl. The results of a second experiment suggested that the later emerging preference was related to the chicks experience in the running wheel. It was concluded that the preference for the fowl will develop in entirely dark-reared chicks that are allowed a period of time in a running wheel, but that this preference will appear earlier in chicks which have had experience of a complex visual pattern.