Titel
Prenatal auditory learning in avian vocal learners and non-learners
Autor*in
Diane Colombelli-Négrel
College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University
Mark E. Hauber
Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Christine Evans
College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University
... show all
Abstract
Understanding when learning begins is critical for identifying the factors that shape both the developmental course and the function of information acquisition. Until recently, sufficient development of the neural substrates for any sort of vocal learning to begin in songbirds was thought to be reached well after hatching. New research shows that embryonic gene activation and the outcome of vocal learning can be modulated by sound exposure in ovo. We tested whether avian embryos across lineages differ in their auditory response strength and sound learning in ovo, which we studied in vocal learning (Maluridae, Geospizidae) and vocal non-learning (Phasianidae, Spheniscidae) taxa. While measuring heart rate in ovo, we exposed embryos to (i) conspecific or heterospecific vocalizations, to determine their response strength, and (ii) conspecific vocalizations repeatedly, to quantify cardiac habituation, a form of non-associative learning. Response strength towards conspecific vocalizations was greater in two species with vocal production learning compared to two species without. Response patterns consistent with non-associative auditory learning occurred in all species. Our results demonstrate a capacity to perceive and learn to recognize sounds in ovo, as evidenced by habituation, even in species that were previously assumed to have little, if any, vocal production learning.
Stichwort
embryonic discriminationin ovo learningplayback
Objekt-Typ
Sprache
Englisch [eng]
Persistent identifier
phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1624696
Erschienen in
Titel
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Band
376
Ausgabe
1836
ISSN
0962-8436
Erscheinungsdatum
2021
Publication
The Royal Society
Erscheinungsdatum
2021
Zugänglichkeit
Rechte
Rechteangabe
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