From Biological Constraints to Flexible Behavior Systems: Extending Our Knowledge of Sexual Conditioning in Male Japanese Quail (original) (raw)
Related papers
Differences in the sexual conditioned behavior of male and female Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica)
Journal of Comparative Psychology, 1997
The conditioned responses of male and female Japanese quail (Coturnix japonicd) were compared in a Pavlovian conditioning procedure in which presentation of a brief conditioned stimulus was immediately followed by the release of a copulation partner. Male quail vigorously approached the conditioned stimulus and were much more likely to enter the compartment housing their copulation partner than were female birds (Experiment 1). In females, sexual conditioning resulted in increased squatting (Experiment 2). This response was the reflection of sexual behavior rather than more general social behavior (Experiment 3). These findings provide the first definitive evidence of sexual learning in female quail and are consistent with the interpretation that sexual conditioning increases sexual arousal or receptivity in both sexes but the increase has different behavioral manifestations in male and female quail.
Learning and male-male sexual competition in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica)
Journal of Comparative Psychology, 1996
Male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) were trained individually to discriminate between 2 sounds presented at opposite ends of an outdoor aviary. One of the sounds (the positive conditioned stimulus [CS+]) was associated with the release of a female, and the other (the negative CS [CS-]) was presented alone. Which of the 2 sounds served as the CS+ (and which served as the CS-) was counterbalanced across subjects. The subjects came to approach their CS+ but did not move away from their CS-. After having been conditioned individually, the subjects were tested in pairs, with a single female released after the presentation of a stimulus that was the CS4-for one of the males and the CS-for the other male. During most of these tests, the male for whom the prefemale stimulus was the CS + copulated with the female before the male for whom the prefemale stimulus was the CS -. These results indicate that learning can have an important role in competition for access to a reproductive partner.
Classical conditioning increases reproductive success in Japanese quail
Animal Behaviour, 2005
We examined the adaptive significance of learning by determining whether classical conditioning increases reproductive success. Male and female quail received conditioning trials in which a small light (conditioned stimulus or CS) signalled access to a copulation partner. After this learning experience, pairs of subjects received a single 2-min (experiment 1) or 5-min (experiment 2) copulation test during which both the female and the male, only the female, only the male, or neither bird received the conditioned stimulus signalling access to a copulation partner. Signalling the copulatory episode for both the female and the male significantly increased the percentage of fertilized eggs that were produced and increased the efficiency of the copulatory behaviours that occurred. Presenting the CS to just one or the other sexual partner had no effect. These findings demonstrate that classical conditioning can enhance reproductive success, but the effect requires that both the male and the female be able to anticipate a sexual encounter.
Second-order sexual conditioning in male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica)
Animal Learning & Behavior, 1995
Second-order conditioning of social approach to a female conspecific in male Japanese quail was investigated in four experiments. Subjects that received paired first-and second-order trials acquired second-order conditioning in both Experiments 1 and 2. In contrast, subjects that received paired first-order but unpaired second-order trials, and subjects that received unpaired first-order but paired second-order trials, did not acquire second-order conditioning. In Experiment 3, subjects for whom the first-order conditioned stimulus was presented in extinction showed second-order conditioning comparable to that shown by subjects in a control group that did not receive the extinction procedure. In Experiment 4, subjects approached a second-order stimulus less when sexually satiated than when sexually deprived. These flndings suggest that second-order sexual conditioning in quail is mediated by an association of the second-order stimulus with a representation of the unconditioned stimulus.
2009
The effect of the magnitude of sexual reinforcement on the extinction of a running response was studied in quail. In Experiment 1, a group of subjects (L) received copulatory access to eight females, whereas a second group (S) received access to a single female. Both groups acquired the running response. During extinction, Group S showed a fast decrease in responding, whereas Group L persisted longer. In Experiment 2, males were allowed a choice between one or eight females. Preference for eight females demonstrated that males discriminated between the two reward magnitudes and that access to eight females had a larger reinforcing value than access to one female. The results are discussed within the context of the paradoxical reinforcement effects and the divergence in learning mechanisms in birds.
Conditioning of appetitive and consummatory sexual behavior in male Japanese quail
Journal of The Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1988
Two different types of stimulus objects, a live female quail artificially adorned with bright orange feathers and an inanimate toy dog, served as conditioned stimuli. For subjects in experimental groups, the conditioned stimuli were presented shortly before access to a sexually receptive normal female quail. For subjects in control groups, exposure to the conditioned stimuli was unpaired with copulatory opportunity. Subjects in the experimental but not in the control groups quickly came to approach the location of the conditioned stimulus objects. When an adorned female quail served as the conditioned stimulus, the conditioned approach behavior was controlled by a combination of the presence of the orange adornments and the visual cues of the head and neck of the female bird, and the approach behavior persisted as the adorned female moved to new locations. When the toy dog served as the conditioned stimulus, the conditioned approach behavior was limited to the spatial cues that surrounded the toy dog during conditioning trials. Although both types of stimulus objects evoked conditioned approach behavior, only the adorned female stimulus supported copulatory behavior. This last finding indicates that copulatory behavior can become redirected toward novel stimuli as a result of conditioning, but only under special circumstances. The results are consistent with the suggestion that appetitive components of reproductive behavior are more susceptible to conditioning than consummatory components. Possible reasons for this are discussed, together with implications of the results for the contribution of conditioning processes to sexual selection.
Magnitude Effects of Sexual Reinforcement in Japanese Quail
International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 2009
The effect of the magnitude of sexual reinforcement on the extinction of a running response was studied in quail. In Experiment 1, a group of subjects (L) received copulatory access to eight females, whereas a second group (S) received access to a single female. Both groups acquired the running response. During extinction, Group S showed a fast decrease in responding, whereas Group L persisted longer. In Experiment 2, males were allowed a choice between one or eight females. Preference for eight females demonstrated that males discriminated between the two reward magnitudes and that access to eight females had a larger reinforcing value than access to one female. The results are discussed within the context of the paradoxical reinforcement effects and the divergence in learning mechanisms in birds.
Effects of early social experience on sexual behavior in Japanese quail (Coturnix Japonica)
Learning & Behavior, 2022
Experiences during immature phases of development, especially social experiences with individuals of the opposite sex, have implications for adult sexual behavior. Nevertheless, whether and how early experience can affect sexual learning in adulthood is still unclear. We present two experiments exploring how early experience impacts adult sexual Pavlovian conditioning in male Japanese quail. In Experiment 1, 25 male Japanese quail divided into three groups received different stimuli presentations at an early age, namely paired presentations of a conditioned stimulus (CS; a terry cloth model) and an unconditioned stimulus (US; an adult female quail), unpaired presentations of CS and US, and no exposure to stimuli. When they reached sexual maturity, we performed a sexual Pavlovian conditioning procedure with all groups using the same stimuli and tested their conditional response. In Experiment 2, we replicated the first experiment but with younger subjects and additional control variables. In the first experiment, we observed shorter approaching latencies to the CS and longer times near the CS in subjects with paired CS-US presentations compared to unpaired stimuli presentations. This was not replicated in Experiment 2. In both experiments, we found shorter approaching latencies and longer times near the CS in the groups with early exposure to the stimuli (paired or unpaired) compared to the group without this experience. Our findings indicate that the early presentations of stimuli at early stages of life can influence males' (speed of) sexual Pavlovian conditioning during adulthood.