Premature visual experience facilitates visual responsiveness in bobwhite quail neonates Article

Lickliter, R. (1990). Premature visual experience facilitates visual responsiveness in bobwhite quail neonates . INFANT BEHAVIOR & DEVELOPMENT, 13(4), 487-496. 10.1016/0163-6383(90)90018-4

cited authors

  • Lickliter, R

authors

abstract

  • Exposing precocial avian neonates to premature (prenatal) visual experience appears to accelerate postnatal intersensory functioning. For example, bobwhite quail chicks who received patterned visual stimulation as embryos require auditory and visual cues to direct their filial behavior earlier in postnatal development than do normally reared chicks. The mechanism(s) for this alteration in perceptual organization has, however, not been investigated. The present study examined whether accelerated postnatal intersensory functioning is the result of reduced species-specific auditory responsiveness and/or enhanced postnatal visual responsiveness. Results revealed that bobwhite quail embryos exposed to unusually early visual stimulation do not show reduced auditory responsiveness in the period immediately following hatching but do exhibit an accelerated pattern of species-typical visual functioning. Specifically, chicks who experienced patterned light during the last 24 to 36 hours prior to hatching were able to use visual cues to direct their species-specific social preferences earlier in postnatal development than were control chicks. This finding suggests that one result of unusually early visual stimulation is that subsequent behavior is organized to include the earlier-than-normal sensory information. © 1990.

publication date

  • January 1, 1990

published in

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 487

end page

  • 496

volume

  • 13

issue

  • 4