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Prenatal visual experience influences the development of turning bias in bobwhite quail chicks (Colinus virginianus)
Author(s) -
Casey Michael B.,
Lickliter Robert
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-2302(199805)32:4<327::aid-dev7>3.0.co;2-p
Subject(s) - colinus , bobwhite quail , precocial , quail , psychology , population , developmental psychology , audiology , zoology , biology , medicine , ecology , environmental health
This study examined the effects of prenatal sensory experience on the development of turning bias in a precocial avian species (bobwhite quail). Control tests with naive bobwhite quail chicks revealed a left‐side turning bias in 85% of subjects. Such large population biases are considered unusual in nonhuman species. Experiments 1, 2, and 3 demonstrated that prenatal visual experience is a significant contributor to this population level left‐side turning bias in bobwhite quail chicks. In contrast, prenatal auditory experience did not appear to significantly influence the development of postnatal turning bias. The findings of this study are discussed in terms of an epigenetic theory for the development of hemispheric specialization and behavioral asymmetry. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 32: 327–338, 1998