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Differential Responsiveness of Great Tit Nestlings, Parus major , to Natural Auditory Stimuli
Author(s) -
Rydén Olof
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
zeitschrift für tierpsychologie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.739
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-0310
pISSN - 0044-3573
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0310.1978.tb01834.x
Subject(s) - novelty , parus , begging , adaptive value , biology , alarm , auditory stimuli , ecology , psychology , neuroscience , social psychology , materials science , political science , law , perception , composite material
In one field and two laboratory experiments, wild, wild‐captured and partly laboratory‐raised 16 to 18‐day old great tit nestlings were subjected to repeated presentations of auditory stimuli of varying biological significance. The frequency of occurrence of the stimuli in the study area was censused. — All nestlings showed strong aversive reactions to the ‘seeet’ alarm‐call of the species. It is concluded that a selective responsiveness to this call develops independently of previous exposure to it. A functional interpretation of this reaction is derived from its presumed adaptive value. Three hypothetical interpretations are suggested to explain its emergence in the individual nestling; The ‘seeet’‐call elicits aversive reactions because of, 1) its novelty, 2) its intensity in terms of relative concentration of energy over its frequency range and 3) its contrasting acoustic structure compared to the nestlings' begging‐call which has become strongly associated with approach behavior.