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The Significance of Antecedent Auditory Experiences on Later Reactions to the ‘Seeet’ Alarm‐Call in Great Tit Nestlings Parus major
Author(s) -
Rydén Olof
Publication year - 1978
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.tb01844.x
Subject(s) - parus , alarm signal , alarm , context (archaeology) , antecedent (behavioral psychology) , begging , limiting , character (mathematics) , psychology , biology , communication , zoology , developmental psychology , mechanical engineering , paleontology , materials science , geometry , mathematics , political science , law , composite material , engineering
Like many other naive young birds, great tit nestlings, Parus major , respond by a persistent cessation‐of‐begging and immobility response to the ‘seeet’ alarm‐call of the species (Rydén 1978). The experimental antecedents of this reaction were investigated through a systematic manipulation of the auditory environment preceding it. Limiting nestlings' experience with the ‘seeet’‐call to either a “positive”, a “neutral” or a “negative” setting led to their normal aversive response to the call being weakened, unaltered and strengthened, respectively. Nestlings brought up in a “reversed”, artificial environment showed a radical decrease in their aversive response. The results lend support to the hypotheses that a) the ‘seeet’‐call owes its aversive effect to the fact that its acoustic character contrasts sharply with the main features of the nestlings' normal auditory environment; b) context‐specific experiences may either increase or decrease this basic response tendency. Some functional implications of the results as related to the behavior of the species in nature are discussed.