Sex differences in behavioural and neural responsiveness to mate calls in a parrot.

ABSTRACT: Vocalisation in songbirds and parrots has become a prominent model system for speech and language in humans. We investigated possible sex differences in behavioural and neural responsiveness to mate calls in the budgerigar, a vocally-learning parrot. Males and females were paired for 5 weeks and then separated, after which we measured vocal responsiveness to playback calls (a call of their mate versus a call of an unfamiliar conspecific). Both sexes learned to recognise mate calls during the pairing period. In males, but not females, mate calls evoked significantly fewer vocal responses than unfamiliar calls at one month after separation. Furthermore, in females, there was significantly greater molecular neuronal activation in response to mate calls compared to silence in the caudomedial m

SUBMITTER: Eda-Fujiwara H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4698741 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature