Prenatal exposure to incubation calls affects song learning in the zebra finch.

ABSTRACT: Songbirds are important models for understanding the mechanisms and fitness consequences of imitative vocal learning. Although the effects of early-life environmental and social conditions on song learning are well-established, the impact of early sound exposure has received surprisingly little attention. Yet recent evidence hints at auditory sensitivity in songbird embryos, including in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), a classic model species for song learning. Here, we tested whether prenatal exposure to incubation calls-highly rhythmic parental vocalisations produced on the nest-affected song learning in zebra finches. Embryos were exposed in the egg to either incubation (treatment) or contact (control) calls, and after hatching were reared in a large colony. The playback treatmen

SUBMITTER: Katsis AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6189107 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature