Becoming a better parent: Mice learn sounds that improve a stereotyped maternal behavior

• Published in: Hormones and behavior Vol. 124; p. 104779
• Main Authors: Dunlap, Alexander G., Besosa, Cristina, Pascual, Leila M., Chong, Kelly K., Walum, Hasse, Kacsoh, Dorottya B., Tankeu, Brenda B., Lu, Kai, Liu, Robert C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.08.2020
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Auditory cortex; Auditory Cortex - physiology; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Conditioning, Operant - physiology; Female; Humans; Learning - physiology; Maternal Behavior - physiology; Maze Learning; Mice; Mice, Inbred CBA; Motivation; Neuronal Plasticity - physiology; Operant conditioning; Parental behavior; Plasticity; Predisposition; Sensory learning; Social Behavior; Sound Localization - physiology; Stereotyped Behavior - physiology; Ultrasonic vocalizations; Vocalization, Animal - physiology; Parental behavior; Ultrasonic vocalizations; Operant conditioning; Social behavior; Sensory learning; Predisposition; Plasticity; Auditory cortex

While mothering is often instinctive and stereotyped in species-specific ways, evolution can favor genetically “open” behavior programs that allow experience to shape infant care. Among experience-dependent maternal behavioral mechanisms, sensory learning about infants has been hard to separate from...