Transferring an Inborn Auditory Perceptual Predisposition with Interspecies Brain Transplants

Inborn species' perceptual preferences are thought to serve as important guides for neonatal learning in most species of higher vertebrates. Although much work has been carried out on experiential contributions to the expression of such preferences, their neural and developmental correlates rem...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 98; no. 10; pp. 5862 - 5867
Main Authors Long, Kevin D., Kennedy, Grace, Balaban, Evan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 08.05.2001
National Acad Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences
Subjects
Animal Communication
Animal vocalization
Animals
Auditory Perception
Biological Sciences
Biology
Birds
Brain
Brain Diseases - genetics
Chick Embryo
Chickens
Chimeras
Coturnix
Diencephalon
Genetic Predisposition to Disease
Mental stimulation
Midbrain
Nerve Tissue - transplantation
Neurology
Perceptions
Quails
Transplantation Chimera
Transplantation, Heterologous
Transplants & implants
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Inborn species' perceptual preferences are thought to serve as important guides for neonatal learning in most species of higher vertebrates. Although much work has been carried out on experiential contributions to the expression of such preferences, their neural and developmental correlates remain largely unexplored. Here we use embryonic neural transplants between two bird species, the Japanese quail and the domestic chicken, to demonstrate that an inborn auditory perceptual predisposition is transferable between species. The transfer of the perceptual preference was dissociated from changes to the vocalizations of the resulting animals (called chimeras), suggesting that experiential differences in auditory self-stimulation cannot explain the perceptual change. A preliminary localization of the effective brain region for the behavioral transfer by using a naturally occurring species-cell marker revealed that it is not contained within the major avian auditory pathways. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that abstract aspects of auditory perception can be transferred between species with transplants of the central nervous system.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
Communicated by N. M. Le Douarin, Institut D'Embryologie Cellulaire et Moleculaire du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Nogent-sur-Marne Cedex, France
To whom reprint requests should be addressed at: Department of Biology, City University of New York/College of Staten Island, 2800 Victory Boulevard, Staten Island, NY 10314. E-mail: balaban@postbox.csi.cuny.edu.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.091080098