SPECIFIC POSTNATAL AUDITORY-STIMULATION INTERFERES WITH SPECIES-TYPICAL VISUAL RESPONSIVENESS IN BOBWHITE QUAIL CHICKS

The effects that a manipulation of sensory experience may have on perc eptual development are likely to depend on a number of factors, includ ing the amount and the type of stimulation provided. To examine the re lative influence of these stimulation factors on early perceptual orga nization, this study exposed bobwhite quail hatchlings to augmented am ounts of bobwhite chick distress calls, bobwhite chick contentment cal ls, domestic chicken distress calls, or no additional auditory stimula tion during the first 72 hr following hatching. Results showed that bo bwhite hatchlings exposed to bobwhite chick distress calls do not exhi bit species typical visual responsiveness to maternal cues. In contras t, bobwhite hatchlings exposed to bobwhite chick contentment calls, do mestic chicken hatchling distress calls, or no agumented auditory stim ulation exhibited species-typical auditory and visual responsiveness t o maternal cues. These results demonstrate intermodal effects of postn atal sensory stimulation and suggest that specific types of postnatal auditory stimulation, rather than simply increased amount of stimulati on, are necessary to interfere with species-typical intersensory funct ioning. (C) 1994 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.