Transferring an inborn auditory perceptual predisposition with interspecies brain transplants

Inborn species' perceptual preferences are thought to serve as important gu ides for neonatal learning in most species of higher vertebrates. Although much work has been carried out on experiential contributions to the express ion of such preferences, their neural and developmental correlates remain l argely unexplored. Here we use embryonic neural transplants between two bir d species, the Japanese quail and the domestic chicken, to demonstrate that an inborn auditory perceptual predisposition is transferable between speci es. 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 re gion for the behavioral transfer by using a naturally occurring species-cel l marker revealed that it is not contained within the major avian auditory pathways. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that abstract a spects of auditory perception can be transferred between species with trans plants of the central nervous system.