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Context-dependent prey avoidance in chicks persists following complete telencephalectomy.

Gergely Zachar1, Aniko Schrott, Péter Kabai

  • 1Department of Anatomy, Semmelweis University, 58 Tuzoltó u., Budapest 1094, Hungary. gzachar@gmail.com

Brain Research Bulletin
|May 24, 2008
PubMed
Summary

Even without a forebrain, young chicks show learned color preferences based on context. This suggests that basic color discrimination in chicks is processed in brain areas below the telencephalon.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Animal Behavior
  • Evolutionary Biology

Background:

  • Young domestic chicks exhibit innate color preferences, attacking green insects while avoiding red ones.
  • This color discrimination is context-dependent, as chicks do not differentiate colors of fruit-like objects.
  • The neural basis for this context-dependent preference remains largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neural representation of context-dependent, unlearned color preference in domestic chicks.
  • To determine the role of the telencephalon in processing these innate color-based discriminations.

Main Methods:

  • Bilateral telencephalectomy was performed on 1-day-old domestic chicks.
  • Chicks were subsequently tested on an unlearned prey discrimination paradigm involving colored insects and fruit.

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  • Behavioral choices were compared between operated and unoperated control chicks.

    • Main Results:

    • Chicks with complete decerebration (lacking telencephalon) still showed a preference for pecking red fruit over red insects.
    • These decerebrated chicks also demonstrated a preference for green insects over green fruit, similar to unoperated chicks.
    • The results indicate that the telencephalon is not essential for this sophisticated, context-dependent color preference.

    Conclusions:

    • Sophisticated, context-dependent, unlearned color preference is processed by subtelencephalic brain areas in amniotes.
    • This study provides the first direct evidence for the neural underpinnings of such innate behavioral discrimination in the absence of the forebrain.