Type of prenatal sensory experience affects prenatal auditory learning in bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus)

This study examined the effects of specific types of prenatal auditory stimulation on the auditory learning capacity of bobwhite embryos (Colinus virginianus) incubated in either communal or isolation conditions. Results revealed that socially incubated embryos could learn an individual bobwhite maternal call, whereas embryos denied physical and tactile stimulation as a result of isolation incubation failed to demonstrate prenatal auditory learning of the maternal call. In contrast, embryos exposed to bobwhite chick contentment calls in the period prior to hatching demonstrated prenatal auditory learning, whether they were incubated socially or in isolation. Socially incubated and isolation-incubated embryos exposed to bobwhite chick distress calls failed to learn the individual maternal call, indicating that the type of sensory stimulation the developing organism encounters prenatally is important in fostering normal perceptual learning ability.