The Discriminative Stimulus Effects of Cocaine in a Pavlovian Sexual Approach Paradigm in Male Japanese Quail.

Two groups of male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) to discriminate cocaine from saline in a conditioned approach procedure maintained by sexual reinforcement. For 1 group, cocaine (10 mg/kg ip) was administered prior to a conditioned stimulus (CS) that predicted copulation; saline followed by a CS predicted no copulation. A second group underwent the opposite training regimen. Results revealed apparent between-group differences in the rates of acquisition of the discrimination; however, during extinction trials, both groups responded more under the drug condition that predicted the female than to the condition that predicted no female. The results suggested that a drug discrimination may be maintained by sexual reinforcement. The findings are discussed with regard to interactions of cocaine and sexual reward, as well as to Pavlovian conditional stimulus control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differences in the sexual conditioned behavior of male and female Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica).

The conditioned responses of male and female Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) were compared in a Pavlovian conditioning procedure in which presentation of a brief conditioned stimulus was immediately followed by the release of a copulation partner. Male quail vigorously approached the conditioned stimulus and were much more likely to enter the compartment housing their copulation partner than were female birds (Experiment 1). In females, sexual conditioning resulted in increased squatting (Experiment 2). This response was the reflection of sexual behavior rather than more general social behavior (Experiment 3). These findings provide the first definitive evidence of sexual learning in female quail and are consistent with the interpretation that sexual conditioning increases sexual arousal or receptivity in both sexes but the increase has different behavioral manifestations in male and female quail. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Androgen Mediation of Conditioned Rhythmic Cloacal Sphincter Movements in Japanese Quail (Coturnix japonica).

Demonstrations of increased reproductive success due to sexual conditioning in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) have been reported, although the mechanisms that underlie these effects have remained elusive. One possible mechanism is conditioned rhythmic cloacal sphincter movements (RCSM). Two experiments were conducted with male quail to determine whether associations between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and a hen would result in the ability of the CS to elicit RCSM, and to explore the androgen mediation of conditioned RCSM. The results suggest that a focal CS paired with visual access to a female will elicit RCSM via a representation of the hen activated by the CS. Further, the available evidence indicates that conditioned RCSM is androgen mediated and that this learning may transfer across breeding seasons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual fetishism in a quail (Coturnix japonica) model system: Test of reproductive success.

In the present study, the authors explored the reproductive consequences of fetishistic behavior in a previously developed animal model of sexual fetishism (F. K?ksal et al., 2004). Male domesticated quail (Coturnix japonica) received sexual conditioning trials in which a terrycloth object (the conditioned stimulus [CS]) was paired with the opportunity to copulate with a female quail (the unconditioned stimulus). Approximately half of the male quail came to copulate with the CS object and were considered to have developed fetishistic behavior. Each of the male quail was then tested with a female quail, whose eggs were incubated to determine rates of fertilization. The CS object was present for 30 s before and during the copulation test. Fetishistic male quail were slower to achieve cloacal contact with the female quail and showed less efficient copulatory behavior. However, they fertilized a greater proportion of eggs than nonfetishistic male quail. These results are unexpected from previous studies of the relationship between reproductive success and copulatory behavior and are discussed in terms of how fetishistic behavior directed toward an inanimate object may modify male-female interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual approach conditioning: Unconditioned stimulus factors.

Unconditioned stimulus (US) factors were investigated in a Pavlovian sexual conditioning paradigm with male Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Copulation with a female quail was more effective than exposure to a female without copulation, but the latter also produced conditioned responding (Exp 1). The greater effectiveness of copulatory opportunity as a US was probably not due to nonassociative effects of copulation (Exp 2). Visual cues of the female, as presented on a taxidermic model, were not effective unless the Ss had prior sexual experience that increased their response to the model (Exps 3a and 3b). Successful conditioning with noncopulatory female exposure is significant because it allows for sexual learning to occur in a broader range of circumstances than does conditioning with copulation and because it permits conducting multiple trials per day because males do not become satiated as rapidly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual approach conditioning: Tests of unconditioned stimulus devaluation using hormone manipulations.

Contents of learning that result from CS–unconditioned stimulus/stimuli (UCS) pairings in sexual approach conditioning were explored with male Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Sexual motivation of Ss conditioned to approach an arbitrary stimulus in a Pavlovian sexual conditioning paradigm was reduced by exposing them to a short photoperiod. Decreased sexual motivation resulted in a decline in sexually conditioned approach behavior (Exps 1 and 2). Responding was restored when Ss were returned to a long photoperiod (Exp 1) and when exogenous testosterone was administered (Exp 2). Decreased sexual motivation did not affect food-conditioned approach behavior (Exp 3). These results suggest that sexually conditioned approach behavior is mediated by a representation of the UCS, which is activated by the CS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Extinction of conditioned sexual responses in male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica): role of species-typical cues.

The authors examined how a conditioned stimulus (CS) that included species-typical cues affected the acquisition and extinction of conditioned sexual responses in male quail (Coturnix japonica). Some subjects were conditioned with a CS that supported sexual responses and included a taxidermic head of a female quail. Others were conditioned with a similar CS that lacked species-typical cues. Pairing the CSs with access to live females increased CS-directed behavior, with the head CS eliciting significantly more responding than the no-head CS. Responding to the head CS persisted during the 42-day, 126-trial extinction phase; responses to the no-head CS extinguished. Responding declined when the cues were removed or the subjects were sexually satiated. Possible functions and mechanisms of these effects are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual-discrimination learning in male Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica).

We investigated how male Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) learn through extensive social and sexual experience to discriminate between male and female conspecifics. Opportunity for heterosexual copulation was important for this learning, but even extensive copulatory opportunity was not sufficient to produce a sexual discrimination; subjects also required exposure to other males. Exposure to females after copulatory opportunity did not produce a sexual discrimination but facilitated its acquisition. Time or exposure to only the visual features of male birds (provided by taxidermic models) after copulatory opportunity did not result in differential responding to male and female conspecifics. Finally, presenting stimulus birds one at a time proved to be a more sensitive test of sexual-discrimination learning than presenting two stimulus birds at the same time. The results indicate that sexual-discrimination learning is similar to conventional associative learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning and male–male sexual competition in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica).

Male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) were trained individually to discriminate between 2 sounds presented at opposite ends of an outdoor aviary. One of the sounds (the positive conditioned stimulus [CS+]) was associated with the release of a female, and the other (the negative CS [CS–]) was presented alone. Which of the 2 sounds served as the CS+ (and which served as the CS–) was counterbalanced across Ss. The Ss came to approach their CS+ but did not move away from their CS–. After having been conditioned individually, the subjects were tested in pairs, with a single female released after the presentation of a stimulus that was the CS+ for one of the males and the CS– for the other male. During most of these tests, the male for whom the prefemale stimulus was the CS+ copulated with the female before the male for whom the prefemale stimulus was the CS–. These results indicate that learning can have an important role in competition for access to a reproductive partner. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aromatase inhibition blocks the activation and sexual differentiation of appetitive male sexual behavior in Japanese quail

Two experiments investigated the role of estrogens in the activation and sexual differentiation of appetitive sexual behavior (ASB) in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) as measured by a learned social proximity response. Injection of the aromatase inhibitor R767 13 in castrated, testosterone (T)-treated male quail completely suppressed ASB, confirming that, like consummatory sexual behavior, ASB is mediated by T aromatization. ASB is not observed in female quail, even if they are treated with T as adults. The role of embryonic estrogens in the sexual differentiation of ASB was tested by blocking estrogen synthesis in ovo. Control male and T-treated female quail deprived of estrogens during embryonic life learned the social proximity response used to assess ASB, whereas control female quail did not, despite the presence of high T. Thus, ASB is demasculinized by the action of embryonic estrogens during ontogeny as is consummatory behavior.     

Is sexual motivational state linked to dopamine release in the medial preoptic area?

The medial preoptic area (mPOA) is a key site for the dopaminergic enhancement of male sexual behavior. Dopamine release increases in the rat mPOA with mating, supporting the critical stimulatory role played by preoptic dopamine on male sexual behavior. However, it has been questioned whether dopamine is specifically related to the occurrence of male sexual behavior and not simply involved in general arousal. To address this question, we asked whether dopamine release in the mPOA is linked to the production of male sexual behavior in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica), a species that exhibits a much shorter temporal pattern of copulation than rats and does not have an intromittent organ, resulting in a very different topography of their sexual response. Extracellular samples from the mPOA of adult sexually experienced male quail were collected every 6 min before, during, and after exposure to a female using in vivo microdialysis and analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. Extracellular dopamine significantly increased in the presence of a female and returned to baseline after removal of the female. However, quail that failed to copulate did not display this increased release. These findings indicate that it is not solely the presence of a female that drives dopamine release in males, but how a male responds to her. Furthermore, in quail that copulated, dopamine release did not change in samples collected during periods of no copulation. Together, these findings support the hypothesis that dopamine action in the mPOA is specifically linked to sexual motivation and not only to copulatory behavior or physical arousal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sign tracking versus goal tracking in the sexual conditioning of male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica).

Pairings of a CS and unconditioned stimulus/stimuli (UCS) stimulus can result in approach to either the CS (sign tracking) or the UCS (goal tracking). Increasing the spatial or temporal separation between the CS and a UCS food has been reported to result in a decline in sign tracking and an increase in goal tracking. In the present experiments, sign tracking was the predominant response of male quail (Coturnix japonica) to a CS that was presented up to 91 cm from the door through which a female was presented as the UCS (Exp 1). Contrary to reported results with food reinforcement, goal tracking was not facilitated by increasing the spatial separation between the CS and UCS (Exp 2) or by introducing a trace interval between them (Exp 3). The preponderance of sign tracking may reflect an adaptive specialization of sexual conditioning or may be related to the absence of magazine training and the use of a moving UCS in the sexual conditioning procedures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fosinoprilate prolongs the action potential: reduction of iK and enhancement of the L-type calcium current in guinea pig ventricular myocytes

Changes in the gross and cellular morphology of the nucleus preopticus medianus (POMn) were measured in response to changes in photoperiod in adult male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). POMn volume and the soma size of a dorsolateral population of neurons within POMn decreased when birds were moved from long day housing conditions (16L,8D) to short day housing conditions (8L,16D), and then increased again when birds were moved back to long day conditions, presumably as a function of the changes in circulating testosterone that accompanied changing daylengths. Male Japanese quail exhibit sexual behavior only when housed under long day housing conditions that approximate the photoperiod of the spring/summer breeding season, and do not exhibit sexual behavior when housed under short day conditions characteristic of fall/winter. Because POMn is known to be critically involved in the expression of male copulatory behavior, these morphological changes in the adult brain likely represent key functional events associated with the seasonal regulation of sexual behavior in male Japanese quail.     

Effects of enclosure size on sexual behavior of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica).

The authors determined whether results of experiments on copulatory and affiliative behavior of pairs of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) conducted in a closely confining apparatus would predict behavior in a large enclosure in which female quail could avoid contact with male quail. As found previously in studies of closely confined quail, in a large enclosure containing numerous barriers, both unmated female quail and mated female quail laying unfertilized eggs were more likely to remain near a confined male quail than were mated female quail laying fertilized eggs. Furthermore, the number of copulations that a pair engaged in when closely confined predicted the number of copulations that they engaged in when they were in the large enclosure. Patterns of affiliation and of mating in a confining laboratory apparatus thus predicted behavior in a larger enclosure that provided female quail with opportunity to avoid contact with male quail. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relative Contributions of the Male and the Female to Sexual Behavior and Reproductive Success in the Japanese Quail (Coturnix japonica).

Two contrasting investigative techniques provided evidence consistent with the interpretation that female quail (Coturnix japonica) regulate male copulatory behavior by the duration of their immobility and through this behavioral mechanism they also control the rate of fertilization of their eggs. In Experiment 1, copulation tests with males and females from different genetic lines showed that the type of female that participated in a copulatory test significantly influenced the latency of the male's grab, mount, and cloacal contact responses and also determined the efficiency of the male's copulatory behavior. These measures of male performance were correlated with female immobility in Experiment 2, which used a more homogeneous population of quail. Furthermore, 2 of these measures (copulatory efficiency and the latency to make cloacal contact) were correlated with fertilization rate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Topography of spatially directed conditioned responding: Effects of context and trial duration.

Domesticated quail (Coturnix japonica) received a discrete conditioned stimulus (CS) at one end of the experimental chamber paired with the opportunity to copulate with a female quail (the unconditioned stimulus) in a goal box located 112 cm away. Approach to the CS (sign tracking) and approach to the goal area (goal tracking) were measured. The duration of exposure to the experimental context (C) was varied in Experiment 1, and the duration of the conditioning trials (T) was varied in Experiment 2 for independent groups, creating C/T ratios of 1.0, 1.5, 4.5, 45, and 180. Contrary to previous reports of a direct relation between the C/T ratio and conditioned responding, in the present experiments, a shift in the topography and stimulus control of conditioned behavior occurred. Low C/T ratios (1.0–4.5) produced goal tracking controlled by contextual cues, whereas high C/T ratios (45 and 180) produced sign tracking controlled by the discrete CS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Female Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) mated with males that harassed them are unlikely to lay fertilized eggs.

Results of previous studies of courtship and mating in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) suggest that females avoid conspecific males because, while courting and mating, males engage in behaviors that are potentially injurious to females. However, prior experiments provided no direct evidence that females avoided harassing males. Here the authors show that a female quail choosing between a previous sex partner and an unfamiliar male avoids the former if he engaged in relatively many potentially injurious acts while courting and mating, (Experiments 1 and 2) and that males behaving aggressively toward mates are less likely than are gentler males to fertilize the females' eggs (Experiment 3). Male sexual harassment appears to be a tactic both aversive to female quail and relatively ineffective in fertilizing them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imitative learning in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) depends on the motivational state of the observer quail at the time of observation.

The 2-action method was used to examine whether imitative learning in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) depends on the motivational state of the observer quail at the time of observation of the demonstrated behavior. Two groups of observers were fed before observation (satiated groups), whereas 2 other groups of observers were deprived of food before observation (hungry groups). Quail were tested either immediately following observation or after a 30-min delay. Results indicated that quail in the hungry groups imitated, whereas those in the satiated groups did not, regardless of whether their test was immediate or delayed. The results suggest that observer quail may not learn (through observation) behavior that leads to a reinforcer for which they are unmotivated at the time of test. In addition, the results show that quail are able to delay the performance of a response acquired through observation (i.e., they show deferred imitation). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual dimorphism in the social proximity behavior of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica).

Previous research by the present authors (see record 1986-16367-001) showed that after opportunity for copulation, male Japanese quail spent about 75% of their time throughout daylight hours near a window that provided visual access to a female conspecific. In Exp I of the present study, 8 female Japanese quail typically spent less than 20% of their time near a window that provided visual access to 1 of 8 male conspecifics under comparable conditions. In Exp II, using the same Ss, a small clear plastic cage was placed in a large test arena, and Ss were observed when the cage was either empty or contained a sexual partner. Males tended to remain much closer to the cage when it contained a female conspecific than when it was empty. In contrast, the presence of a male did not significantly attract females to the cage area. These findings demonstrate strong sexual dimorphism in the social proximity behavior of Japanese quail. Results are discussed in terms of implications concerning the social structure of Japanese quail and implications for studies of sexual classical conditioning. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Eggs of a female Japanese quail are more likely to be fertilized by a male that she prefers.

Male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) that conspecific females preferred in a 10-min, forced-choice test of affiliative preference were more likely than were males not preferred in such a test to fertilize females' eggs when subsequently mated with them, although preferred and nonpreferred males mated equally often with females. Further, the probability that a nonpreferred male would fertilize a female's eggs was significantly increased if she watched while he courted and mated with another female. The results indicate that in Japanese quail (a) affiliative preference reliably predicts females' choices of fathers for their offspring and (b) females may have some degree of control over whether the males with whom they mate actually fertilize their eggs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)