title: A pheromone that rapidly promotes learning in the newborn.
abstract: Mammalian neonates depend on their mother's food supply and use a defined sequence of actions to find her mammary area. Their behavior is initially uncertain and demanding but rapidly becomes optimal. Efficient learning is thus operating in newborns. For instance, European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) pups localize the nipples through typical orocephalic movements. These movements are released by the mammary pheromone secreted in milk or by prenatally learned odor cues. During daily nursing, they also learn odors associated with the mother, supposedly with sucking as the main reinforcer. We here investigate the role of the mammary pheromone as an enforcer of early olfactory learning in newborn rabbits. In testing more than 950 pups, we show that the mammary pheromone promotes learning of neutral odorants paired with the pheromone in single and short trials. The pheromone-induced learning is efficient from birth and supports successive acquisition of distinct odorants. This reveals that a mammalian pheromone can function as a "cognitive organizer" that promotes early learning of relevant environmental cues.
authors.affiliation: Centre Européen des Sciences du Goût, Unité Mixte de Recherche 5170, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Bourgogne, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, 21000 Dijon, France. coureaud@cesg.ccnrs.fr
authors.forename: Gérard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Coureaud
authors.forename: Anne-Sophie
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Moncomble
authors.forename: Delphine
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Montigny
authors.forename: Maeva
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dewas
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Perrier
authors.forename: Benoist
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schaal
mesh_terms: D000090:Acetoacetates / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001245:Association Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D007774:Lactation / Q000502:physiology; D009812:Odorants; D010675:Pheromones / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology*; D011817:Rabbits; D013268:Stimulation, Chemical
chemical_list: D000090:Acetoacetates; D010675:Pheromones; C024840:ethyl acetoacetate