title: The motion of a living conspecific activates septal and preoptic areas in naive domestic chicks (Gallus gallus).
abstract: Predispositions to attend to animate objects are ubiquitous in newborn vertebrates, but little is known about their neural bases. In this study, we wanted to know if exposure to the motion of a living, behaving conspecific will selectively activate septal, preoptic and amygdaloid areas in visually naive domestic chicks. For this purpose, newly hatched chicks were exposed to a live conspecific, whose natural motion presents of course several features typical of animate motion to which chicks are known to be sensitive. In the control group, chicks were exposed to a rotating stuffed chick that showed rigid non-biological motion. The two stimuli were visually matched with regard to their static features. We measured brain activity by visualizing the immediate early gene product c-Fos with a standard immunohistochemical procedure. Notably, dorsal right septum and left preoptic area showed higher activation in experimental subjects compared to the control animals. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first demonstration of septal and preoptic areas involvement in response to the animate motion of a social partner, as opposed to rigid motion of a similarly looking stimulus. Moreover, these results indicate that previous visual experience and specific learning events are not necessary to establish the septal and preoptic areas function, which is present shortly after birth.
authors.affiliation: Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Piazza Manifattura 1, I-38068, Rovereto, TN, Italy.
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6841-0282
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Mayer
authors.affiliation: Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Piazza Manifattura 1, I-38068, Rovereto, TN, Italy.
authors.forename: Orsola
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rosa-Salva
authors.affiliation: Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Piazza Manifattura 1, I-38068, Rovereto, TN, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Morbioli
authors.affiliation: Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Piazza Manifattura 1, I-38068, Rovereto, TN, Italy.
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vallortigara
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D009039:Motion Perception; D011301:Preoptic Area / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism; D012399:Rotation; D020665:Septum of Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos
keywords: avian; early social behaviour; immediate early genes; preoptic area; septum