Rates of distress vocalizations in naive domestic chicks as an index of approach tendency to an imprinting stimulus

Abstract

Naive chicks were exposed to an imprinting target, consisting of a bank of miniature flashing lights, under normal (100[deg]F) and reduced temperatures (75 and 57[deg]F). It was found that cold reliably evoked distress calls and that the cyclic presentations of the target substantially reduced distress calling when the target was present, relative to when it was absent. When later tested for approach tendencies to the target, clear differences between temperature groups did not emerge. Evidence was obtained, however, that chicks that showed the greatest reduction in distress calling in response to the presentation of the target under the cold conditions showed significantly greater approach tendencies in the subsequent tests.