Doctoral Dissertation Research: Ontogeny of Recognition Systems

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Abstract (IBN 9423593) West, Meredith Experimental evidence has shown that many animal species show natal populational preferences with respect to reproductive patterns. In the present research, an avian model of cultural evolution is used to explore how social learning may be implicated in such reproductive patterns. Different populations of subjects are exposed for extensive periods to distinctive social populations prior to their breeding seasons. The reproductive preferences are then tested. Measurements are made of the proximate dynamics of the development of individuals' preferences. In addition, the behaviors by which individuals communicate reproductive preferences, in particular, the use of vocalizations and responses to vocalizations, are measured. Preliminary results confirm that social learning exerts direct effects on the transmission of reproductive preferences. The proposed studies explore in more depth the nature of the learning mechanisms and test whether learned preferences can be passed on to subsequent generations of individuals. If such cultural, transgenerational transmission occurs, current theories and concepts of the role of genetic programs in guiding and determining reproductive outcomes will have to re-evaluated. New theories will have to incorporate the exogenetic or cultural mechanisms deriving from models of social learning. In that human societies show analogous dependence on cultural transmission, the results of these studies will provide a new and more ecologically appropriate model of the evolution of complex behavior.