Habituation to sound during morning and night sessions in pigeons (Columbia livia)

VALENTINUZZI VS ; FERRARI EAM

PHYSIOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR

Elsevier Science Inc

Lugar: New York; Año: 1997 vol. 62 p. 1203 - 1209

0031-9384

Habituation to acoustic stimulation was analyzed through night and morning sessions in pigeons submitted to a 12:12 light-dark (LD) cycle. We demonstrated a lack of habituation in nocturnal sessions as compared to typical habituation curves in morning sessions. Temporal organization of the habituation process raises issues concerning the biological meaning of sound in adaptation to the environment and/or the possible interaction of well known endogenous physiological rhythms with learning. A second experiment was performed to establish wether the LD cycle was responsible for the night/day difference observed in the first experiment. In this experiment, the animals were subjecte to two days of continues light (LL) before the learning sessions. No difference in habituation according to time of day was observed in these conditions suggesting a direct effect of the LD cycle in the habituation to sound.