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Stimulus control of copulatory behavior in sexually naive male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica): effects of test context and stimulus movement.

Author
Abstract
:

Sexually experienced male quail (Coturnix japonica) are more likely to engage in copulatory behavior than sexually naive ones. These experiments suggest that sexual experience in a particular place may facilitate later copulatory responding because of increased familiarity with the contextual cues of the environment. Male quail in Experiment 1 did not copulate reliably with taxidermic models of females in a novel context, even though some of the subjects were allowed to copulate with female quail in their home cages. In contrast, sexually naive males in Experiments 2 and 3 copulated vigorously with taxidermic models of females in a familiar context. In Experiment 4, sexually naive males tested in an unfamiliar context were more likely to copulate with a moving than with a static model. The stimulus control of copulatory behavior in sexually naive male quail was similar to that in sexually experienced ones but only in familiar contexts.

Year of Publication
:
1994
Journal
:
Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983)
Volume
:
108
Issue
:
3
Number of Pages
:
252-61
ISSN Number
:
0735-7036
URL
:
http://content.apa.org/journals/com/108/3/252
DOI
:
10.1037/0735-7036.108.3.252
Short Title
:
J Comp Psychol
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