Psych 110 Lec 7
10/17/02
MATING, LOVE, SEX & REPRODUCTION (cont'd…)
1.
Conditioning Can Influence Courting Behavior.
Example: Pigeon courting MAP
A Male (M) pigeon is put in a box (has 2 chambers divided by a door) with a light. First the light is off, then is turned on for 8
seconds, and then turned off again. At the end of the 8 seconds, the door is opened and on the other side is a sexually receptive Female (F)
pigeon. The M pigeon MAP is, when he sees the Female, he courts her--puffing out his chest, cooing, following the Female and making
circles around her. After several pairings of the light & F (sexual activity), the M starts doing the Courting MAP in response to the light.
US = Female (Sexual activity)
CS = Light
UR = Courting MAP
CS = Courting MAP
2.
Conditioning Can Effect Performance
Example:
There are two rooms that 2 groups of rats are given experience with: "Motel" and "Home Cage (HC)". The rats are also given
access to Females. Both groups have the same amount of exposure to the 2 rooms and the same amount of exposure to Females. The
difference between the two groups is where they get access the to Females. The first group is given a Female (Sexual Activity) in only the
Motel and not the HC. The second group is given a Female in only the HC and not the Motel. For the test, Zamble placed both groups of rats
in both the Motel and HC and gave them access to females in both rooms. What Zamble measured was the time it took for the M to ejaculate.
The results showed that ejaculation occurred faster ("increased performance") for both groups where they'd had prior sexual experience.
US = Female
CS = Environment
UR = Ejaculation
CR = Faster Ejaculation (Increased performance)
In this case, "performance" was measured by the speed of ejaculation. However, from species to species, this may not be the appropriate
performance measure. In general, the environment that you associate with mating effects performance.
3.
Conditioning Can Influence Courting and Who You Are Attracted To
Example 1: Japanese Quails
Domjan studied Japanese Quails as the subject because they are extremely horny animals! A Male Jap Quail is put in a box
with a window that allows the M a view of a F. Occasionally, Domjan will open the window and let the M have a view of the F. So…the M quail
is given access a Female. If the M has had sexual experiences with a Female, he will spend all his time looking through the window. If there's
a blonde F and a brunette F, and he has sexual experiences with the blonde F, he'll spend all his time looking at the blonde F and not the
brunette. *What the M finds attractive (looks at) depends on who they have sexual experience with.
You can vary this experiment by altering the Female so she looks a little different. If you put a giant feather on F (Adornment),
M is not attracted to her. But if you pair the Adorned-F w/ normal F quail sexual activity, suddenly the Adorned-F doesn't look so bad and he'll
mate with her. After sexual experience with the Adorned-F the M will start looking at her.
The same thing even applies to Males as the CS! If a Male is associated with sexual activity, the M starts spending its time
looking at Male pigeons!
***Conclusion: Who you find attractive can be influenced by who you have sexual experience with.
Example 2: Blue Gouramis Fish --Territory Defense, Courting and Attraction
Hollis studied Blue Gouramis Fish. BGFish will find good territory and will build a nest of bubbles in the good territory. MAP:

If another M comes within the vicinity he'll attack it and drive it off (so it needs to recognize it's a M and drive off)

If a F comes, he'll court and try to attract it.
Situation1:
Training: A fish tank with a red light, divided by a barrier. M fish is on the left side. For Group 1, the light is turned on and the M
fish is presented with another M (light and M paired). For Group 2, the light and M are presented separately (unpaired). Both groups
have the same amount of exposure to both light and another M, but the difference is whether the stimuli are paired or not.
Test: Turn on the light, place M fish on the right, and remove the barrier. Now the two M will fight, and watch to see who wins.
Result: The M conditioned to associate the light with M wins!
***An aspect of reproduction is being able to defend your territory, which can also be influenced by conditioning experience.
Situation 2:
Training: A fish tank with a red light, divided by a barrier. M fish is on the left side. For Group 1, the light is turned on and the M
fish is presented with a F (light and F paired). For Group 2, the light and F are presented separately (unpaired). Both groups have the
same amount of exposure to both light and F, but the difference is whether the stimuli are paired or not.
Test: Turn on the light, place F fish on the right, and remove the barrier. Watch to see how fast it takes the M to exhibit courting
behavior.
Result: The M conditioned to associate the light with F courts faster!
***An aspect of reproduction is being able to court, which can also be influenced by conditioning experience.
Situation 3:
Training: A fish tank with a red light, divided into 3 sections--a left side, middle, and right side. M fish are on the left side and
right side and nothing in the middle. Condition the M on the left to associate the red light with F. Present the light and F separately
(unpaired) for the group on the right.
Test: Turn on the light, remove the barriers and place a Female fish in the middle. Watch and see which side the Female likes
and stays around.
Results: The F is attracted to and stays on the left side. The left side M fish exhibited courting behavior, and the F fish was
more attracted to that.
***An aspect of reproduction is who finds who attractive, which can also be influenced by conditioning experience.
So Domjan and Hollis found 2 things:

Your attraction or preference for someone can be influenced by your own personal experiences/conditioning.

Your attraction or preference for someone can be influenced by THEIR experience/conditioning.
4.
Conditioning Can Influence Your Ability to Reproduce (e.g. Sperm Count)
Example 1: Quail Probe
Training: There are two rooms that 2 groups of Male quails are given experience with: "Motel" and "Home Cage (HC)". The M are also
given access to Females. Both groups have the same amount of exposure to the 2 rooms and the same amount of exposure to Females. The
difference between the two groups is where they get access the to Females. The first group is given a Female (Sexual Activity) in only the
Motel and not the HC. The second group is given a Female in only the HC and not the Motel.
Test: Domjan placed both groups of quails in the Motel. In the Motel, there was a fake quail called a "Probe." He watched to see how
much time the M spent with the probe. After that, he measured how much semen could be extracted from the quails and the measured the #
of semen in the sperm.
Results:
a) The quails conditioned to pair the Motel with the F/sexual activity spent a lot of time with the probe, while the unpaired group did not spend
much time with the probe.
b) He extracted far more semen from the paired group than the unpaired group.
c) There was significantly more sperm in the semen of the paired group than the unpaired group. ***Obviously, if you have more semen and
more sperm in the semen, reproduction is more likely to be successful. (This is an "ultimate" aspect of reproduction)\
US = Female
CS = Motel Environment
UR = Mate with Female & Secrete semen
CR = Increased Sperm and Semen secretion
Example 2: Blue Gouramis Fish -- Making babies
One of the most astounding Pavlovian Conditioning Experiments (by Hollis 1998)
Training: A very large fish tank with a red light, divided by a barrier. M fish is on the left side. For Group 1, the light is turned on and the
M fish is presented with a F (light and F paired). For Group 2, the light and F are presented separately (unpaired). Both groups have the
same amount of exposure to both light and F, but the difference is whether the stimuli are paired or not.
Test: Turn red light on, put Female fish on the right side, and leave them together for 5 days. At the end of the 5 days, count the
number of babies that are in the tank.
Results: For the paired M, the average number of babies in the tank was over 1000. For the unpaired M, virtually none!!! (Note that in
this case, the CR is nothing like the UR. But it is the CR because it is the result of the association between the CS & US. The CR is the
behavior that you can attribute to the relationship between the CS and US.)
***You can see in this experiment that conditioning directly affects the ability to produce offspring!!!
US = Female
CS = Red Light
UR = Mate with Female
CR = Number of Babies
Lastly…How does Conditioning affect what happens AFTER reproduction? Learning influences raising babies and the course of one's upbringing.
5.
Conditioning can influence how babies are fed and raised.
Example 1: Rat pup nipple
In order for rat pups to find the mother's nipple and attach to it to suck for milk, they require some odor (a component of the
amniotic fluid, put there from the mom) from the mother's nipple. You can wash the mother's nipple after the baby has been born and the pup
won't find or attach to the nipple. If you put an odor in the amniotic fluid (that overwhelms the original amniotic fluid scent -- like lemon injected
into the amniotic sac) the pup won't find the nipple without the new odor (lemon). This indicates that the pup must have had some experience
with the odor to learn what to associate with the nipple. The new odor can be any smell -- garlic, whatever. This suggests that the odor in the
amniotic fluid acts as the CS (because it can be varied) that gets paired with something (US) that elicits the pup to find the nipple. So what is
the US? Alberts found that the US is the Contractions the pup feels during delivery! So whatever odor was there during the delivery
contractions, is the odor the pup associates with the nipple.
US = Contractions
CS = Odor
UR = Suck nipple
CS = Suck nipple
Example 2: Male rat chooses mom's odor
A Male rat is given the choice between 2 Females: One with the mom's odor, and one with a different odor. The Male, even
though he hasn't seen his mom for a long time, prefers the Female with mom's odor.
Again…Conditioning plays an important role. This brings this full circle. Form success in courting, to performance, to mating, to successful raising, to who you prefer.
Conditioning plays a critical role each step of the way.
GENETIC-LEARNING INTERACTION
Genetics influences what you can learn (ex. Rats are colorblind, therefore they can't learn about color), but learning can influence genetics (ex. Japanese
Quails conditioned to mate in a certain environment make more sperm/semen in that environment  more successful reproduction)!
Evolution depends on the Genetic-Learning Interaction. Success at reproduction depends on conditioning history.
CUT-OFF FOR MIDTERM 1