Cargando…

Learning in intimate connections: Conditioned fertility and its role in sexual competition

BACKGROUND: Studies of sexual conditioning typically focus on the development of conditioned responses to a stimulus that precedes and has become associated with a sexual unconditioned stimulus (US). Such a sexually conditioned stimulus (CS) provides the opportunity for feed-forward regulation of se...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Domjan, Michael, Mahometa, Michael J., Matthews, R. Nicolle
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Co-Action Publishing 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3960068/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24693344
http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/snp.v2i0.17333
_version_ 1782308111084683264
author Domjan, Michael
Mahometa, Michael J.
Matthews, R. Nicolle
author_facet Domjan, Michael
Mahometa, Michael J.
Matthews, R. Nicolle
author_sort Domjan, Michael
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Studies of sexual conditioning typically focus on the development of conditioned responses to a stimulus that precedes and has become associated with a sexual unconditioned stimulus (US). Such a sexually conditioned stimulus (CS) provides the opportunity for feed-forward regulation of sexual behavior, which improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the sexual activity. OBJECTIVE AND DESIGN: The present experiments were conducted to provide evidence of such feed-forward regulation of sexual behavior in laboratory studies with domesticated quail by measuring how many fertilized eggs were produced by the female after the sexual encounter. During the conditioning phase, male and female quail received a conditioned stimulus paired with the opportunity to copulate with each other. RESULTS: Sexual conditioning increased the number of eggs that were fertilized as a consequence of copulation, especially if both the male and the female were exposed to the sexual CS. This conditioned fertility effect occurred with a range of CS durations and CS types. The conditioned fertility effect also occurred in situations involving sexual competition. When two males copulated with the same female, DNA fingerprinting showed that the male whose sexual encounter was signaled by a sexual CS was responsible for most of the resulting offspring. Sexual conditioning also reduced the first-male disadvantage in fertilization that occurs when two males copulate with the same female separated by several hours. Another significant finding was that sexual conditioning attenuated the usual drop in fertilization rate that occurs when the same male copulates with two females in succession. CONCLUSION: These results show that sexual conditioning increases the number of offspring that are produced in both isolated male-female encounters and in situations that involve two males copulating with the same female or one male copulating with more than one female. By increasing fertilization rates, sexual conditioning can alter genetic transmission across generations and shape evolutionary change.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3960068
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2012
publisher Co-Action Publishing
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-39600682014-04-01 Learning in intimate connections: Conditioned fertility and its role in sexual competition Domjan, Michael Mahometa, Michael J. Matthews, R. Nicolle Socioaffect Neurosci Psychol The Neuroscience and Evolutionary Origins of Sexual Learning BACKGROUND: Studies of sexual conditioning typically focus on the development of conditioned responses to a stimulus that precedes and has become associated with a sexual unconditioned stimulus (US). Such a sexually conditioned stimulus (CS) provides the opportunity for feed-forward regulation of sexual behavior, which improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the sexual activity. OBJECTIVE AND DESIGN: The present experiments were conducted to provide evidence of such feed-forward regulation of sexual behavior in laboratory studies with domesticated quail by measuring how many fertilized eggs were produced by the female after the sexual encounter. During the conditioning phase, male and female quail received a conditioned stimulus paired with the opportunity to copulate with each other. RESULTS: Sexual conditioning increased the number of eggs that were fertilized as a consequence of copulation, especially if both the male and the female were exposed to the sexual CS. This conditioned fertility effect occurred with a range of CS durations and CS types. The conditioned fertility effect also occurred in situations involving sexual competition. When two males copulated with the same female, DNA fingerprinting showed that the male whose sexual encounter was signaled by a sexual CS was responsible for most of the resulting offspring. Sexual conditioning also reduced the first-male disadvantage in fertilization that occurs when two males copulate with the same female separated by several hours. Another significant finding was that sexual conditioning attenuated the usual drop in fertilization rate that occurs when the same male copulates with two females in succession. CONCLUSION: These results show that sexual conditioning increases the number of offspring that are produced in both isolated male-female encounters and in situations that involve two males copulating with the same female or one male copulating with more than one female. By increasing fertilization rates, sexual conditioning can alter genetic transmission across generations and shape evolutionary change. Co-Action Publishing 2012-03-15 /pmc/articles/PMC3960068/ /pubmed/24693344 http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/snp.v2i0.17333 Text en © 2012 Michael Domjan et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License, permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle The Neuroscience and Evolutionary Origins of Sexual Learning
Domjan, Michael
Mahometa, Michael J.
Matthews, R. Nicolle
Learning in intimate connections: Conditioned fertility and its role in sexual competition
title Learning in intimate connections: Conditioned fertility and its role in sexual competition
title_full Learning in intimate connections: Conditioned fertility and its role in sexual competition
title_fullStr Learning in intimate connections: Conditioned fertility and its role in sexual competition
title_full_unstemmed Learning in intimate connections: Conditioned fertility and its role in sexual competition
title_short Learning in intimate connections: Conditioned fertility and its role in sexual competition
title_sort learning in intimate connections: conditioned fertility and its role in sexual competition
topic The Neuroscience and Evolutionary Origins of Sexual Learning
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3960068/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24693344
http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/snp.v2i0.17333
work_keys_str_mv AT domjanmichael learninginintimateconnectionsconditionedfertilityanditsroleinsexualcompetition
AT mahometamichaelj learninginintimateconnectionsconditionedfertilityanditsroleinsexualcompetition
AT matthewsrnicolle learninginintimateconnectionsconditionedfertilityanditsroleinsexualcompetition