Topography of sexually conditioned behavior in male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) depends on the CS-US interval

Abstract

The interval between exposure to a conditioned stimulus (CS) to male quail and access to a female (the unconditioned stimulus [US]) was varied from 0.5 to 20 min using a Pavlovian delayed conditioning procedure. Increasing the CS-US interval altered the spatial distribution of sexual conditioned behavior. With a short CS-US interval (1 min), conditioning resulted in the Ss remaining close to the CS and increasing their locomotor behavior near the CS. With a long CS-US interval (20 min), the Ss approached the CS to some degree, but their locomotor behavior was increased in areas further removed from the CS. Results are interpreted within the context of a behavior systems approach to the study of learning and indicate that the typical finding of an inverse relation between conditioned responding and the CS-US interval may be an artifact of the use of a limited range of behavioral measures.