Undergraduate Research at FIU (URFIU) Conference

The Effects of Prenatal Light Experience on the Development of Motor Coordination in Bobwhite Quail

GC Ballrooms

This study will examine whether prenatal visual experience can affect the degree of hemispheric lateralization in quail chicks. It is hypothesized that prenatal light attenuation will weaken lateralized behavioral responses and, in turn, lessen coordinated motor responses. In particular, it is hypothesized that decreasing prenatal light exposure to bobwhite quail embryos will decrease their Behavioral Lateralization Scale score, suggesting decreased coordinated movement postnatally. In this study, eggs will be incubated under four different light conditions for 17 days: dark (0 hours of light), 2 hours of light, 6 hours of light, and control (12 hours of light). After hatching, chicks will be reared in groups of 15 to simulate naturally occurring social conditions. The chicks will be tested in a specially designed T-Maze and runway. In the first part of the experiment, each chick will be tested individually at 3 times: at 12 hours, 24 hours, and 48 hours of age. In addition, in a second experiment each chick will be tested only once at one of the three ages. During testing, a chick will be placed at the beginning of the maze and 12 consecutive trials will be conducted. The chick’s turning preference or nonresponsiveness will be recorded for each trial. Their forward locomotion will also be recorded so that their footedness can be analyzed. All chicks will also be tested in a locomotion arena that has two consecutive steps. White reflective tape will be placed on the pad of the chick’s foot and their footedness will be analyzed based on which foot they use to initiate a climbing movement on the steps. This study is significant because increased and decreased motor sensitivities can potentially be linked to early brain asymmetries, which develop prenatally.