Sexual approach conditioning: unconditioned stimulus factors.

Unconditioned stimulus (US) factors were investigated in a Pavlovian sexual conditioning paradigm with male Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Copulation with a female quail was more effective than exposure to a female without copulation, but the latter also produced conditioned responding (Experiment 1). The greater effectiveness of copulatory opportunity as a US was probably not due to nonassociative effects of copulation (Experiment 2). Visual cues of the female, as presented on a taxidermic model, were not effective unless the subjects had prior sexual experience that increased their response to the model (Experiments 3a and 3b). Successful conditioning with noncopulatory female exposure is significant because it allows for sexual learning to occur in a broader range of circumstances than does conditioning with copulation and because it permits conducting multiple trials per day because males do not become satiated as rapidly.