9222891 Balsam The aim of this research project is to develop a model system for the analysis of the role of learning in behavioral development. During development, experience can affect all of the factors that control the expression of behavior as well as the form of the response itself. For example, in many species the factors that guide feeding behavior change during development. Many young animals eat under very different circumstances than do the adults of that species. Additionally, in many species the form of the feeding response changes, as when young mammals go from suckling to independent feeding. In both of kinds of changes, experience plays an important role. Drs. Balsam and Deich are attempting to understand changes that occur over the course of development by using principles of learning and memory to analyze specific developmental transitions. The model system in which they study these processes is in the transition from dependent to independent feeding in ring doves. Both the transitions in controls of feeding and changes in the form of feeding responses will be described and the processes underlying the transitions will be analyzed. In addition to clarifying the role of learning in development, these studies will contribute to a general methodology and theory for the study of the induction and maintenance of new response forms.
