Functional MRI of imprinting memory in awake newborn domestic chicks

• Published in: Communications biology Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 1326 - 13
• Main Authors: Behroozi, Mehdi, Lorenzi, Elena, Tabrik, Sepideh, Tegenthoff, Martin, Gozzi, Alessandro, Güntürkün, Onur, Vallortigara, Giorgio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 15-10-2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 59/36; 59/57; 631/378/3919; 631/553; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Autoradiography; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Brain; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - physiology; Brain mapping; Chickens - physiology; Exploratory behavior; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Hippocampus; Imprinting; Imprinting, Psychological - physiology; Juveniles; Learning; Life Sciences; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Memory; Memory - physiology; Neonates; Neostriatum; Neural networks; Neuroethology; Neurosciences; Wakefulness - physiology
• ISSN: 2399-3642; 2399-3642
• DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06991-z

Filial imprinting, a crucial ethological paradigm, provides insights into the neurobiology of early learning and its long-term impact on behaviour. To date, invasive techniques like autoradiography or lesions have been used to study it, limiting the exploration of whole brain networks. Recent advances in fMRI for avian brains now open new windows to explore bird’s brain functions at the network level. We developed an fMRI technique for awake, newly hatched chicks, capturing BOLD signal changes during imprinting experiments. While early memory acquisition phases are understood, long-term storage and retrieval remain unclear. Our findings identified potential long-term storage of imprinting memories across a neural network, including the hippocampal formation, the medial striatum, the arcopallium, and the prefrontal-like nidopallium caudolaterale. This paradigm opens up new avenues for exploring the broader landscape of learning and memory in neonatal vertebrates, enhancing our understanding of behaviour and brain networks.
Functional MRI of imprinting in awake chicks offers insights into the neural networks for memory acquisition and storage at birth. This discovery opens new avenues for noninvasive studies of neuro-cognitive processes in neonatal vertebrates.