Early experience greatly affects behavioral development. Here we look at different ways of experimentally addressing how that takes place. THIS IS THE FINAL EPISODE OF THE ANIMAL BEHAVIOR SCREENCASTS SERIES. ALL EPISODES WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE ON iTUNES.

Imprinting is a powerful phenomenon, but the manner in which it is studied experimentally is sometimes questionable, ranging from the tasks that animals are required to do to demonstrate preferences to the issue of redirecting species-typical preferences toward species-atypical objects, as well...

The concept of critical periods is often associated with imprinting as well as other phenomena ranging from experimental embryology to language development. The experimental study of critical periods, however, usually ignores a critical methodological problem, which is described here.