Newborn chicks show inherited variability in early social predispositions for hen-like stimuli

Predispositions of newborn vertebrates to preferentially attend to living beings and learn about them are pervasive. Their disturbance (e.g. in human neonates at risk for autism), may compromise the proper development of a social brain. The genetic bases of such predispositions are unknown. Here we take advantage of well-known visual preferences exhibited by newly-hatched domestic chicks (Gallus gallus) for the head/neck region of their mother hen, to investigate the presence of segregating variation in the predispositions to approach a stuffed hen vs. a scrambled version of it. We compared the spontaneous preferences of three different breeds that have been maintained genetically isolated f