Mate Choice

Once receptive, females need to choose their mate, a process that involves acquiring information about available mates and which is dependent on prior experience. We have set up a behavioral paradigm to study assortative mate choice in the laboratory, and our results indicate that mate choice is set during early life. We are currently exploring novel avenues to understand how early experience affects neuronal circuits that might be involved in mate choice. Candidate brain areas that might be involved include the Islands of Calleja in the olfactory tubercle, a region that has been implicated in the rewarding aspects of olfactory stimuli.