Data from: Courtship song preferences in female zebra finches are shaped by developmental auditory experience

The performance of courtship signals provides information about the
behavioural state and quality of the signaller, and females can use such
information for social decision-making (e.g. mate choice). However,
relatively little is known about the degree to which the perception of and
preference for differences in motor performance are shaped by
developmental experiences. Furthermore, the neural substrates that
development could act upon to influence the processing of performance
features remains largely unknown. In songbirds, females use song to
identify males and select mates. Moreover, female songbirds are often
sensitive to variation in male song performance. Consequently, we
investigated how developmental exposure to adult male song affected
behavioural and neural responses to song in a small, gregarious songbird,
the zebra finch. Zebra finch males modulate their song performance when
courting females, and previous work has shown that females prefer the
high-performance, female-directed courtship song. However, unlike females
allowed to hear and interact with an adult male during development,
females reared without developmental song exposure did not demonstrate
behavioural preferences for high-performance courtship songs.
Additionally, auditory responses to courtship and non-courtship song were
altered in adult females raised without developmental song exposure. These
data highlight the critical role of developmental auditory experience in
shaping the perception and processing of song performance.