Filial Imprinting Essay

Filial Imprinting is when precocial infants forms an attachment to the mother, or object, and does not leave her side. It is a very interesting subject to learn about because there still is a lot of speculation of where and how this occurs in these precocial infants. Being able to understand how filial imprinting occurs can explain how the body works and the psychological effect it has on these animals. Filial imprinting help creates the foundation for later learning in life for these animals, the foundation that is needed to survive in the wild. The two main components used in filial imprinting is thyroxine, also known as T4, and triiodothyronine, T3, T4 is a hormone from the thyroid gland that increases metabolic rates. So this hormone is …show more content…
The other main component of filial imprinting is T3. Triiodothyronine starts the beginning process of the imprinting and learning period. In the precocial infants, T3 is being rapidly produced in the brain vascular endothelial cells. Thesi whole entire process is crucial to later learning for the infants. Thyroxine and Triiodothyronine is created by the thyroid gland that is in the throat. The two chemicals used to create T3 and T4 is tyrosine and iodine. Tyrosine is an amino acid that is created in the body and iodine is a naturally occurring chemical element. Then the thyroid starts producing tyrosine, thyrotropin, a hormone, is released and produced by the hypothalamus. In the hypothalamus, iodine is captured by a hydrogen peroxide trap by the thyroid peroxidase and adds to the 3’ and 5’ positions of tyrosine. After multiple times of the procedure, it creates either Thyroxine or TriiodothyronineIn psychology and ethology, imprinting is any kind of phase-sensitive learning that is rapid and apparently independent of the consequences of behavior. It is hypothesized to have a critical period and is most obvious in nidifugous