Chick Experiment

The University of Washington Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences has done important research on the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure.

One experiment exposed chicks still in the egg to alcohol. Once hatched, they and a group of normal chicks were put behind a clear plexiglass barrier. Food was visible on the other side. A door not in their direct line of sight provided access to the food.

The normal chicks took a few pecks at the plexiglass, then started moving about, discovered the door, and got to the food.

The alcohol-exposed chicks kept pecking at the barrier. Finally, the researchers guided the chicks to the door, but the next day, unlike their normal peers, the alcohol-exposed chicks still just pecked at the window.

After five days of guidance through the door, some began to learn. Many never did. These chicks had been exposed to enough alcohol that it affected their brains but not enough to cause physical changes in their outward appearance.

When I heard about these experiments, I thought of Sandy tripping over my foot again and again in the pool, inflexibly repeating the same mistake. I thought of her unable to retain what she had been taught, relearning math concepts and spelling words again and again.

Although this research didn’t help Sandy, it was a comforting to have an explanation for some of her difficulties.