Figure 2.

Transmission by behavioral or social cues is distinct from biological inheritance. The biological inheritance of acquired information through epigenetic mechanisms can be distinguished from the behavioral transmission in controlled experiments. Here, the contact of the stress-exposed father to the offspring can be excluded though in vitro fertilization (IVF) that also prevents effects on the female animal during mating potentially influencing maternal care. Other possibilities are cross-fostering paradigms and breeding schemes to the F3 generation that limit the potential of a behavioral transmission of information. This mode of information transfer is common and inevitable when parental generations interact with the offspring. Here, behavioral alterations can induce epigenetic modifications that are not present when animals are conceived through IVF, for example.