Transcript Animal Behavior - Cal State LA

Animal Behavior
Biology 155
Spring 2010
B. L. Krilowicz
I. Definition:
• Behavior is the
observable response
that an animal makes
to a stimulus.
• Responses can have –
– A genetic (innate =
instinctive) component
– An environmental
(learned) component
– Usually both
(especially for human
behaviors)
II. Instinctive Behaviors:
• Entirely genetically programmed
• Behavior is performed in its entirety the first and
all subsequent times that it is performed; caveats
– Animal must be at the correct developmental age
• ex. Reproductive behaviors
– Animal must encounter the appropriate
environmental stimulus
– Animal must be in the correct motivational state
• ex. feeding
II. Types of Instinctive
Behaviors:
• Kinesis = change in rate of random movement in
response to a stimulus
– ex. Pill bugs in dry versus moist conditions
II. Types of Instinctive Behaviors
(continued):
• Taxis = directed
movement toward or
away from a stimulus
– ex. Female mosquitoes
movement toward
moisture, warmth, etc.
– ex. Male gypsy moth’s
movement toward
chemical produced by
female
II. Types of Instinctive Behaviors
- continued
• Reflex = stereotyped
movement of a body
part or the whole body
– ex. Autonomic and
somatic reflexes
studied in lab
– ex. Jellyfish response
to touch discussed in
lecture
II. Types of Instinctive Behaviors
- continued
• Fixed Action Pattern = a complex
behavior triggered by a simple stimulus
(sign stimulus = releaser)
– ex. Grey lagged goose nesting behavior
– ex. Gull chicks pecking at red spot on adult bill
to initiate adult feeding behaviors
II. Types of Instinctive Behaviors
- continued
• Fixed Action Pattern
(continued)
– ex. Aggressive and
courtship behaviors in
the Bettas studied in
the lab
III. Learned Behaviors:
• Behaviors change based on experience =
environment
• Requires a complex nervous system
III. Types of Learned Behaviors:
• Imprinting is a genetically programmed
form of learning in which an animal makes
a strong association during a particular
developmental stage called the sensitive
period
–ex. Konrad Lorenz’s goslings
III. Types of Learned Behaviors continued
• Habituation is a decline in a response to a
repeated harmless stimulus
– ex. Aplysia (note that jellyfish and their
relatives do not habituate, as the textbook
incorrectly states)
• Conditioning is a type of learning usually
seen in the laboratory in which an animal –
– Learns to respond to a new stimulus =
classical conditioning
• ex. Pavlov’s dogs
III. Types of Learned Behaviors continued
• Conditioning – continued
– A type of learning in which an animal learns to
perform a behavior to receive a reward or
avoid a punishment = operant conditioning
• ex. Skinner’s rats and bar pressing for food
III. Types of Learned Behaviors continued
• Trial and Error is a type of learning seen in
nature in which an animal is faced with naturally
occurring rewards and punishments that lead to
modifications in behavior; (Social Learning
described in the textbook falls under this category)
– ex. Hummingbirds and feeders
– ex. Dog reaching a food item
• Note that your text categorizes conditioning and
trial-and-error learning together as Associative
Learning
Trial and error learning versus
Reasoning or insight or problem
solving
III. Types of Learned Behaviors continued
• Insight or reasoning or problem solving is
a type of behavior in which concepts are
manipulated in the mind to arrive at a
behavior, does not require previous
experience
– ex. Monkey stacking boxes to reach bananas
Insight (continued)
Evidence from birds (Clayton 2007, reviewed
in News and Comment portion of Science) –
1) birds spend 1 day (24 hours) in the
complete “suite” below (A+B+C), 2) birds
spend 1 day in room A with door closed to
C, 3) birds spend 1 day in room B with door
closed, 4+5) repeat 2 + 3, 6) repeat 1
A) End
room with
pine nuts
door
C) Middle
room with
pine nuts
B) End room
door without pine
nuts
Insight (continued)
Spontaneously began stashing pine nuts in
end room B – looks as though they
remembered going hungry in that room and
were storing nuts in anticipation of being
locked up in there again!
Spatial Learning and Cognitive
Maps Described in Textbook
• Omit these as specific types of learning.
Depending on the situation they could be a
type of fixed action pattern, imprinting or
trial and error learning