Tinbergen's Proximate Explanations

Question 1

When was Tinbergen’s seminal paper published and what was it called?

Answer 1

Tinbergen published his seminal paper in 1963 called ‘on aims and methods of ethology’

Question 2

What question was Tinbergen trying to answer with his seminal paper?

Answer 2

Why do animals behave as they do?

Question 3

What does Tinbergen argue is the answers to ‘why animals behave as they do?’?

Answer 3

Causation
Ontogeny

Adaptive value
Phylogeny

Question 4

Sometimes Tinbergen’s 4 ‘questions’ can be separated into proximate and ultimate explanations. Which of Tinbergen’s questions fit under each explanation group?

Answer 4

Proximate explanations
Ontogeny
Causation

Ultimate explanations
Adaptive value
Phylogeny

Question 5

What are proximate explanations?

Answer 5

Proximate explanations are explanations for behaviour within an individual animals lifetime
Proximate explanations are explanations for more direct causes of behaviour

Question 6

What are ultimate explanations?

Answer 6

Ultimate explanations are explanations for behaviour over evolutionary time
Ultimate explanations are explanations that can explain either the cause or effect of a behaviour

Question 7

What is causation?

Answer 7

Causation looks at what causes the behaviour right now instead of another behaviour in terms of:
- mechanisms
- direct, immediate influences/explanations
The reasons for the causation in behaviour can be due to either external or internal stimuli for the animal

Question 8

What are some examples of external reasons for a causation behaviour?

Answer 8

Seasonal factors
Presence of stimuli
Signals
Social factors
Predator presence

Question 9

What are some examples of internal reasons for a causation behaviour?

Answer 9

Hormones
Brain and neurones
Disease
Sensory perceptions

Motivation
Tinbergen said motivation should be ignored since it’s subjective and we’d never know an animals thoughts
However, science has evolved since then to allow a better insight to the animals mindset

Question 10

What are sign stimuli an example of?

Answer 10

External causation

Question 11

What are sign stimuli?

Answer 11

Sign stimuli = a natural stimuli that triggers untrained, innate responses

Question 12

Give an example of sign stimuli with sticklebacks

Answer 12

An example of sign stimuli can be seen during the breeding season of stickleback fish
During the breeding season male sticklebacks will develop red bellies
If a male stickleback see something with a red belly during the breeding season the male stickleback will almost always attack it

Question 13

Researchers have noted that artificial stimuli can elicit even stronger responses than the natural/normal stimuli. What are these artificial stimuli known as?

Answer 13

Supernormal stimuli

Question 14

Give an example of a supernormal stimuli in Herring gulls

Answer 14

Herring gull chicks instinctively peck at the red dot on the adults beak
However, if you put something with more contrast between colours in front of the Herring gull chicks the chicks will peck that instead of the adults beak
This suggests that in the future that adult Herring gulls with a beak with a higher contrast for their red dots would elicit a stronger pecking behaviour from chicks
This would improve those adult birds chicks survival rates as they’d get more food

Question 15

Give an example of sign and supernormal stimuli in nature with birds

Answer 15

The chicks open mouth is a sign stimulus for adult birds to regurgitate food into the chicks mouth to feed them
Parasitic bird chicks have bigger mouths that act as a supernormal stimuli due to parasitic bird mouths being bigger, wider and having more contrast between colours in their mouths
The supernormal stimuli presented by the parasitic chick means that the adult bird will feed the parasitic chick more than its own chicks
Parasitic bird chicks also have a supernormal begging call

Question 16

What does Tinbergen argue about motivation?

Answer 16

Tinbergen 1963 cautioned against refering to subjective experiences as a cause for a behaviour because:

            - motivation is a process that "can be observed by no one except the subject"
           - Tinbergen argues that to say "the animal attacks because it feels angry " is anthropomorphic and relies on the unobservable

Question 17

What does Hinde 1972 argue about causation?

Answer 17

In 1972 Hinde argued that sometimes subjective experiences are an efficient way of explaining a whole series of related behavioural causes
Hinde refers to subjective experiences as intervening variables
Hinde argues that using subjective experiences as intervening variables can be efficient in explaining a whole series of related behavioural causes
This means that you may know of lots of different causes that all produce the same behaviour, or behaviours, but using subjective experiences as an intervening variable can explain why those causes lead to the expression of that behaviour

Also modern science is increasingly able to probe the psychological causes of behaviour, meaning subjective experiences can be measured objectively

Question 18

Define causation

Answer 18

Causation = Immediate internal and external triggers/mechanisms for an individual animal to perform a behaviour at any particular moment

Question 19

What are the 3 potential methods to look for causation?

Answer 19

1) Observing natural correlations between behaviours and potential triggers
2) Observing animal responses to different models/conditions
3) Manipulating animal physiology
You must do this in an ethical manner if done

Question 20

Define ontogeny

Answer 20

Ontogeny = - changes in an individual animals behavioural machinery during development
- changes as an animal matures, learns and grows

Question 21

The early research into ontogeny was mainly debating arguements like what?

Answer 21

Nature vs nurture
Innate vs learned
Instinct vs learned skill
Hard-wired vs plastic
Genes vs environment

Question 22

What did early research into ontogeny show behaviour was produced from and shaped by?

Answer 22

Early research into ontogeny showed that behaviour is produced via the nervous system
The early research also showed that the nervous system are shaped by ‘Hebbian learning’

Question 23

What is Hebbian learning?

Answer 23

Hebbian learning was a phrase coined by Hebb in his 1949 research
When an animal is born it has neural branching that is first determined genetically if growth conditions are favourable
If the synapses in a neural pathway are used they will strengthen
If synapses in a neural pathway are not used they will weaken and die off
Whether a neural pathway is used depends on the individuals experience
Some neural pathways are less flexible and will remain in place throughout life
Reflex pathways are an example of these neural pathways that will remain even if not used

Question 24

The early research into ontogeny found that all behaviours must develop based on what?

Answer 24

Both genes and environment

Question 25

Modern day research into ontogeny now tries to solve questions like what?

Answer 25

How do genes control behaviour?
At what development stage does the behaviour emerge?
How does behaviour change as the animal matures?
What conditions are required for this behaviour to develop?
How does the animal learn to do it?

Question 26

Give an example of genetic control of behaviours

Answer 26

An example of genetic control of behaviour is seen in the sister species peach- faced lovebirds and Fischer’s lovebirds
Peach-faced lovebirds slot nest material between their rump feathers to carry it to their nest site
Fischer’s lovebirds carry nest material in their beaks
In 1962 Dilger need hybrids of the 2 species
Dilger’s hybrids would slot the nest material between their rump feathers but wouldn’t let go of the material with their beak as they tried to return to the nest site
The hybrids eventually learnt to ignore the instinct to place the nest material in their rump feathers, but this was very hard for them to do

Question 27

Give an example of ontogeny where learning can often over-rule some instincts

Answer 27

Learning can supplement responses to sign stimuli
Young Herring gull chicks will peck at the red spots on their parents beaks but will be more likely to peck at something with more contrast to the red spot
Older Herring gull chicks associate the appearance of the parents head with food, not just with the red dot on a beak
This is because they’ve learnt what really brings the food to them at this stage in their development

Question 28

Give an example of the ability to learn leading to novel behaviours

Answer 28

In the 1930’s blue-tits, and later other species, all over the UK started opening milk bottles to eat the cream out of them when they were left on doorsteps

Question 29

Define local enhancement

Answer 29

Each individual animal learns the trick by themselves, but they were attracted to the source of their inspiration by wanting to be near other animals due to natural flocking/herding/social behaviour

Question 30

Give an example of local enhancement

Answer 30

In 1990, Sherry & Galef did an experiment that replicated the 1930 scenario to see how the blue-tits learned to open milk bottles so quickly
Sherry and Galef’s experiment showed that:
- First a blue-tit must’ve found cream under an already torn off milk bottle lid and remembered the cream can be found under those lids
- Natural flocking behaviour then attracted other birds to the original bird
- These new birds then discovered the cream under the milk bottle lid and also learnt to associate cream to be under the milk bottle lids
- The next time these birds saw milk bottle lids they’d fly over and peck at the lids eventually breaking the lids and revealing the cream
- They would peck at the lids because that is there natural feeding behaviour and would expect it to work

Question 31

Explain Clayton’s 1998 example of ontogeny and brain behaviour changes

Answer 31

In 1998 Clayton did a study looking at the memory and hippocampus in food-storing birds by looking at chickadees and tits
It was already known that the hippocampus of chickadees and tits enlarge every autumn
Clayton hypothesised this was how the birds could store food and remember where it was hidden later on

To test this theory Clayton took 3 species into the lab and either allowed them to cache sunflower seeds or did not allow the birds to cache sunflower
The birds that cache sunflower seeds were known as experienced birds while the birds that didn’t cache the food were known as inexperienced birds
Clayton then measured changes in the volume of each birds hippocampus vs an unrelated brain area as a control

Clayton noticed that the hippocampus grew larger in the experienced birds than the inexperienced birds
These results show a change in the behavioural machinery as a result of experience not genetics

Question 32

Define ontogeny

Answer 32

Genetic and environmental experiences that change the behavioural machinery as an animal matures and develops

Question 33

Give some examples of methods for studying ontogenetic questions

Answer 33

1) Observing any natural correlations between behaviour and changes in the body or experiences
2) Cross-fostering of young or hybridisation can tease out genetic vs environmental influences on behavioural development

3) Manipulating experiences or behavioural machinery
Ethical issues should be looked at and resolved as well