The neural basis of behaviour

Question 1

What is the purpose of the nervous system?

Answer 1

Mechanism to translate information from the environment into behaviour

Question 2

Describe begging behaviour in herring gull chicks.

Answer 2

Baby gull pecks tip of parents bill
Adult gull regurgitates half digested fish
Baby consumes

Question 3

Who studied why baby herring gull begging behaviour?

Answer 3

Tinbergen & Perdeck 1950

Question 4

What were the four conditions in Tinbergen & Perdeck 1950 study on baby herring gulls?

Answer 4

a 2D cardboard cutout gull head with a red dot
a 3D model of a gulls bill with a red dot
a 3D model of a gulls head without the red dot
a 3D red stick with dots on it

Question 5

What were the results of Tinbergen & Perdeck 1950 study on baby herring gulls?

Answer 5

With a 2D cardboard cutout gull head with a red dot the baby gulls pecked quite a lot
With a 3D model of a gulls bill with a red dot they pecked quite a lot but not as frequently as the 2D cardboard cutout
With a 3D model of a gulls head without the red dot, the frequency of pecking decreased a lot
When presented with a 3D red stick with dots on it the most pecking behavior was observed

Question 6

What type of behaviour is begging in herring gull chicks?

Answer 6

An innate behaviour

Question 7

Who studied the Greylag goose?

Answer 7

Tinbergen 1951

Question 8

What do Greylag geese do when their egg becomes displaced from the nest?

Answer 8

The adult rolls it back using their beak in a continuous movement

Question 9

What did Tinbergen 1951 find in his experiments with Greylag geese?

Answer 9

If the egg becomes displaced from the nest, adult rolls it back using their beak in a continuous movement
If the egg is removed during this behaviour, the greylag goose continues to complete the movement
Greylag geese will do this with any stimuli that resembles an egg

Question 10

What is an innate behaviour?

Answer 10

A behaviour pattern that appears in a fully functional way from the first time it is performed

Question 11

What is a simple cue?

Answer 11

Sign stimulus (a stimulus the animal has seen, smelt or heard)

Question 12

What is Instinct?

Answer 12

Fixed action pattern (FAP)

Question 13

How do bats locate food and navigate at night?

Answer 13

Bats use ultrasonic calls – listen for weak ultrasonic echoes reflected back from objects on their flight path

Question 14

Who studied bats?

Answer 14

Griffin (1958)

Question 15

Describe Griffin’s (1958) study on captive bats in a dark room?

Answer 15

The bats could navigate around obstacles & catch insects without any issues
After this was observed, he added some ultrasonic frequency noise into the room, immediately the bats started colliding with the obstacles in the room, dropped to the floor and remained there
The addition of low frequency sound had no effect – stimuli did not mask the high frequency echoes

Question 16

Describe moth ears.

Answer 16

The moth’s ears are located on either side of their thorax
Each ear has a thin tympanic membrane
Two neurons are attached to the tympanic membrane called the A1 and A2 receptor
The purpose of the A1 receptor is to detect cues that are associated with echolocation in bats
The receptors are stretch receptors and are stimulated when the tympanic membrane becomes stretched
This occurs when an intense sound pressure causes membrane to vibrate
Stimulation of stretch sensitive channels generates an action potential
End result – output to muscles causing them to contract

Question 17

Describe how moths locate bats in space.

Answer 17

A1 receptors are sensitive to pulses of ultrasound up to 30m away
The rate of firing of the A1 receptors is proportional to loudness of sound
When a bat is to one side of the moth, the A1 receptor in the side closer to the predator fires sooner and more often than the shielded A1 receptor in the other ear.
When a bat is above the moth activity in the A1 receptors fluctuates in synchrony with the moth’s wingbeats.
When a bat is directly behind the moth, both A1 receptors fire at the same rate and time.
A2 cells only fire when the bat is extremely close, which is when the moth will exhibit turning and diving behaviour
By diving and turning it makes the moth more difficult to identify its location

Question 18

What do bees use UV radiation for?

Answer 18

The location of food

Question 19

What do male sulphur butterflies use radiation UV for?

Answer 19

They have patches on their wings that fluoresce to signal females

Question 20

What do male three spined sticklebacks use UV radiation for?

Answer 20

They have large amounts of carotenoids in their body to attract a mate (females view them in the UV spectrum)

Question 21

Describe male digger bee behaviour.

Answer 21

When ready, Ivy digger bees, Centris pallida, will attempt to mate with almost anything that is approximately the size of a female
They are not particularly discriminating
Touch receptors signal to commence a series of muscle commands
When the male digger bee comes into contact with a female digger bee it should mate successfully

Question 22

How do Bristle beetles exploit the Fixed action pattern (FAP) of digger bees?

Answer 22

The male Ivy bee will attempt to mate with a cluster of blister beetle larvae
During this process the male becomes covered in larvae
When the male bee then mates with a female bee, the larvae are transferred to female bee
The females then return to nest
The nest provides resources available for larvae to thrive

Question 23

What is the Command centre hypothesis?

Answer 23

There is too much sensory information to deal with

The nervous system organized to avoid maladaptive conflicts between competing stimuli via ‘command centers’ in the brain

Question 24

What are the similar features of prey?

Answer 24

low lying
rectangular
slow moving
small

Question 25

What are the similar features of predators?

Answer 25

large
upright
fast moving