Animal Midterm 2

Question 1

What is the opposite of habituation

Answer 1

sensitization

Question 2

What did BF Skinner say about society? What did he believe we could do with society?

Answer 2

BF Skinner said we could change society by nurturing perop;e a certain way into certain behaviours

Question 3

Did BF Skinner like Chomsky’s view? Explain

Answer 3

No, they had opposite views, SKinner believed in nurturing behaviour and Chomsky believed behaviours were genetic

Question 4

What environment leads to the most amount of learning?

Answer 4

If the environment is highly predictable between genreations, over time nature could select for teh best traits for that organism in that environment

Question 5

What environment leads to the least amount of learning for a species?

Answer 5

An environment that is unpredictable/ changing between generations and an individual’s lifetime - nothing there long enough to learn from

Question 6

Risks to social learning?

Answer 6

• other animals might have the wrong solution

- sometimes theres an advantage to figuring a task out yourself

Question 7

Types of things that are not social learning?

Answer 7

1. local enhancement

2. social facilitation

Question 8

definition: local enhancement

Answer 8

drawn to a location because others are there

example: red knot flat chosen after watching mudflat video example

Question 9

definition: social facilitaion

Answer 9

the presence of others facilitates anothers behaviours

• animals being around might make another animal more likely to do a task
  ex: gulls around might make another gull feel afer to prine

Question 10

definition: teaching

Answer 10

behaviour directed at a naive observer who thus acquires skills more efficiently
ex: meercats video

Question 11

explain cultural evolution.

Is it the same as natural selection

Answer 11

once you have social learning you can have social transmissino of learned traits - can be parallel to the process of evolution by natural selection

Question 12

hippocampus function in spatial tasks

Answer 12

hippocampal formation is bigger in food catching birds that rely more on spatial function

Question 13

Hippocampus neuron firing - spatial recognition

Answer 13

different neurons fire based on position in space. When rats go back to same place as before, same neurons fire as were when in the same spot previously

Question 14

do animal’s brains go through where they’ve been during the day when they sleep? example?

Answer 14

Yes, in rats the neurons fired off in the order that the rats ran through the arena

Question 15

How did we get rats to go to a specific area in the arena when they woke up

Answer 15

when researches stimulated the reward part of a rats brain when its neurons were firing for a particiluar space when the rat was alseep, when the rat woke up it went straight to that space.

Question 16

can fear influence the neurons firing in the hippocampus correlating to position in space

Answer 16

yes, neurons shut down and don’t fire the same around threat the rat has previously encountered. If you interfere with the amygdala this doesnt happen

Question 17

the benefit of social trnamission of navigation to a species?

Answer 17

it provides the best route of navigation over generations

Question 18

3 hypothesis of social info in group navigation:

Answer 18

1. Follow the leader
2. Many wrongs
3. Emergent sensing

Question 19

explain “follow the leader” as a group navigation hypothesis

Answer 19

one way- one of more members of group lead everyone, they have high information, the more clueless birds follow suit

Question 20

explain “ many wrongs” as a group nevigation hypothesis

Answer 20

one way- whole bunch of birds each knows a bit of what they’re doing and if everyone going in their direction but also keeping with others - might average out to decent path- end up, all together, in the right direction

Question 21

what kind of birds might the “many wrongs” hypothesis of group navigation be best for?

Answer 21

birds that migrate at night and have specie specific calling

Question 22

explain the “emergent sensing” hypothesis of group navigation

Answer 22

one way- sensing about the environment, picking up on it bc collectively they pick up on it, individually they only pick up very little m bc the links between them they can better identify landmarks

Question 23

What does communication require

Answer 23

animal stimulating the behaviour of another in order to affect the animal in a intended way - requries both directions - not forcing a behvaiour but stimulation it with your on behaviour

Question 24

signal evolution: what is adaptive for males and what is adaptive for females

Answer 24

adaptiove for males to get into the decision-making prcoess of a female and hypnotize her into mating

Adaptive for females to see through the bullshit and pick the best male

Question 25

``` A strict communication definition: For X to mean anything ..... 1. 2. 3. ```

Answer 25

For X to mean anything... 1. The sender intends that x induces a response 2. Sender intends that the reciever recognizes the signal he sends 3. sender intends that by recognizing the signal given, the receiver does the response

Question 26

what is ostensive signalling?

Answer 26

shoing the receiver teh intent | ex: chimps pointing where they want to be groomed so the other chimp will scratch that spot

Question 27

what is major divider between huaman communication and animal communication?

Answer 27

- intentional communication | - complexity of human communication

Question 28

definition: combining sounds in various ways to produce different meanings

Answer 28

combinatorial syntax

Question 29

definition: from cues to signals | - cueing more specifically in way that serves more as communication

Answer 29

ritualization

Question 30

developmental stress in birds effects what (stuyd on this)

Answer 30

spatial memory tasks and length of songs - shortened them

Question 31

types of stressors?

Answer 31

food, nutrition, environment

Question 32

what does developmental programming do? what is its goal?

Answer 32

programs ian individual for life success by working out behavioural and sensory mechanisms early so they are automatic in later critcal situations

Question 33

how do environmental conditions act on developmental programming?

Answer 33

they can alter horome titres and the activity of developmental growth pathways

Question 34

in response to environmental triggers, the coordination between _______ and _______ determines the behaviour or the animal

Answer 34

coordination between morphology and connectivity of the neuronal system determines the behaviour of the animal

Question 35

a basic mechanism of learning that happens during a sensitivity period

Answer 35

imprinting

Question 36

ignoring a repeating stimulus in the environment in order to focus on things that are actually changing

Answer 36

habituation

Question 37

the process of becoming highly sensitive to a stimulus you previously were not responsive to

Answer 37

sensitization

Question 38

what places do birds avoid when choosing a spot to live

Answer 38

a place that plays their own song

Question 39

what is an unconditioned stimulus

Answer 39

a stimulus that naturally elicits a response - an involuntary response

Question 40

what is a conditinoed stimulus

Answer 40

a stimulus that elicits a conditioned response after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus

Question 41

what is second roder conditioning

Answer 41

conditioning a response to an stimulus that has been paired with a conditioned stimulus

Question 42

when you condition an animal with a paired stimlus, and then do not get as large of a response when suddenly presenting the stimlus as two seperate parts

Answer 42

overshadowing

Question 43

what kind of behavious is reinforced with operant conditioning

Answer 43

voluntary behaviours

Question 44

what kinds of behaviours are being reinforced with classical conditinoing

Answer 44

involuntary behaviours

Question 45

conditioning with reinforcers - method of learning that occurs through reward or punishment for voluntary behaviours

Answer 45

operant conditioning

Question 46

explain the black box and BF skinners reasoning

Answer 46

the black box represents the mind and inferred states. SKinner wanted to be completley scientific and said not to account for inferred states bc we cant know for sure hwat an animal experinces. Instead only focus on behaviour and the cause of behaviours - all observable

Question 47

skinners best approach to studying behaviour?

Answer 47

look at actions and their consequence

Question 48

increase probability of a behaviour being repeated

Answer 48

reinforcers

Question 49

decrease probability of a behaviour being repeated

Answer 49

punishment

Question 50

Apparatus used to study animal behaviour | Operant conditioning chamber

Answer 50

skinner box

Question 51

More clueless birds follow the leader who has high information

Answer 51

follow the leader

Question 52

Everyone knows a bit about what they are doing, average out to right path Best for birds working at night, have specific calls

Answer 52

many wrongs

Question 53

Sense environment, pick on a bit, altogether pick up on a lot (landmarks)

Answer 53

emergent sensing

Question 54

_____: Working out all things you need in critical situations so they become automatic

Answer 54

learning

Question 55

memory type: events that can be reported from an individual's life

Answer 55

episodic memory

Question 56

memory type: our implicit knowledge of tasks that usually do not require conscious recall to perform them

Answer 56

procedural memory

Question 57

variation in size of hippocampus

Answer 57

bigger in animals who need more memory for tasks - can vary in size over lifetime and season depending on animal for pupos of saving energy and usefulness for tasks based on time in year

Question 58

what stores long term memory

Answer 58

dendritic spins

Question 59

an exchange of informaiton

Answer 59

communication

Question 60

____: from cues to signals. Make behaviours more obvious, more distinctive ex: catepillar defending its leaf

Answer 60

ritualization

Question 61

aspects of ritualization behaviours

Answer 61

- repetition - standing out from other normal behavious - easier for receiver to stereotype and categorize to a specific meaning

Question 62

strict definition of communication (ostensive signalling criteria)

Answer 62

for x to mean anything 1. S intends x to induce a response 2. S intends R to recognize S's intention 3. S intends by recognizing intentino, R will do a specific response

Question 63

_______: selection on senders to manipulate receiver's behaviour, selection on receivers to anticipate aspects of a sender

Answer 63

signal evolution

Question 64

_______: when animals convey semantic/ relevant information. example from class?

Answer 64

referential signals noisy miners overhead predator call and ground predator call

Question 65

_______: showing receiver your intent with gestures (usually)

Answer 65

ostensive signalling

Question 66

migration requires what (2 things):

Answer 66

navigation/ map | orientation/ direction