Learning - a proximate cause of behaviour Flashcards
How did Lorenz categorise behaviour?
Innate: inborn irreversible and not learned or affected by experience (NOT SO) and derived from the animal’s genes
Learned: acquired during its lifetime via experience
What did Lorenz specify about imprinting?
Can occur only during an definite, short period of an animals life
Is irreversible
Involves an attachment to an object that will later evoke adult behaviour patterns including sexual response
Involves reactions to a particular object that can be generalised to other objects in that class (e.g. all humans or all geese)
What did Lorenz get wrong about imprinting?
Is irreversible
Involves an attachment to an object that will later evoke adult behaviour patterns including sexual response
(the sexual response part)
Describe a species “Innate” responses to pheromones that has been modified by experience.
Female thynnine wasps emit pheromones to attract males and elicit copulatory behaviour
Some orchid species have evolved the ability to produce these pheromones
Males can learn to avoid the place where they experienced deceit by an orchid
How did Shettleworth (1998) define learning?
“Learning refers to a relatively permanent change in behaviour as a result of experience”
Describe learning theory
Single stimulus learning:
Habituation; sensitisation
Associative learning:
Classical conditioning and operant conditioning
Describe Habituation.
the waning of a response that could still be shown to a repeated stimulus. Broom and Fraser
Depends on:
rate, intensity, emotional state, social cues, age (ecology – naturally more attentive to?)
Describe sensitisation.
The increasing of a response to a repeated stimulus. Broom and Fraser
Horse, easily spooked, heightened arousal, may become more sensitised to novel stimuli that would otherwise have habituated to / novel environment
Nb care with intro to new enviro, equipment, feeding, handling procedure, clothing (nb markets/transport)
How can Instinctual responses be habituated in chickens?
Young chickens display escape behaviour when a shadow passes overhead
They retain escape behaviour towards hawk shadows
But habituate to the goose shadow (Tinbergen, 1951 and Schleidt, 1961)
How can Instinctual responses be habituated in Sticklebacks?
Territorial response to intruders can be habituated
Once territories are established, males recognize their neighbours and attack them less frequently than novel males
Habituation of this response to territorial neighbours may allow sticklebacks to conserve energy once their territory is established
What are the issues with animals we interact with?
For ethologists: In lab experiments habituate to the stimulus (antipredator response)
For conservation biologists: Habituate to stimuli of survival relevance = problem when re-introduced to the wild
For domestic animal management: We want many animals to habituate to potentially frightening stimuliSometimes dogs habituate to our voices
What is associative learning?
Classical and operant conditioning are forms of associative learning
An association is made to something meaningful
Give an example of classical / Pavlovian conditioning in dogs.
Before conditioning:
Food unconditioned stimulus, response, salivation unconditioned response
Bell neutral stimulus, response, no salivation, no condition response
During conditioning:
Bell and food, response, salivation unconditioned response
After conditioning:
Bell conditioned stimulus, response, salivation conditioned response
What does classical conditioning enable animals to do?
Classical conditioning enables animals to predict (not control) their environment
Give an example of classical conditioning in rats.
Habituates to blue stick
But if paired with cat odour
Classical conditioning occurs
Fear response to blue stick in absence of cat odour
