Lorenz (AO1)

Question 1

What is ‘imprinting’?

Answer 1

Attaching to the first moving object/person seen post-hatching/birth.

Question 2

What type of experiment did Lorenz conduct? (Method)

Answer 2

Field experiment

Question 3

What was Lorenz’ procedure? (6)

Answer 3

• Randomly divided the goose eggs in half
• Half of the eggs were hatched with their mothers in a natural environment (control environment)
• The other half were hatched in incubators with the first moving thing they saw being Lorenz (experimental group)
• Who the goslings imprinted on was measured
• The two groups of goslings were mixed up and Lorenz observed who they followed
• He varied the time between hatching and seeing a moving object to measure the critical period of imprinting.

Question 4

What did Lorenz find? (3)

Answer 4

• The incubator group imprinted upon and followed Lorenz everywhere while the experimental group followed and imprinted upon the mother goose
• Lorenz identified a critical period of 12-17 hours where imprinting must take place, if not the goose would be unable to attach to a mother figure in the future
• Goslings who imprinted onto a human, as an adult, would attempt to mate with a human (sexual imprinting)

Question 5

What did Lorenz conclude?

Answer 5

Goslings imprint onto the first moving object they see, the time they have to do so is limited, otherwise they will never imprint.