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Animal Behavior > midterm > Flashcards

midterm Flashcards

1
Q

wk1: What are tinbergen’s four questions?

A

Mechanism, onotgeny, current utility, evolution

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2
Q

wk1: Which two of Tinbergen’s questions are proximate causes?

A

Mechanism, ontogeny

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3
Q

wk1: Which two of Tinbergen’s questions are ultimate causes?

A

Current utility, evolution

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4
Q

wk1: What is Karl von Frisch known for?

A

Color vision in bees, language of bees, polarized light perception

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5
Q

wk1: Who are the three “fathers” of animal behavior?

A

Karl von Frisch, Niko Tinbergen, Konrad Lorenz

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6
Q

wk1: What is Konrad Lorenz known for?

A

imprinting, development as a key issue in behavior

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7
Q

wk1: What is Tinbergen known for besides his four questions?

A

fixed action patterns

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8
Q

wk1: What are fixed action patterns?

A

an instinctive behavioral sequence that is relatively invariant within the species and almost inevitably runs to completion

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9
Q

wk1: How does a fixed action pattern occur?

A

An animal is triggered by an external stimulus, neural network produces an action after being triggered, animal involuntarily carries out behavior until completion

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10
Q

wk1: What were the two examples of fixed action patterns?

A

Geese rolling egg into nest after escaping, stickleback fish attacking red bottomed fish for territory/eggs

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11
Q

wk1: What is a proximate cause?

A

Short term, what causes a behavior and how it develops

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12
Q

wk1: What is an ultimate cause?

A

Long term, the adaptive/survival value and how the behavior evolves from an ancestral state

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13
Q

wk1: What is mechanism?

A

The immediate cause of a behavior, proximate

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14
Q

wk1: What is ontogeny?

A

how a behavior develops, proximate

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15
Q

wk1: What is current utility?

A

The adaptive or survival value of a behavior, ultimate cause

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16
Q

wk1: What is evolution in the sense of animal behavior?

A

How the behavior evolved from an ancestral state, ultimate cause

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17
Q

wk2: What is a phenotype?

A

Physical trait

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18
Q

wk2: What is a genotype?

A

Genetic code

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19
Q

wk2: Does genotype always exactly predict phenotype?

A

No, the genotype codes for phenotype

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20
Q

wk2: How does behavioral genetics add to genotype and phenotype? (equation)

A

genotype + environment = phenotype

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21
Q

wk2: What is nature vs nurture?

A

continuum between learning and instinct

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22
Q

wk2: Which “father” was nature?

A

Lorenz and imprinting

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23
Q

wk2: What’s a broad example of nuture

A

conditioned behavior

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24
Q

wk2: How can a study of twins partition nature vs nurture influences on behavior?

A
  • raise in diff enviro
  • if they end up similar, nature is at play
  • if they end up different, nurture is at play
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25
Q

wk3: What is the theory of motivation?

A
  • animals have needs which motivate them to behave in certain ways
  • they have a storage of “drive energy” that is expended when a task is performed
  • once a need is satisfied, drive is reduced and organism returns to homeostasis
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26
Q

wk3: what is displacement?

A
  • animals use energy for two alternating behaviors

- grooming

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27
Q

wk3: what is redirection?

A
  • directing the behavior towards a 3rd party or inanimate object
  • cleaning, nesting, rummaging
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28
Q

wk3: what are repetitive/stereotyped behaviors?

A
  • repeated behaviors that are identical and have no obvious function
  • pacing in captivity
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29
Q

wk3: what are self-directed behaviors

A
  • behaviors an animal performs on themselves
  • ranges from normal to destructive
  • often grouped with repetitive behaviors
  • obsessive grooming
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30
Q

wk 3: Explain how personality/behavioral syndromes and certain neurotransmitters may influence behavior

A
  • stress hormones
  • personality
  • behavioral syndromes
  • mood/emotion
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31
Q

wk 3: neurotransmitters and stress

A

Neurotransmitters and hormones seen in anxious animals and anxious humans are the same

stress hormones: cortisol
a common way to quantify physiological responses to stress
produced in the adrenal glands

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32
Q

wk 3: personality, behavior, mood

A

personality: the consistent expression of behavioral tendencies over time
vary across populations, making individuals distinguishable from others

behavioral syndrome: a set of correlated responses that are relatively stable over time for an individual
often have a high heritability

mood/emotion: state of the individual in that moment
interaction of personality and environment

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33
Q

wk 3: what are the 3 subjective states that influence animal’s behavioral choices?

A

fear
pain
sleep

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34
Q

wk 3: details about animal pain

A

pain: allows animals to recognize and avoid potential injury
mostly results from stimulation of nociceptors (sensory receptor)
thermal, chemical, mechanical

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35
Q

wk 3: details about animal sleep

A

period of inactivity, non-responsiveness to external stimuli, general preference for protected location
occurs in all vertebrates

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36
Q

wk 3: what are the 3 hypothetical adaptive functions for sleep?

A
  • conserve energy
  • risk avoidance (downside, vulnerable to predation)
  • brain repair/memory consolidation
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37
Q

wk 3: what’s an ethnogram?

A

inventory of possible behavioral acts such as:

eat, sleep, groom, fight, play

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38
Q

wk 3: what’s a time budget?

A

quantification of how much time an animal spends on each activity in its ethogram

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39
Q

wk 4: what is learning?

A

the modification of behavior due to stored information from previous experience

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40
Q

wk 4: what is focused learning?

A

into rapidly incorporated into memory
has critical, immediate survival value
example: imprinting, aversions

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41
Q

wk 4: what is generalized learning?

A

occurs over a longer period of time
value is less immediate than focused
example: conditioning, trial and error, observational

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42
Q

wk 4: what are learning curves?

A

curve of absorption to forgetting/not absorbing

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43
Q

wk 4: what are the 8 models for learning? SCRITTCH

A 
Sensitization
Cache retrieval
Reinforcement +/-
Imprinting
Trial and error
Taste aversion
Conditioning
Habituation
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44
Q

wk 4: what is social learning?

A

play, learning and development

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45
Q

wk 4: explain what a learning curve is

A
  • different peaks of absorption and forgetting
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46
Q

wk 4: explain what the extinction/forgetting curve is

A

not that behavior is lost as much as neural component has weakened

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47
Q

wk 4: what is short term memory?

A
  • Working memory stored from seconds to minutes
  • has a limited capactity (4-7 elements or “chunks” at a time)
    related to signal transduction, increasing signal release at that particular synapse
  • useful immediately
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48
Q

wk 4: what is long term memory?

A
  • hours to months
  • not the same as long-lasting memory
  • theoretically limitless storage
  • actual protein synthesis, increasing the shape
    information that will be helpful later on
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49
Q

wk 4: explain imprinting

A

-Konrad Lorenz
-young animals learn some feature during critical period
usually happens during a small period
-ex. identity of a parent
-ex. geese, just a few hours after hatching

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50
Q

wk 4: what is a potential conservation concern surrounding imprinting?

A

could influence other behaviors that are for non-biological parent

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51
Q

wk 4: contrast habituation with sensitization

A

habituation: loss of response to a repeated stimulus
- one way to filter out unimportant sensory
- brain no longer pays attention
- can be reversed through new experiences or forgetting
- similar but distinct from sensory adaptation (like getting used to a smell)
- -ex. prairie dogs don’t seem to mind people, traffic

sensitization: the opposite of habituation
- an increase in responsiveness as a result of an experience with that stimulus

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52
Q

wk 4: what is taste aversion learning?

A
  • help avoid poisonous or tainted foods

- facilitates the evolution of chemical defenses

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53
Q

wk 4: what is an example of how taste aversion is adaptive?

A

spiders reject chemically defended moths
spiders will fling them, cut them out of the web
helps avoid toxicity

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54
Q

wk 4: explain conditioning

A

-a learned association between -a stimulus and a response (often a reward)
increases efficiency of behavior

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55
Q

wk 4: what is the difference between classical and operant conditioning?

A

classical: behaviors are modified through the association of stimuli
- - involuntary behavior
- - reflexive behavior

operant conditioning: a learned association between a particular behavior and a consequence

    • modify behavior based on the affect they produce (reward or punish)
    • voluntary behavior
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56
Q

wk 4: relate learning to caching

A
  • remembering locations

- episodic and spatial memory

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57
Q

wk 4: relate learning, foraging to caching

A
  • look for item all over again

- hiding food in similar places for easier foraging

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58
Q

wk 4: relate learning to larder hoard

A
  • all food cached in same location
  • easy to find, no memory required, no re-foraging
  • must be defended
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59
Q

wk 4: what is social/observational learning?

A

one animal watches the action of another and learns those actions

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60
Q

wk 4: explain how social/observational learning can be tested experiementally

A
  • the birds that pull up the little bucket by the rope to get the reward
  • birds that learned to open milk lids at delivery spots and drink it
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61
Q

wk 4: characterize play behaviors (3)

A
  • voluntary activity
  • no apparent benefit
  • doesn’t occur if other needs aren’t being met (hunger, health, tired)
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62
Q

wk 4: what is the adaptive value of play? (4)

A
  • develop muscles, motor skills, coordination
  • practice tasks like prey handling
  • stimulate brain development
  • learn social skills, establish bonds, positions in hierarchies
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63
Q

wk 5: what is cognition?

A
  • the ability to separate self from others
  • mind separated from the brain
  • mental forecasting
  • the ability to bring seemingly unrelated ideas together to create a novel situation or future plan
64
Q

wk 5: cognition, how is the mind separated from the brain?

A

conscious thought and assessment, reflection

65
Q

wk 5: what is the theory of mind and self awareness?

A

the ability to read another individual’s intentions, beliefs, and desires

66
Q

wk 5: what is mental time travel?

A

the ability to reminisce about the past and plan for the future

67
Q

wk 5: what is chronesthesia?

A

one is aware of the past and future, present life is shaped by that awareness

68
Q

wk 5: what are the 2 types of memory?

A

semantic and episodic

69
Q

wk 5: what is semantic memory?

A

mental representation of something concrete like objects, words, facts

70
Q

wk 5: what is episodic memory?

A
  • memories of personal experiences that are tied to specific times and places
  • remembering a past event = mental time travel, can be applied to future situations
71
Q

wk 5: what is arguably the basis for cognition?

A

episodic memory

72
Q

wk5: define self-awareness

A

embarassment, critical self thought

73
Q

wk 5: what role does mental time travel play in an animal’s life

A

remembering where food is stored

remembering past event to shape future thought and decisions

74
Q

wk 5: how does memory relate to cognition

A

Episodic memory - memories of personal experiences that are tied to particular times and places

Basis for cognition

Remembering past event = mental time travel

75
Q

wk 5: explain time-place learning and understand the evidence for this behavior

A
  • associating a resource with a specific time and place
  • evidence = returning to the location at the “right” time
  • a part of how many birds and animals forage
76
Q

wk 5: analyze the possible role of cognition in cache recovery and pilferage

A

Remembering where food was placed - mental time travel


Separate self from others by knowing others have seen you cache food so you recache it

77
Q

wk 6: define communication

A

the transfer of signals (information) from a sender to a receiver

78
Q

wk 6: explain how communication evolves

A

sender has evolved to send information, receiver as evolved to receive

79
Q

wk 6: Describe what signals are

A

an act or structure that has evolved to carry a specific message to another animal

80
Q

wk 6: how are signals different from cues?

A

Signal: act or structure that has evolved to carry a specific message to another animal

Message specifically evolved for communicating info

Cue: not evolved to send a message, not purposeful communication, no intended receiver


81
Q

wk 6: what information is communicated in a honey bee waggle dance?

A
  • angle of dance provides information about direction
  • duration of waggle provides into about distance
  • total number of loops provides into about quality
82
Q

wk 6: what are the 4 key features of signals?

A

ritualization, stereotypy, redundancy, multi-modality

83
Q

wk 6: four key features of signals: define ritualization

A

the evolutionary use of existing behaviors/structures for a new signal

84
Q

wk 6: four key features of signals: define stereotypy

A

the evolution of reduced variation in a signal

85
Q

wk 6: four key features of signals: define redundancy

A

reduces errors and ensures the recipient gets the message

86
Q

wk 6: four key features of signals: define multi-modality

A

use of more than one communication mode to convey the same message (visual, auditory)

87
Q

wk 6: Understand how deceit and honesty affect the evolution of communication:

A

deceit may evolve when sender and receiver interests are not the same

88
Q

wk 6: explain how the handicap principle can enforce honest signaling

A

Signal can only be produced by individuals with advertised trait
Exaggerated traits are expensive
Would-be deceivers can’t produce the signal
Dishonesty is detrimental
Sexual selection context
Exaggerated male traits
Only healthy, fit males can maintain a costly signal

89
Q

wk 6:Understand how eavesdropping can influence communication:

A

signals may be broadcasted and become public information

90
Q

wk 6:Explain how noise affects communication

A

Exaggerated traits are expensive

Would-be deceivers can’t produce the signal

Dishonesty is detrimental

91
Q

wk 6: what are the 4 major modes of communication?

A

chemical, visual, auditory, electrical

92
Q

wk 6: the four major modes of communication: example & define chemical

A

Smell and taste


Pheromone used within species ex: moths

93
Q

wk 6: the four major modes of communication: example & define visual

A 
Surface pattern/color

Movement

Production of light

Bioluminescence

Raising hackles/hair

bright/multi colored
94
Q

wk 6: the four major modes of communication: example & define auditory

A 
Vibrating membrane

Scraper

Hitting a substrate

Grasshoppers

Ultrasound

infrasound

95
Q

wk 6: the four major modes of communication: example & define electrical

A

Limited to aquatic environments

Electrolocation - useful in murky water

Strong vs weak

predation/defense v communication/electrolocation


96
Q

Distinguish navigation from orientation


A

Navigation: guided movement from one location to another

Often uses env cues like landmarks or sun

Requires knowledge of current location and location of the goal

Orientation: movement in a given direction

Not moving toward a specific goal or destination

Often in a compass direction

97
Q

Know examples of both genetically coded and learned navigational information. Also explain the advantages and disadvantages of each way of acquiring information.

A

Genetic: sea turtle migration

Learned: squirrel nest location

98
Q

Describe how animals can sense the environment using triangulation


A

Must be able to perceive a cue from two different locations

Simultaneously - stereoptic vision

Sequentially - animal moves (just head or whole body)

99
Q

Kinesis

A

Non-directional movement in response to a stimuli

Changing velocity, random

Simple locomotor response

100
Q

taxis

A

Directional movement

Orientation relative to stimulus source

Defined by type of stimulus

Positive - attractive, negative - repulsive


101
Q

counterturning

A

Compensate for obstacles forcing directional changes


Each change of direction is balanced by a movement in a different direction to re-establish original course

102
Q

odometers

A

Measure distance with steps


Cataglyphis ants

103
Q

Compass orientation


A

Compass orientation

Detect magnetic field

Use permanent features


104
Q

path integration

A

Ability to accumulate info about turning angles and vector lengths

Calculate direct path home

Needs no external cues

105
Q

cognitive maps

A

Mental representation of one’s environment


Identify novel routes

106
Q

define search and its tactics

A 
Movement to find a goal

Can be

Random motion

Particular pattern to cover all space

Guided by info/stimuli: taxis/kinesis
107
Q

Understand homing behaviors and the complex navigational processes seen in homing pigeons

A 
Important for central place foragers

Remember compass bearings

Landmarks, path integration, cognitive mapping

Homing pigeons

Sun compass

Use landmarks

Megneto-reception

Olfaction

Cognitive map
108
Q

animal migration

A

Movement of an animal population between seasonally-appropriate habitat

109
Q

Contrast the migration behaviors of the specific animals discussed in class

A

Mammals - mostly learned

Birds - direction and distance innate

Monarchs - genetic

110
Q

Understand the various reasons for dispersal and why certain types of individuals are more likely to disperse than others


A

Leave natal area and find new territory/home

Avoid competition and inbreeding

Colonize new habitats

Offspring more likely to disperse than parents in birds and mammals

Mammals - males disperse

Birds - females disperse

111
Q

What is the Clever Hans effect and why are we concerned about it in the analysis of animal behavior?

A

Clever Hans was a horse that could allegedly do arithmetic and other smart tasks and tapped his hooves to answer questions. However, people later realized the horse only responded to involuntary cues in the questioner’s body language.

Shows how strongly bias can influence the results of an experiment and how animals may be responding to cues (accidentally or on purpose) and it is not necessarily a sign of higher cognition.

Don’t over-anthropomorphize animals

112
Q

habituation

A

decreased responsiveness, becoming used to something, can ignore, not affected

113
Q

sensitization

A

increased responsiveness, becoming negatively affected

114
Q

classical conditioning

A

involuntary

115
Q

operant conditioning

A

voluntary

116
Q

caching

A

storing food to eat later

117
Q

learned caching

A

remember locations, episodic and spatial memory

118
Q

re-foraging

A

finding cache again

119
Q

search by rule

A

caching in similar places

120
Q

larder hoard

A

entire cache in one location, must be defended

121
Q

scatter hoard

A

many small caches, lower risk but harder to find again

122
Q

cognition

A

ability to separate self from others, though separate from brain, can analyze own thoughts, mental forecasting, putting ideas together

123
Q

theory of mind

A

decipher someone else’s thoughts and intention

124
Q

mental time travel

A

ability to remember the past

125
Q

episodic memory

A

personal memories tied to a specific time and place, basis for cognition

126
Q

spatial memory

A

memory of surrounding environments

127
Q

time-place learning

A

associating a RESOURCE with a specific time and place, useful for re-foraging

128
Q

communication

A

sending and receiving transfer of signals

129
Q

signals

A

act or structure evolved to carry message to another animal

130
Q

cue

A

not purposeful communication, no intended recipient

131
Q

honey bee angle of dance

A

direction

132
Q

honeybee duration of dance

A

distance

133
Q

honeybee # of loops

A

quality of food source

134
Q

signal features: ritualization

A

use of existing behaviors/structures for a new signal (large crab claw)

135
Q

signal features: stereotypy

A

reduced variation in a signal to not overlap with other signals

136
Q

signal features: redundancy

A

reduces error to ensure they get the message

137
Q

signal features: multi-modality

A

more than one communication mode to convey the message

138
Q

deceit

A

sender and receiver have different interests

139
Q

handicap principle

A

signal only produced by individuals with desired trait

140
Q

major modes of comm: chemical

A

phermones

141
Q

major modes of comm: visual

A

pattern, color, movement, light

142
Q

major modes of comm: electrical

A

aquatic only, electrolocation

143
Q

navigation

A

guided movement from one location to another, uses enviro cues (landmarks, sun) requires knowledge of current location AND goal location

144
Q

orientation

A

movement in a given direction, compass orientation, no specific goal

145
Q

genetically coded navigation example

A

sea turtle migration

146
Q

learned navigation example

A

squirrel nest location

147
Q

integrating sensory inputs into movement: kinesis

A

non-directional movement in response to stimuli, random

148
Q

integrating sensory inputs into movement: taxis

A

directional movement relative to a stimuli

149
Q

integrating sensory inputs into movement: counter-turning

A

compensate for obstacles that force directional change

150
Q

integrating sensory inputs into movement: odometeres

A

measuring distance with steps, counting

151
Q

mechanisms for navigation: compass orientation

A

magnetic field

152
Q

mechanisms for navigation: path integration

A

accumulate info about turning angles and length to calculate path home

153
Q

mechanisms for navigation: cognitive maps

A

mental representation of one’s enviro to identify novel routes

154
Q

Mammalian herd migrations rely on learned social information, while the distance and direction of bird migrations are often genetically coded. Analyze the advantages/disadvantages of each way of acquiring information about migratory routes.

A

Learned social information:
Advantage: Can adapt to short term changes
Disadvantage: It has to be learned, if something happens to the parent then the offspring can’t learn it
Genetically coded:
Advantage: No parent teaching needed
Disadvantage: Does not account for any hazardous risk/ short term environmental changes

155
Q

Explain the hypothesis for moths flying to lights such as candles or porch lights that was given in class

A

They try to fly in a certain angle to the moon (their navigation), but since lights are so much larger and closer they get confused and spiral to keep in angle with the moon

156
Q

Explain von Frisch’s test for color vision in honeybees

A

Placed food source on a certain color (blue tile) and then set up tiles with the blue and grey equivalent to see if they see in greyscale. The bees went to the blue so they do see in color

Animal Behavior (3 decks)

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