Non-genetic Inheritance

Question 1

NON-GENETIC INHERITANCE (EXAMPLE)

Answer 1

UY & BORGIA (2000)

• bower style divergence in Vogelkop bowerbirds
• extremely low genetic divergence
• young males take 4-7y to develop typical adult bower style (culturally transmitted?)

Question 2

NON-GENETIC INHERITANCE

Answer 2

• factors in 1 individual influence beh/development of another individual (without passing on genes) who may pass influences on in turn

Question 3

VERTICAL VS HORIZONTAL TRANSMISSION

Answer 3

VERTICAL
- between generations (parents -> offspring)
- similar pattern to genetic inheritance
- in some cases may skip generations (unlike genetic inheritance)
HORIZONTAL
- within generations (peer -> peer)
- impossible w/genetic inheritance

Question 4

MATERNAL EFFECTS

Answer 4

• offspring’s beh/morphology influenced by mother’s beh/condition
• individual variation better explained by considering mother’s phenotype over individual’s genotype
• NOT genetic transmission
• may be pre/post-birth

Question 5

PRE-BIRTH VS POST-BIRTH

Answer 5

PRE-BIRTH (BILKO et al (1994))
- rabbit kits’ preferences affected by mum’s diet via prenatal environment
POST-BIRTH (DARWIN (1859))
- female cabbage white butterfly lays eggs on host plant; caterpillars develop there then lay their own eggs on same host plant
- rabbit kits preferences also affected by mum’s diet via postnatal environment (milk/faecal pellets)

Question 6

SOCIAL LEARNING

Answer 6

• learning facilitated via observation/interaction w/another individual/its products
• observer individual learns from demonstrator individual
• difs from individual learning because it’s heritable
  FISHER & HINDE (1949)
• spread of milk-bottle opening by UK tits

Question 7

SOCIAL LEARNING (EXAMPLE)

Answer 7

GALEF & WIGMORE (1983)

• food preference social transmission in rats
• if a dominant rat socially transmits chocolate preference, group likely follows

Question 8

SOCIAL LEARNING REASONING

Answer 8

WHY LEARN FROM OTHERS?
- may be less time-consuming than individual learning
- may allow new resource exploitation (ie. overcoming neophobia)
- may be less risky than individual trial-error learning
WHY NOT DO IT ALL THE TIME?
- may sometimes be more time consuming waiting for conspecifics than finding out for yourself
- actions of others may be outdated/irrelevant to your needs
- individual learning can sometimes yield higher pay-offs

Question 9

SOCIAL LEARNING MECHANISMS

Answer 9

LOCAL ENHANCEMENT
- demonstrator presence/beh draws observer’s attention to specific location where beh acquired via individual learning
STIMULUS ENHANCEMENT
- demonstrator presence/beh draws observer’s attention to particular object/stimulus which is then generalised
OBSERVATIONAL CONDITIONING
- observer learns association between stimulus/demonstrator’s beh
IMITATION
- observer copies demonstrator’s beh topography
GOAL EMULATION
- observer attends consequences of demonstrator’s action; uses own method to achieve same goal

Question 10

SOCIAL TRANSMISSION

Answer 10

VERTICAL (WILBRECHT et al (2002))
- zebra finch father to son song
- non-genetic transmission can mimic genetic transmission
HORIZONTAL
- song sparrow song between territorial neighbours
- non-genetic transmission can occur more widely/rapidly than genetic transmission
- may not produce exact beh copy; non-genetic mutations/errors generate variation

Question 11

CULTURAL TRANSMISSION

Answer 11

• behavioural techniques transmitted socially; persist over generations

Question 12

SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

Answer 12

• arbitrary symbols use to represent/stand for objects/actions (ie. commands/warnings)
• when 2 initially unrelated stimuli associated w/same event, emergent relation can develop such that they become interchangeable in other other contexts
• human language allows info to be stored/retrieved to persist over long time periods
• uniquely human? NOPE

Question 13

GENETIC BEHAVIOUR TRANSMISSION

Answer 13

• info carrier = DNA
• action = alters protein production
• fidelity = high
• variation cause = mutation
• mixed input consequence = discrete outcomes
• transmission direction = only vertical (parent -> offspring)

Question 14

NON-GENETIC TRANSMISSION

Answer 14

• info carrier = actions/imitation/media
• action = alters higher processes (cellular/cog)
• fidelity = variable
• variation cause = replication error
• mixed input consequence = blended outcomes
• transmission direction = vertical/horizontal/both

Question 15

SUMMARY

Answer 15

• non-genetic beh transmission can occur vertically (down generations)/horizontally (in generations)
• maternal effects involve vertical transmission only; easily confused w/genetic effects (cross-fostering exps help disentangle)
• social learning = horizontal/vertical; occurs via mechanism variety incl. imitation/local enhancement/stimulus enhancement
• symbolic representation (ie. language) = horizontal/vertical; may skip generations; probably rare beyond humans