13 animal behaviour

Question 1

simple reflex

Answer 1

automatic 2 nerve (afferent/efferent) response to stimulus controlled @ spinal
cord (lower animals)

Question 2

complex reflex

Answer 2

automatic response to significant stimulus (controlled @ brains stem or even cerebrum)
i. Ex: Startle response- controlled by the reticular activating system

Question 3

instinct

Answer 3

innate or inherited behaviour

Question 4

Fixed action patterns (FAP)

Answer 4

innate behaviors following a regular, unvarying pattern. Initiated by a specific stimulus called sign stimuli (releaser when between members of same species) like goose rolling egg back to nest if it slips away

Question 5

Imprinting

Answer 5

• innate program for acquiring specific behavior only if appropriate stimulus is experienced during critical/sensitive period. Once acquired, trait is irreversible. Can influence
  sexual selection.
  a. Ex: accepting any moving object as mother during first day of life
  b. Ex: salmon hatch in freshwater, migrate to ocean to feed, return to birthplace to breed
  based on imprinted odors associated w/ birthplace

Question 6

Associative learning-

Answer 6

an animal recognizes (learns) that events are connected.

Question 7

classical conditioning

Answer 7

Established innate reflex is unconditioned stimulus (food causing salivation),
natural response to that is the unconditioned response (salivation). association of bell with food is conditioned stimulus that will elicit response even in absence of the unconditioned stimulus. salivation then becomes the conditioned reflex

Question 8

operant conditioning

Answer 8

trial and error learning.
- also associative learning
- animal connects its own behavior with environmental response,
reward.
- has positive and negative reinforcement

Question 9

(positive reinforcement),

Answer 9

response is desirable animal will repeat behavior. positive means adding something good to increase behaviour

Question 10

negative reinforcement

Answer 10

If

negative/undesirable (painful, e.g. punishment), animal avoids behavior. take something bad to increase a behaviour

Question 11

positive punishment

Answer 11

add something bad to decrease behavior;

Question 12

negative punishment

Answer 12

take away something good

to decrease behavior)

Question 13

extinction

Answer 13

Learned behavior can be reversed in absence of reinforcement; behavior no
longer elicits the response

Question 14

spontaneous recovery

Answer 14

Recovery of conditioned response to conditioned stimulus after delay following extinction

Question 15

Spatial learning-

Answer 15

• also associative learning

- Animal associates attributes of landmark with reward of identifying and returning to that location

Question 16

habituation

Answer 16

learned behavior that allows animal to disregard meaningless stimuli
- repeatedly poking with stick ignore lol

Question 17

sensitization

Answer 17

increased response to repeated stimulus (opposite of habituation)

Question 18

social learning

Answer 18

animal copies behavior of another without having experienced any feedback themselves
- “being a follower”

Question 19

insight learning

Answer 19

When animal exposed to new situation w/out prior experience performs a behavior that
generates a positive outcome

Question 20

maturation

Answer 20

some behaviours are not learned, but innate and COME with time like flying

Question 21

-Stimulus generalization:

Answer 21

conditioned organism responds to stimuli similar but not identical to original
conditioned stimulus.

Question 22

Stimulus discrimination

Answer 22

involves the ability of the learning organism to

differentially respond to slightly different stimuli

Question 23

Kinesis:

Answer 23

undirected (without direction) change in speed of an animal’s movement in response to a
stimulus;
- slow down in safety, increases fast when unsafe (teens and police!)

Question 24

Taxis:

Answer 24

directed movement in response to stimulus. Movement is either toward/away from stimulus.

Question 25

chemical communication

Answer 25

pheromones. reversible behavioural changes are releaser pheromones, and long term changes are primer pheromones

Question 26

visual communication

Answer 26

aggresion or courtship

Question 27

auditory communication

Answer 27

over long distances, through water, and
at night. May be used to warn danger, communicate reproductive readiness, species
recognition, warning agains rivals,

Question 28

tactile communication

Answer 28

social bonding, infant care etc.

Question 29

foraging behaviour

Answer 29

like hunting in groups to hide, be vigilant and defend to get food

Question 30

search images

Answer 30

help animals find favored or plentiful food based on specific and/or abbreviated target ‘image’; ex spotting a police car (black and white search image), book on shelf (color and shape w/out
reading title)

Question 31

agnostic behaviour

Answer 31

aggression and submission

• comes from competition for stuff
• ritualized so injuries and fighting is minimized!

Question 32

dominance hierarchy

Answer 32

indicate power so less fighting

I.e pecking order

Question 33

territoriality

Answer 33

active possession and defense of territory- ensures adequate food/place to mate
and rear young

Question 34

altruistic behaviour

Answer 34

not just selfless, but helps RELATIVES survive

Question 35

haplodiplod bees

Answer 35

something about males being haploid, female being diploid and how females are related and can survive if they protect queen rather than try on their own

Question 36

Reciprocal altruism:

Answer 36

unrelated members of same species help each other [tends to be in
species with stable social groups that are likely to meet again, thus potential future benefit]

Question 37

Hamilton’s rule:

Answer 37

the principle that for natural selection to favor an altruistic act, the
benefit to the recipient, devalued by the coefficient of relatedness (fraction of genes that are shared on average), must exceed the cost to the altruist.

Question 38

Appeasement Behavior:

Answer 38

pacifying aggression by showing inferior social stance

Question 39

Polygamy: Polygyny

Answer 39

– single male w/

many females;

Question 40

polyandry

Answer 40

single female w/ multiple males

Question 41

Iteroparity:

Answer 41

repeated reproduction – relatively few but large offspring each time
reproduce, and tend to care for offspring better