3 - Elicited behaviours Flashcards
What is an elicited behaviour?
- A behavior that is “drawn out” or bring forth of an organism by the presentation of a stimulus
- A behavior that is automatic and involuntary (reflexive)
→ p.ex: you don’t choose to be startled by a gunshot
What is a reflex? Give an example
- The most basic form of elicited behavior
- Defined as “a relatively simple, automatic response to a stimulus”
- Some reflexes only involve one gland or muscle, others are more general involving coordinated action of certain body parts
- Reflexes are adaptive, they promote survival
→ p.ex: blinking, being startled, flexion (withdrawal) - Example: The startle response—a defensive reaction to a sudden, unexpected stimulus—involves the automatic tightening of skeletal muscles as well as various hormonal and visceral (internal organ) changes
- Example: The orienting response—in which we automatically position ourselves to facilitate attending to a stimulus—can involve a relatively major body movement, such as when we automatically turn in response to an unfamiliar noise behind us
- Reflex arc: a neural pathway that controls a reflex
What is a fixed-action pattern? What puts it into motion?
- A sequence of species-specific behavior elicited by a stimulus
→ i.e. Dog play postures (head down, bum up, front legs out) in response to its owner pulling out a ball - A fixed action pattern is a fixed sequence of responses elicited by a specific stimulus
→ p.ex: V-shaped formation by birds, cats compulsively scratch the ground if they want to hide their food, dogs indicate they want to play by wagging their tails - We are often able to identify a releaser stimulus that sets the fixed action pattern into motion
→ p.ex: seeing blood (releaser) and automatically throwing up
Fixed-action patterns tend to be ___ ___ that evolved to promote survival in the animal’s natural environment (survival technique).
Adaptive response
→ The difficulty in this, is that the responses are not well suited to major changes (sudden large scale change) to the natural environment
→ the fixed action patterns can even become harmful or useless following a change
→ p.ex: deers have an inborn tendency to run in zigzag patterns because they’re trying to throw predators off and increases its chances to survive; BUT this action decreases its survival when going down a highway
What is habituation?
- Habituation is a decrease in the strength of an elicited response to a stimulus after repeated exposure to that stimulus
- The first time the stimulus is present, the response will probably be most intense, then it will gradually decrease
→ p.ex: habituation to the sound of a fan; habituation to the smell of fire; the tick of a clock - We tend to habituate to stimuli that are currently irrelevant and low-intensity
- Habituation is only temporary
- Allows you to attend to changes in the environment
What is sensitization?
- Sensitization is an enhancement of a response following the repeated presentation of a novel (usually noxious) stimulus
- Alerts us to small, possibly dangerous, changes in our environment
→ p.ex: hearing a branch snapping in the woods; smelling smoke in the middle of the night; still getting scared at every turn of a scary haunted house - We tend to become sensitive to stimuli that are extremely relevant and high-intensity
- Sensitization often generalizes to other stimuli
- Typically adaptive responses, but can be maladaptive, especially if in a stressful situation
→ p.ex: a soldier’s responses to exploding artillery shells and subsequent startling sounds
→ soldiers don’t get used to these sounds, their response remains enhanced, this contributes to the PTSD development
True or false: Effects of habituation and sensitization usually disappear when the stimulus is not presented for a period of time.
True: The strength of behaviour goes back to its original level
What is long-term habituation? Give an example.
- The response slowly decreases as a result of repeated stimulation and then slowly recovers in the absence of repeated stimulation
→ p.ex: living in an apartment next to a train, at first the response is heightened, but eventually habituation becomes long-term
What is short-term habituation? Give an example
- The response quickly decreases and then quickly recovers
→ p.ex: the sound of a fan
In general, long-term habituation tends to occur when presentations of the stimulus are ___ ___ (e.g., a train going by your apartment each morning), whereas short-term habituation tends to occur when presentations of the stimulus are ___ ___ or ___
Widely space; narrowly spaced or continuous
True or false: Sensitization rarely generalizes to other stimuli.
False: They often do generalize
- p.ex: A shell- shocked soldier is likely to jump not only in response to artillery explosions but also to any sudden stimulus
True or false: Habituation is quite stimulus-specific.
True: Such that any change in the stimulus is likely to result in the reappearance of the habituated response
In classical conditioning, ___ behaviours are paired with a new ___, which then can elicit the ___
Reflexive; stimulus; response
How did Pavlov develop his experiment?
- Studied salivation as part of the digestive process
- Presentation of different substances affect the quantity and quality of salivation
→ Meat routinely produced small amount of dry saliva
→ Sand routinely produced large amount of watery saliva - Purpose: to train a dog to salivate to the sound of a metronome
- The dog was restrained in a harness, and a tube was inserted into an incision that had been made in its cheek (the dog habituated to the tube quickly)
- The saliva would run down the tube into a container where it could be precisely measured
- Pavlov (accidentally) discovered the principles of Classical Conditioning
What are the 4 components of Pavlovian conditioning? Define each of them
1) Unconditioned stimulus (UCS or US): stimulus that unconditionally–automatically and naturally triggers a response (food)
2) Unconditioned response (UCR or UR): unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus (salivating)
→ because salivation to food occurs naturally, and does not require training
3) Conditioned Stimulus (CS): originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response (bell or metronome) (previously NS)
4) Conditioned Response (CR): learned response to a previously neutral conditioned stimulus (salivating)
True or false: The CR is similar to the UR, but usually weaker or less intense.
True
