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Animal Behaviour BLGY2222 > Behavioural Plasticity & Learning > Flashcards

Behavioural Plasticity & Learning Flashcards

1
Q

When can selection can act on behaviour?

A
  1. There is inter-individual variation
  2. Individual differences are heritable
  3. Some behavioural differences increase reproductive success
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2
Q

What are Tinbergen’s four questions?

A
  1. What are the mechanisms that cause it?
  2. How does it develop?
  3. What is its adaptive value?
  4. What is its evolutionary history?
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3
Q

What are “Darwinian demons”?

A

Organisms that can do everything in every environment

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4
Q

Why do Darwinian demons not exist?

A

Trade offs - no animal can do everything all of the time (mating and foraging)
Optimality - the “best” level given the limitations, costs and benefits

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5
Q

What is behavioural plasticity?

A

Change in organisms behaviour as a result of exposure to stimuli

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6
Q

Give an example of fixed alternative phenotypes

A

Male Atlantic salmon have two reproductive morphs: a big one and a sneaky one for mating

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7
Q

Give an example of sequential (developmental) plasticity

A

Honeybee worker roles change with age: young look after larvae and old forage

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8
Q

Give an example of behavioural flexibility

A

Male fruit flies alter mating duration depending on the presence of other males

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9
Q

Define “learning”

A

A change in cognitive state due to experience

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10
Q

What is cognition?

A

The mechanisms by which animals acquire, process, store and act upon information in the environment

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11
Q

Why does cognition not apply to plants?

A

It requires the central nervous system

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12
Q

What are the conditions for learning?

A

Age, sex, past experience and type of experience (reliable patterns of events and important events)

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13
Q

Give an example of hormone-dependent performance

A

White-crowned sparrows learn song from adult but need hormone change to sing

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14
Q

Give an example of state-dependent performance

A

Marsh tits store food and learn the location - if they are hungry they recover the food, if given more food store in a different location

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15
Q

What is sensitisation?

A

When a link between a single stimulus and a response increases

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16
Q

What is habituation?

A

When a link between a single stimulus and response decreases

17
Q

Give an example of a single stimulus experiment

A

Snail experiment - lightly touch head, snail retreats into shell; continual touch on head if nothing bad happens habituate and don’t retreat; touch and then predator, keep retreating - sensitisation.

18
Q

What are the two types of conditioning that involve paired stimuli?

A

Pavlovian conditioning (classical) and operant conditioning

19
Q

What is Pavlovian conditioning?

A

Dog salivates when sees/smells food (innate reflex). Dog does not salivate when hears a sound it does not associate with food. Pavlov rang the bell every time he fed the dog. Eventually the dog salivated when the bell was rang - associative learning.

20
Q

What is operant conditioning?

A

The animals makes an action or response that is linked to an outcome

21
Q

What is positive reinforcement?

A

Animal receives a treat (food or attention)

22
Q

What is negative reinforcement?

A

Animal loses a treat (no food or attention)

23
Q

What is positive punishment?

A

Animal experiences something nasty (whip)

24
Q

What is negative punishment?

A

Animal avoids something nasty (waste)

25
Q

List three characteristics of classical conditioning

A
  1. Based on involuntary reflex behaviour
  2. Learner is the object of the experience (passive learning)
  3. Effectiveness of conditioning assessed by size of the response
26
Q

List three characteristics of operant conditioning

A
  1. Based on voluntary behaviour
  2. Learner is the subject of the experience (active learning)
  3. Effectiveness of conditioning assessed by frequency of response
27
Q

What are the tradeoffs for individual vs social learning?

A

Individual learning can be time consuming and dangerous, social learning is cheaper but less accurate

28
Q

Give an example of the tradeoffs between individual and social learning?

A

Under attack heavily armoured three spine sticklebacks use their own information and find the best food patch; less armoured nine spine sticklebacks hide and observe

29
Q

What are the five forms of social learning?

A
  1. Local enhancement
  2. Social facilitation
  3. Observational learning
  4. Imitation
  5. Teaching
30
Q

What is local enhancement?

A

Locate foraging sites by attending to others

31
Q

What is social facilitation?

A

Animals feed faster in a groups

32
Q

What is observational learning?

A

observer modifies behaviour after demonstrator

33
Q

What is imitation?

A

Observed matches behavioural action and goal

34
Q

What is teaching?

A

Demonstrator only performs behaviour to naive observer

35
Q

Give an example of flexible social learning with individual innovation

A

Bees learn a novel task more quickly from a demonstrator but they can innovate and take short cuts - always go to the ball that is closer even when associate the other ball with treat

36
Q

Give an example of when information spreads quickly through social networks

A

Cream stealing by blue tits; more common milk delivery means more common stealing

37
Q

Give an example of cultures being socially transmitted

A

Drosophila females choose same males that other females choose even though there is nothing wrong with the other males

38
Q

How are cultures socially transmitted?

A
  1. Copied from observation
  2. Copying occurs across age classes
  3. Durable in individuals
  4. Trait-based regardless of other
  5. Conformist
39
Q

What are some of the issues with social learning?

A

Whose information should be trusted - example is risky road crossing

Animal Behaviour BLGY2222 (11 decks)

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