Behavioural Plasticity & Learning Flashcards
When can selection can act on behaviour?
- There is inter-individual variation
- Individual differences are heritable
- Some behavioural differences increase reproductive success
What are Tinbergen’s four questions?
- What are the mechanisms that cause it?
- How does it develop?
- What is its adaptive value?
- What is its evolutionary history?
What are “Darwinian demons”?
Organisms that can do everything in every environment
Why do Darwinian demons not exist?
Trade offs - no animal can do everything all of the time (mating and foraging)
Optimality - the “best” level given the limitations, costs and benefits
What is behavioural plasticity?
Change in organisms behaviour as a result of exposure to stimuli
Give an example of fixed alternative phenotypes
Male Atlantic salmon have two reproductive morphs: a big one and a sneaky one for mating
Give an example of sequential (developmental) plasticity
Honeybee worker roles change with age: young look after larvae and old forage
Give an example of behavioural flexibility
Male fruit flies alter mating duration depending on the presence of other males
Define “learning”
A change in cognitive state due to experience
What is cognition?
The mechanisms by which animals acquire, process, store and act upon information in the environment
Why does cognition not apply to plants?
It requires the central nervous system
What are the conditions for learning?
Age, sex, past experience and type of experience (reliable patterns of events and important events)
Give an example of hormone-dependent performance
White-crowned sparrows learn song from adult but need hormone change to sing
Give an example of state-dependent performance
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
What is sensitisation?
When a link between a single stimulus and a response increases
What is habituation?
When a link between a single stimulus and response decreases
Give an example of a single stimulus experiment
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.
What are the two types of conditioning that involve paired stimuli?
Pavlovian conditioning (classical) and operant conditioning
What is Pavlovian conditioning?
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.
What is operant conditioning?
The animals makes an action or response that is linked to an outcome
What is positive reinforcement?
Animal receives a treat (food or attention)
What is negative reinforcement?
Animal loses a treat (no food or attention)
What is positive punishment?
Animal experiences something nasty (whip)
What is negative punishment?
Animal avoids something nasty (waste)
List three characteristics of classical conditioning
- Based on involuntary reflex behaviour
- Learner is the object of the experience (passive learning)
- Effectiveness of conditioning assessed by size of the response
List three characteristics of operant conditioning
- Based on voluntary behaviour
- Learner is the subject of the experience (active learning)
- Effectiveness of conditioning assessed by frequency of response
What are the tradeoffs for individual vs social learning?
Individual learning can be time consuming and dangerous, social learning is cheaper but less accurate
Give an example of the tradeoffs between individual and social learning?
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
What are the five forms of social learning?
- Local enhancement
- Social facilitation
- Observational learning
- Imitation
- Teaching
What is local enhancement?
Locate foraging sites by attending to others
What is social facilitation?
Animals feed faster in a groups
What is observational learning?
observer modifies behaviour after demonstrator
What is imitation?
Observed matches behavioural action and goal
What is teaching?
Demonstrator only performs behaviour to naive observer
Give an example of flexible social learning with individual innovation
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
Give an example of when information spreads quickly through social networks
Cream stealing by blue tits; more common milk delivery means more common stealing
Give an example of cultures being socially transmitted
Drosophila females choose same males that other females choose even though there is nothing wrong with the other males
How are cultures socially transmitted?
- Copied from observation
- Copying occurs across age classes
- Durable in individuals
- Trait-based regardless of other
- Conformist
What are some of the issues with social learning?
Whose information should be trusted - example is risky road crossing
