Biology - Animal Behavior Flashcards
what are reflexes?
automatic response to environmental stimuli
where is a simple reflex controlled?
spinal cord
what is an example of an afferent neuron?
receptor
what is an example of an efferent neuron?
motor
what does the efferent nerve innervate?
the effector (a muscle or gland)
in what kind of organisms are reflexes most important?
lower ones (not vertebrates)
describe the path of a simple reflex in the spinal cord?
receptor cell; sensory neuron; interneuron; motor neuron; effector cell
where does the integration of a complex reflex take place?
cerebrum or brain stem
what is an example of a startle response?
responding to danger or hearing your name called
what is the reticular activating system?
controls the startle response, sleep-wake transitions and behavioral motivation
what are fixed-action patterns?
innate responses to patterns of environmental stimuli
what is the releaser in terms of responses?
the stimulus that elicits the behavior
are fixed-action patterns modified by learning?
no; the stimuli that trigger the fixed-action pattern is more easily modified
two examples of fixed-action patterns:
the maintenance/retrieval of female birds to their eggs; characteristic movements of animals that herd or flock
what are circadian rhythms?
daily cycles of behavior
how is the circadian rhythm maintained/modified?
initiated intrinsically and modified by external cues
what is the capacity for learning adaptive responses correlated with?
degree of neurologic development
what is habituation?
repeated stimulation results in decreased responsiveness to that stimulus
what is spontaneous recovery?
response recovers over time when the stimulus is no applied for a while.
what is pseudo-conditioning?
when the “neutral stimulus” is not actual neutral and can elicit the response before conditioning
who was BF Skinner?
operant conditioning
what was the operant response under the Skinner Box experiments?
depression of the lever
as a result of positive reinforcement, the animal was…..
more likely to have behavioral response
as a result of negative reinforcement, the animal makes what connection?
between the lack of a behavior with a reward
as a result of punishment, the animal is….
less likely to do the behavioral response
what is a habit family hierarchy?
probability of a behavior happening compared to other behaviors as a result of punishment/reinforcement
what is extinction in terms of animal behavior?
elimination of conditioned responses in absence of reinforcement…..it will reappear in the presence of the reinforcement
what is spontaneous recovery?
recovery of conditioned response after extinction
what must be pair with the unconditioned stimulus for the maintenance of the conditioned response?
the conditioned stimulus
what is a stimulus generalization gradient?
stimuli further and further away from the original conditioned stimulus elicit responses with decreasing magnitudes
what is imprinting?
when environmental patterns are presented during the critical period and become permanent element of the behavior of an organism
what did Lorenz tell us about imprinting?
ducks think the first object they see is their mother
what is a behavioral display?
innate behavior that evolved for the purpose of communication between members of a species
what are reproductive displays?
found in all animals (even humans); signals for mating
what are agnostic displays?
dog wagging its tail to show appeasement
what is an antagonistic display?
dog directing its face straight and raising its body
what displays do honey bees use?
dancing to convey info about food location/quality
what does a pecking order do?
prevents intraspecific aggression by establishing stable relationships
what is territoriality?
defend territory used for mating, feeding or nesting
what is the function of territoriality?
to distribute members of a species so that resources are not depleted and it reduces competition
examples of releaser pheromones?
sex-attractant, alarm and toxic defensive
what do releaser pheromones trigger?
reversible behavioral change in the recipient
what do primer pheromones trigger?
long-term behavioral and physiological changes
in which populations are primer pheromones important? why?
social insect populations because they regulate role determination and reproduction
