Biology - Animal Behavior

Question 1

what are reflexes?

Answer 1

automatic response to environmental stimuli

Question 2

where is a simple reflex controlled?

Answer 2

spinal cord

Question 3

what is an example of an afferent neuron?

Answer 3

receptor

Question 4

what is an example of an efferent neuron?

Answer 4

motor

Question 5

what does the efferent nerve innervate?

Answer 5

the effector (a muscle or gland)

Question 6

in what kind of organisms are reflexes most important?

Answer 6

lower ones (not vertebrates)

Question 7

describe the path of a simple reflex in the spinal cord?

Answer 7

receptor cell; sensory neuron; interneuron; motor neuron; effector cell

Question 8

where does the integration of a complex reflex take place?

Answer 8

cerebrum or brain stem

Question 9

what is an example of a startle response?

Answer 9

responding to danger or hearing your name called

Question 10

what is the reticular activating system?

Answer 10

controls the startle response, sleep-wake transitions and behavioral motivation

Question 11

what are fixed-action patterns?

Answer 11

innate responses to patterns of environmental stimuli

Question 12

what is the releaser in terms of responses?

Answer 12

the stimulus that elicits the behavior

Question 13

are fixed-action patterns modified by learning?

Answer 13

no; the stimuli that trigger the fixed-action pattern is more easily modified

Question 14

two examples of fixed-action patterns:

Answer 14

the maintenance/retrieval of female birds to their eggs; characteristic movements of animals that herd or flock

Question 15

what are circadian rhythms?

Answer 15

daily cycles of behavior

Question 16

how is the circadian rhythm maintained/modified?

Answer 16

initiated intrinsically and modified by external cues

Question 17

what is the capacity for learning adaptive responses correlated with?

Answer 17

degree of neurologic development

Question 18

what is habituation?

Answer 18

repeated stimulation results in decreased responsiveness to that stimulus

Question 19

what is spontaneous recovery?

Answer 19

response recovers over time when the stimulus is no applied for a while.

Question 20

what is pseudo-conditioning?

Answer 20

when the “neutral stimulus” is not actual neutral and can elicit the response before conditioning

Question 21

who was BF Skinner?

Answer 21

operant conditioning

Question 22

what was the operant response under the Skinner Box experiments?

Answer 22

depression of the lever

Question 23

as a result of positive reinforcement, the animal was…..

Answer 23

more likely to have behavioral response

Question 24

as a result of negative reinforcement, the animal makes what connection?

Answer 24

between the lack of a behavior with a reward

Question 25

as a result of punishment, the animal is….

Answer 25

less likely to do the behavioral response

Question 26

what is a habit family hierarchy?

Answer 26

probability of a behavior happening compared to other behaviors as a result of punishment/reinforcement

Question 27

what is extinction in terms of animal behavior?

Answer 27

elimination of conditioned responses in absence of reinforcement…..it will reappear in the presence of the reinforcement

Question 28

what is spontaneous recovery?

Answer 28

recovery of conditioned response after extinction

Question 29

what must be pair with the unconditioned stimulus for the maintenance of the conditioned response?

Answer 29

the conditioned stimulus

Question 30

what is a stimulus generalization gradient?

Answer 30

stimuli further and further away from the original conditioned stimulus elicit responses with decreasing magnitudes

Question 31

what is imprinting?

Answer 31

when environmental patterns are presented during the critical period and become permanent element of the behavior of an organism

Question 32

what did Lorenz tell us about imprinting?

Answer 32

ducks think the first object they see is their mother

Question 33

what is a behavioral display?

Answer 33

innate behavior that evolved for the purpose of communication between members of a species

Question 34

what are reproductive displays?

Answer 34

found in all animals (even humans); signals for mating

Question 35

what are agnostic displays?

Answer 35

dog wagging its tail to show appeasement

Question 36

what is an antagonistic display?

Answer 36

dog directing its face straight and raising its body

Question 37

what displays do honey bees use?

Answer 37

dancing to convey info about food location/quality

Question 38

what does a pecking order do?

Answer 38

prevents intraspecific aggression by establishing stable relationships

Question 39

what is territoriality?

Answer 39

defend territory used for mating, feeding or nesting

Question 40

what is the function of territoriality?

Answer 40

to distribute members of a species so that resources are not depleted and it reduces competition

Question 41

examples of releaser pheromones?

Answer 41

sex-attractant, alarm and toxic defensive

Question 42

what do releaser pheromones trigger?

Answer 42

reversible behavioral change in the recipient

Question 43

what do primer pheromones trigger?

Answer 43

long-term behavioral and physiological changes

Question 44

in which populations are primer pheromones important? why?

Answer 44

social insect populations because they regulate role determination and reproduction