Ch4-Control of Behavior: Neural Mechanisms Flashcards
Define: Ethology
The discipline dedicated to the study of both the proximate and ultimate causes if animal behavior
Define: instinct.
A behavior pattern that appears in a fully functional form the first time it is performed despite not having previous experience with the cues to elicit the behavior. Ex. Gull pecking at red dot on mother’s beak
Describe the relation between a fixed action pattern and an instinct.
A fixed action pattern is a series of actions that once initiated by a sign stimulus/releaser, will be continue through completion. It is a basic form of an instinct.
Define: sign stimulus/releaser
The cue that initiates a fixed action pattern. Ex. Pheromone so that ants will take care of alcon blue butterfly larvae
Define: innate releasing mechanism
The neural network that receives the input from the sign stimulus and synthesizes a response in the form of a fixed action pattern
Define: action potential
All-or-nothing change in electrical charge that is propagated along the axon of a neuron and sent through a synapse via a nuerotransmitter to another neuron or muscle cell
Define: interneuron
Relay cell between a sensory neuron and a motor neuron. Ex swim initiation neurons in sea slug
Define: central pattern generation
A group of cells in the central nervous system that produces a particular pattern of signals necessary for a functional behavioral response. Ex. Integrates information from sensory neurons and coordinates alternating responses to the flexion neurons for swimming sea slug
Define: stimulus filtering
The ability of neurons and neural networks to ignore-filter out-vast amounts of potential information in order to focus on biologically relevant elements within stimuli bombarding animal. Ex. A1 receptors only receptive to high frequency sound and do not hear sounds from crickets or frogs
