Chapter Four: The Control Of Behavioral Neural Mechanisms Flashcards
Is this a proximate or ultimate question: how do neural networks acquire, process, and respond to stimuli?
Proximate
Neurons firing is _______. A stronger response means that ______.
All or none
More neurons were fired
Some neural cues are very vague, for example a bug mating with anything that is ____
Orange
Why is something being “orange” a good enough cue to signal the male to mate?
It is the color of the female
They have been successful this way, so natural selection has not favored anything else
Very few orange cues in the environment
Instinctive behaviors are ______ the first time they’re attempted
Fully functional
Instinctive behaviors are triggered by a ___
Sign stimulus
A sign stimulus that comes from a member of the same species
Releaser
Instinctive behaviors are a ______ triggered by a sign stimulus
Fixed action pattern
A fixed action pattern means that once the behavior is triggered, it ______
Goes to completion
Gull chicks beg for food from their parent by _____
Pecking at the red dot on their parents beak
Is the red dot on the parents beak the sign stimulus that causes gull chicks to peck at it?
Yes
Geese egg rolling is a ____
Fixed action pattern
What is the sign stimulus for egg rolling? What is the fixed action pattern?
The sight of an egg out of the nest
Stretching the beak out past the egg and rolling the egg back into the nest
An exaggerated sign stimulus that causes a stronger response
Supernormal stimulus
When presented with a supernormal stimulus and a normal stimulus, which will an animal respond to?
Supernormal
Mimicking a sign stimulus to benefit from the resulting fixed action pattern
Code breaker
An example of a code breaker
Cuckoo parents placing their eggs in a nest of another species for them to raise
Neural mechanisms are subject to ____
Natural selection
Natural selection selects for neural mechanisms that ____ and ____
Detect key stimuli
Trigger appropriate response
Neural mechanisms can be highly ___
Specialized
Bats catch moths with ____
Echolocation
Moths have ears on either side of their ___
Thorax
Moth’s tympanum is attached to two receptors: ___ and ___
A1
A2
When frequency and intensity are right, ____
One or both receptors will fire
Frequency =
Intensity =
Pitch
Loudness
When A1 and or A2 fire, a signal is sent to the ____, and then a signal is sent to the ____
Interneurons in the CNS
Motor neurons in the flight muscles
Two important cues for triggering evasive flight in moths
Sound intensity
Direction of bat
A1 is sensitive to ____
A2 is sensitive to ____
Low/moderate intensity ultrasound
High intensity ultrasound only
As intensity increases, rate of A1 firing ____, let’s moth know whether bat is coming or going
Increases
A1 responds ____ and ____ on the side the bat is approaching
Sooner and faster
A2 only fires if bat is ___
Very close
A2 firing triggers ____
Erratic flight
The ability to ignore irrelevant stimuli
Stimulus filtering
Three methods of stimulus filtering
- Can’t detect stimuli
- Sensory adaptation
- Habituation
Signal is no longer relayed to the CNS
Sensory adaptation
Signal is sent to interneuron but is not sent to motor neuron
Habituation
More of the brain cortex is devoted to ___
Important stimuli that you need to respond to
