Development of Behaviour

Question 1

Genes may affect behaviour by their effects on…

Answer 1

*Nervous System
*Muscles
*Metabolic State
*Hormones

Question 2

What is the purpose of the “fruitless” protein in Drosophilia?

Answer 2

It is a gene that is cruitual for male courtship ritual and male’s preference for mating with females.

Question 3

Explain fosB gene in mice

Answer 3

Mice in which the fosB gene is inactivated do not have a maternal instinct.

The difference between maternal and these experimentally non-maternal mice is due to a difference at a single locus.

Question 4

Mating and Parental care in praire voles

Answer 4

prairie voles are monogamous and males help care for young. These behaviours are influenced by the neurotransmitter arginine vasopressin (AVP) which is released during mating. AVP binds to the V1a receptor in the prairie vole brain

Question 5

Lorenz’s concept of instinct.

Answer 5

Simple stereotyped behaviour patterns (“fixed action patterns”) evoked by simple stimuli (“sign simuli”).

Question 6

What are fixed action patterns?

Answer 6

• simple stereotyped behavioural patterns
• characteristic of a species/sex;
• develop spontaneously & without practice
• often involved in signaling (e.g. courtship) & in activities that are crucial to survival e.g escaping from predators

Question 7

Give examples of instinctive behaviour

Answer 7

(1) Pecking responses of chicks. Domestic chicks peck at spots that contrast with the background (e.g grains of food); Herring gull chicks peck at their parent’s beak to elicit feeding; (2) Egg-retrieval by ground-laying birds

Question 8

True or False: Instinctive behaviour patterns may be resistant to change

Answer 8

True

Question 9

Learning

Answer 9

Adaptive changes in the behaviour of an individual animal as a result of experience

Question 10

What types of changes is learning involved in?

Answer 10

Learning involves changes in neural pathways during the lifetime of the animal and results in flexible patterns of response. Learning occurs in “higher animals” especially mammals.

Question 11

What is behaviour influenced by?

Answer 11

Animal’s genetic makeup and by environmental influences during development.

Question 12

What do environmental influences include?

Answer 12

*Availablity of Food
*Presence of hormones in the body

Question 13

What way does environment affect behaviour?

Answer 13

Through Learning procesess.

Question 14

What affects the way the nervous system develops?

Answer 14

Both external events and genetic factors

Question 15

Expression of the behavioural phenotype of an animal depends on?

Answer 15

*Genotype
*Learning
*Environmental influences, including the social environment
*Growth and maturation

Question 16

Give an example of how genes and environment influence behaviour

Answer 16

It is seen in honey bee workers.

2 Environmental influences:
*High levels of juvenile hormone in blood associated with the change from nurse to forager.
*older workers produce a substance, ethyl oleate, that is transferred with food to the younger bees, and inhibits the change in the young bees’ behaviour.

Question 17

What is maturation influenced by?

Answer 17

Maturation is influenced by hormones e.g. presence of sex hormones during a critical period of development affects future sex-related behaviour of mammals

Question 18

Inherited tendencies modified by learning: birdsong

Answer 18

White-crown sparrows in different localities have different song “dialects”

Question 19

Describe the Marler & Taumura isolation expt on the white crowned sparrow.

Answer 19

• males isolated shortly after hatching subsequently sang a simple species-specific song (inherited);
• males left with the flock for 3 months after hatching and then isolated subsequently sang the “dialect” of the flock when mature (inherited simple pattern modified by learning during 3 months with flock).
• full expression of the song requires practice with feedback

Question 20

What is the ultimate cause for the male bird to learn complex songs?

Answer 20

One hypothesis is that the abilities of a male bird to learn complex songs is an indicator of his health and hence suitability as a mate, and that female birds find this attractive.

Question 21

How did Blakemore & Copper show that physical environment influences development of the brain?

Answer 21

*Performed an experiment with kittens. They created ‘horizonal’ or ‘vertical’ environments which the kittens were reared in

*These environments affected the visual cortex of kittens. the kittens subsequently responded to only horizontal or vertical stimuli, respectively.

Question 22

Play

Answer 22

Play is a feature of many young animals it is essential for the development of physical and social skills.

Question 23

What is Stage-specific behaviour?

Answer 23

Behaviour expressed only at certain stage in the animal’s life e.g. courtship behaviour is seen only in sexually mature animals.

Question 24

Explain Senstitive stages

Answer 24

Many species have periods of development during which they are sensitive to particular kinds of influences. Examples include Song-learning: White crown sparrows only learn song during the first 50 days of life

Question 25

Imprinting

Answer 25

Imprinting is the process by which a young animal becomes attached to a mother-figure. Imprinting affects subsequent choice of sexual partner.