E3 Innate and Learned Behaviour

Question 1

Describe innate behaviour

Answer 1

• Develop independently of the environmental context
  
  • Controlled by genes and inherited from parents
  • Uniform throughout population
  • Product of natural selection
  • e.g. suckling instinct in newborns, hunting instinct in some dogs

Question 2

Describe learned behaviour

Answer 2

• Develops as a result of experience
  
  • Modified by trial and error
  • Variation within population
  • Capacity to learn may be innate (language in humans, learning period)
  • e.g. dolphin learning to perform, learning to drive a car, domestication of animals

Question 3

Define taxis

Answer 3

An innate directional response to a (directional) stimulus

Question 4

Define kinesis

Answer 4

An innate non-directional response to a stimulus

Question 5

Discuss how the process of learning can improve the chances of survival

Answer 5

Learning involves acquiring information from past experiences to adapt to new situations. Organisms capable of learning can modify their behaviours in response to environmental change in order to survive
• Animals learn how to avoid dangerous situations and predators
• Birds learn that scarecrows pose no actual threat, and so eat crops
• Animals can learn who their mother is and stay close to avoid predators
• Animals learn how to hunt and obtain food

Question 6

Outline Pavlov’s experiment

Answer 6

• Dogs normally salivate (unconditioned response) in anticipation of being fed (unconditioned stimulus)
  
  • Pavlov sounded a bell (neutral stimulus) prior to feeding a dog
  • After many repetitions, the dog came to associate the bell with food and began to salivate when the bell was rung (conditioned response)

Question 7

Outline the role of inheritance and learning in the development of birdsong in young birds

Answer 7

• Birdsong has both inherited and learned components
  
  • Each species has a species-specific crude template which is genetically inherited
  • Within a species, birds have varied song, as they can learn to improve the song they have inherited
  • After hatching there is a ‘sensitive period’ lasting about 100 days during which birds listen to adult song and modify their template
  • If a bird does not hear song within this period, it will not modify its template.
  • The second phase is a motor phase in which the young bird practices singing the song it has learnt