Exam 1 Flashcards
Charles R. Darwin
theory of evolution by means of natural selection
Karl von Frisch
studied the senses of bees, identified their mechanisms of communication including their dance
William D. Hamilton
genetic basis for kin selection
Konrad Z. Lorenz
theory of instinct
C. Lloyd Morgan
coined “Morgan’s canon”
Ivan P. Pavlov
classical conditioning
Nikolaas Tinbergen
individual and social behavior patterns
John B. Watson
tabula rasa; mind is initially a blank slate
instinct
A behavior pattern that reliably develops in most individuals, promoting a function response to a releaser stimulus the first time the action is performed. Instincts were whole patterns of behavior such as drinking, eating, fighting, courting, literally “driven from within”.
Fixed Action Pattern (FAP)
An innate, highly stereotyped response that is triggered by a well-defined, simple stimulus; once the pattern is activated, the response is performed in its entirety.
Sign Stimulus (SS)
The effective component of an action or object that triggers a fixed action pattern in an animal.
Innate Releasing Mechanism (IRM)
“A special (hypothetical) neurosensory mechanism that releases the reaction and is responsible for its selective susceptibility to a very special combination of sign stimuli” (Tinbergen).
imprinting
A form of learning in which individuals exposed to certain key stimuli, usually early in life, form an association with the object and may later show sexual behavior toward similar objects.
ethogram
A precise descriptive catalog of all postures and patterns of movement an animal (species) might make in any natural context
morgan’s canon
Don’t give a more complicated explanation for a behavior if a simple one exists.
behaviorism
A subdiscipline of psychology that studied the sum total of an animal’s responses, reactions, or adjustments to local stimuli and how past events affect future behavior.
tabla rasa
A subdiscipline of psychology that studied the sum total of an animal’s responses, reactions, or adjustments to local stimuli and how past events affect future behavior.
Pavlovian (classical) conditioning
Associative learning where the pairing of a conditioned and unconditioned stimulus to produce a unconditioned response can lead to a conditioned response in the presence of the unconditioned stimulus alone.
instrumental (operate) conditioning
A kind of learning based on trial and error, in which an action or operate becomes more frequently performed if it is rewarded
homeostasis
The property of a living system that regulates its internal environment and tends to maintain a stable, constant condition of properties like temperature or pH.
natural selection
Also direct selection. The process that occurs when individuals differ in their traits and the differences are correlated with differences in reproductive success. Natural selection can produce evolutionary change when these differences are inherited.
phenotype
Any measurable aspect of an individual that arises from an interaction of the individual’s genes with its environment.
genotype
The genetic constitution of an individual; may refer to the alleles of one gene possessed by the individual or to its complete set of genes
fitness
A measure of the genes contributed to the next generation by an individual, often stated in terms of the number of surviving offspring produced by the individual. Direct fitness is the genes contributed by an individual via personal reproduction in the bodies of surviving offspring
adaptation
A characteristic that confers higher inclusive fitness to individuals than any other existing alternative exhibited by other individuals with the population; a trait that has spread or is spreading or is being maintained in a population as a result of natural selection.
evolution
A change in gene frequency (proportions) in a population over generations. These changes may be due to selection (natural, sexual, kin) or by chance events (genetic drift, gene flow, mutation).
proximate causation
An immediate, underlying cause based on the operation of internal mechanisms possessed by the individual; or how a behavior occurs.
ultimate causation
The evolutionary, historical reason why something is the way it is; or why a behavior occurs.
artificial selection
A process that is identical with natural selection, except that humans control the reproductive success of alternative types within the selected population.
individual selection
The process of natural selection operating on the reproductive success of an individual. Essentially, this is the process of natural selection as Darwin first envisioned it.
group selection
The process of natural selection operating on the reproductive success of a group of cooperating individuals. Rarely is group selection strong enough to prevent individual selection from overwhelming it.
heritability
The process of natural selection operating on the reproductive success of a group of cooperating individuals. Rarely is group selection strong enough to prevent individual selection from overwhelming it.
adaptation
A characteristic that confers higher inclusive fitness to individuals than any other existing alternative exhibited by other individuals with the population; a trait that has spread or is spreading or is being maintained in a population as a result of natural selection or indirect selection.
fitness
A measure of the genes contributed to the next generation by an individual, often stated in terms of the number of surviving offspring produced by the individual.
directional selection
The result of natural selection when individuals differ in traits and the differences are correlated with differences in reproductive success resulting in a directional change in the mean phenotype of a population.
stabilizing selection
The result of natural selection when individuals differ in traits and the differences are correlated with differences in reproductive success resulting in no net change in the mean phenotype of a population, but instead a reduction in the phenotypic variants that differ most from the population mean.
disruptive selection
The result of natural selection when individuals differ in traits and the differences are correlated with differences in reproductive success resulting in two (or more) optimal phenotypes that differ from the original population mean.
phenotypic plasticity
The ability of single genotype to express different phenotypes in different environments.
Stephen Jay Gould
theory of punctuated equilibrium which he developed with Niles Eldredge in 1972. The theory proposes that most evolution is marked by long periods of evolutionary stability, which is later punctuated by rare instances of branching evolution. The theory was contrasted against phyletic gradualism, the popular idea that evolutionary change is marked by a pattern of smooth and continuous change in the fossil record.
Ernst Walter Mayr
His work contributed to the conceptual revolution that led to the modern evolutionary synthesis of Mendelian genetics, systematics, and Darwinian evolution, and to the development of the biological species concept.
Ronald Aylmer Fisher
known as one of the three principal founders of population genetics
Sewall Green Wright
founder of population genetics
Peter Raymond Grant and Barbara Rosemary Grant
studied darwin’s finches
allele
A gene variant; one of two or more alternate forms of a gene. An individual with two identical alleles at the same gene locus is homozygous and an individual with two different alleles at the same gene locus is heterozygous.
mendelian inheritance
Simple rules of genetic transmission such as segregation and independent assortment that describes the transmission of one or two traits from one generation to the next - based on the discoveries of Gregor Mendel.
genotype
The genetic make-up of an individual. Usually represented by two letters that indicate the two alleles present at that gene locus (AA, Aa, aa).
phenotype
The observable characteristics or traits of an individual. Usually the specific trait expressed by a particular phenotype
dominant allele
An allele that is expressed in heterozygous individuals. Allele A is dominant to allele a if the Aa phenotype is identical to the AA phenotype
recessive allele
An allele in heterozygous individuals that is not expressed when combined with a dominant allele. Allele a is recessive to allele A if the Aa phenotype is identical to the AA phenotype.
polygenic
A trait or phenotype that is cause by more than one gene
pleiotropy
A single gene that affects multiple traits (phenotypes).
knockout mutation
A procedure that allows for targeted mutagenesis resulting in individuals lacking a normal copy of one specific gene, thus allowing a detailed examination of that gene’s specific influence on development, physiology and behavior.
transcriptomics
is the study of the transcriptome—the complete set of RNA transcripts that are produced by the genome, under specific circumstances or in a specific cell—using high-throughput methods, such as microarray analysis.
pheromone
Chemical messengers that travel via fluids outside of the body to specific target receptors in other organisms that causes changes in the activity of the target tissue cells.
hormone
Chemical messengers that travel via the blood to specific target tissues where they cause changes in the activities of the target tissue cells.
neurohormone (NT)
Chemical messengers that travel via extracellular fluids to specific receptors on adjacent cell membranes.
peptide hormone
A small-sized hormone that is composed of a string of amino acids.
protein hormone
A medium-sized hormone that is composed of one or more interacting protein molecules
steroid hormone
A large-sized hormone that is composed of complex carbon ring structures with many side groups.
HPA axis
is a complex set of direct influences and feedback interactions among three endocrine glands: the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal glands. The interactions among these organs constitute the HPA axis, a major part of the neuroendocrine system that controls reactions to stress and regulates many body processes, including digestion, the immune system, mood and emotions, sexuality, and energy storage and expenditure.
neuroethology
is the evolutionary and comparative approach to the study of animal behavior and its underlying mechanistic control by the nervous system. This interdisciplinary branch of behavioral neuroscience endeavors to understand how the central nervous system translates biologically relevant stimuli into natural behavior.
neuron
A individual nerve cell.
interneuron
A nerve cell that relays messages either from receptor neurons to the central nervous system (a sensory interneuron) or from the central nervous system to neurons commanding muscle cells (a motor interneuron).
axons
The body of the neuron. Nerve cell fibers that transmit electrical information from one nerve cell to another
dendrites
The fingers of the neuron. Nerve cell fibers that receive electrical information from other cells.
synapse
The point of near contact between one nerve cell and another. Neurohormones are released across the synapse to propagate or inhibit the signal in the adjacent nerve cell.
action potential
A neural signal; a self-regenerating change in membrane electrical charge that travels the length of a nerve cell.
circadian rhythm
Cycle of activity with an approximate 24 hour period that expresses itself independent of environmental cues.
photoperiod
The number of light and dark hours in a 24 hour period.
biological clock
An internal physiological mechanism that enables organisms to time any of a wide assortment of biological processes and activities.
period
Length of time from the beginning one cycle to the beginning of the next.
free-running cycle
The cycle of activity of an individual that is expressed in a constant environment.
entrainment
The re-setting of a biological clock so that an organism’s activities are scheduled in keeping with local conditions.
circatidal rhythms
Cycle of activity with an approximate 13-18 hour period depending on the location that expresses itself independent of environmental cues.
circalunar rhythm
Cycle of activity with an approximate 28 day period that expresses itself independent of environmental cues.
circannual rhythm
Cycle of activity with an approximate 365 day period that expresses itself independent of environmental cues.
epigenetics
The study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence. Examples of such changes are DNA demethylation and histone deacetylation, both of which serve to increase gene expression without altering the DNA sequence.
learning
A relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience
reflex
A simple stimulus response connection believed to be unlearned and characteristic of a species.
taxis
The involuntary movement of a motile organism involving a change of place toward (positive) or away (negative) from a source of stimulation. phototaxis = light, phonotaxis = sound, chemotaxis = chemical molecules, geotaxis = gravity, magnetotasis = magnetic fields.
habituation
Becoming less sensitive to stimuli over time.
sensitization
Becoming more sensitive to stimuli over time
law of effect
If a response in the presence of a stimulus is followed by a positive event, the association of the stimulus and response will be strengthened. Conversely, if the response is followed by aversive event, the association will be weakened.
imprinting
A form of learning in which individuals exposed to certain key stimuli, usually early in life, form an association with the object and may later show sexual behavior toward similar objects.
epigenetics
The study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence. Examples of such changes are DNA methylation and histone deacetylation, both of which serve to suppress gene expression without altering the sequence of the silenced genes.
public information
Inadvertent social information regarding the location of resources or the quality of resources. The use of public information by others may create the selective pressures that transform public information into specific signals via cultural evolution.
social facilitation
When the presence of a model, regardless of what it does, facilitates learning on the part of the observer.
social learning
Learning via the observation of others.
copying
Behavior that occurs when an observer repeats the actions of a demonstrator. Copying usually involves a behavior that has been performed previously.
imitation
The acquisition of a novel response (never before performed) through observation of a demonstrator making that response.
teaching
An individual actor A (tutor) can be said to teach if it modifies its behavior only in the presence of naïve observer B (pupil), at some coast or at least without obtaining an immediate benefit for itself. A’s behavior thereby encourages or punishes B’s behavior, or
provides B with experience, or sets and example for B. As a result, B acquires knowledge, or learns a skill earlier in life or more rapidly or efficiently than it might otherwise do so, or would not learn at all.
cultural transmission
The transfer of information from individual to individual through social learning or teaching.
