exam 2 Flashcards
what are tinbergs four areas if inquiry
Causation, Ontogeny, Survival value, evolution
Causation
what external stimuli are necessary and sufficient to elicit the motor pattern and what is the nature of the “wiring diagram”
survival value
how a behavioral act contributes to the survival, and ultimately to the reproductive success of the animal the performs the act
ontogeny
behavioral acts based/influenced by learning or learned through instinctive behavior (Nature vs nurture)
evolution
pattern of evolutionary change in behavior and by what process did this change come about
how does the axon hillock makes yes/no decision to propagate an action potential
it begins at a resting potential with the electrochemical equilibrium of potassium ions. There is no cell signaling at a no decision therefore there is an inhibitory postsynaptic potential. When there is a decision to a yes then this results in Na+ channels to open and cause depolarization.
define stereotypy and give a specific example of a stereotype in specific species
persistent repetition of an act that may or may not be abnormal to that species.
Zoo elephants- seen pacing or rocking back and forth between front and hind leg
natural selection
process by which heritable traits become more or less common in a population as a function of the effect of these traits producing consistent differences in fitness
breeders equation
predicts evolutionary change when a phenotypic covariance exists between a heritage trait and fitness
Delta Z means
the change in the mean over 1 complete generation
h^2 means
proportion of trait variation statistically attributed to additive genetic effects, narrow sense heritability
s in the breeders equation means
the measure of association between trait values and fitness, the selection differential
narrow Sense heritability
the fraction of phenotypic variance that can be attributed to variation in the additive effects of alleles
3 modes of selection that act on quantitative traits
directional selection
stabilizing selection
disruptive selection
how can you tell if a behavioral trait is adaptive?
you can tell when a behavior is adaptive when it affects sexual reproductive or daily ways
genetic drift
random changes in frequencies of two or more alleles or genotypes within a population
gene flow
the movement of genes into or out of a population
why are foraging strategies under strong natural selection
organisms whose foraging is as energetically efficient as possible should be favored by natural selection , predicts how an animal should behave when searching for food
explain how a foraging opportunity could have led to the rapid evolution of polar bears to ABC brown bears
After the decrease of food in the regions where the polar bears lived they had to travel to areas where they could find more food to survive and traveled to places that resulted in the death of white fur. This then led to the natural selection of brown bears
marginal value theorem
predicts the optimal foraging behavior
What is the currency that starling parents are trying to maximize
maximize the rate of food delivery
what are the 2 constraints that the leatherjackets face on every foraging trip?
load and travel/foraging time
how does their optimal decision rule change with travel time (travel time is long or short)
depending on how long the travel time takes them will also impact the amount of food that they intake
under what conditions should a predator switch from specializing (eating prey 1) to generalizing (eating prey 1 and 2)? Support answer with equation
the gain of energy from eating prey 2 is more than the gain from rejection and searching for a more profitable prey 1
S1> ((E1H2)/(E2))- h1
How does the star nose in star moles help increase the profitability of small pretty items?
the star has very high levels of mechanosensory afferents , can sense very low vibrations
given that the star nose moles live in swamps and marshes in eastern North America, how did competition for food in swamps shape the evolution of this novel sensory appendage
they have a short handling time when consuming small prey, therefore they eat it quickly
define behavioral imprinting
a kind of phase-sensitive learning that is rapid when its attention is fixed on a certain stimuli and is irreversible
filial imprinting
young animals imprints on the behavior of its parents
example of an improper filial imprinting
when a duck imprints on a human
sexual imprinting
young animals imprint on the characteristics of a desirable mate
example of improper sexual imprinting
biologists took a rejected egg from a whooping crane and had sandhill cranes raise it in order to increase whooping crane population however the offspring resulted in the crane not having any sexual interest in other whooping cranes only in the sandhill cranes
habituation
the waning of responsiveness to neutral stimulus, decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated presentations
sensitization
enhanced responsiveness to a repeated stimulus
basics of classical conditioning
there is an unconditioned stimulus like the meat powder that provides an unconditioned response which would be the production of saliva, once a conditioned stimulus is introduced the subject now knows that with that conditioned stimulus there will be the meat powder this lead to a conditioned response.
the result of the conditioned stimulus presented alone for several trials without unconditioned stimulus
extinction- unlearning or new learning of the conditioned repose. The conditioned response begins to wane
operant conditioning
animal associated a behavioral act with unconditioned stimulus and the animal can learn to perform behavioral act in response to a conditioned stimulus
how is operant conditioning different than classical conditioning
in classical conditioning there is a neutral stimulus is paired with a conditioned response while operant conditioning is a desired behavior paired with consequence
how is operant conditioning different than classical conditioning
in classical conditioning there is a neutral stimulus is paired with a conditioned response while operant conditioning is a desired behavior paired with consequence or reward
how can operant conditioning be used to train a pet
When there is a desired behavior you give a treat immediately or you punish so that the dog learns thought actions
explain how classical conditioning is used when clicker training a dog
The dog associated treat with food therefore they salivate when you add in a conditioned stimulus which is the clicker it associates the clicker with a treat and does the conditioned response
switch learning
to be rewarded, the bird had to visit the other flower
stay learner
to be rewarded, the bird had to visit the same flower
why was switch learning harder
