EXAM 3 3/18 Flashcards
can larger or small animals keep hydrated during the winter?
Small animals struggle with staying hydrated due to their low body mass and high surface area to mass ratio. Larger animals maintain hydration more easily due to their size
do small mammals migrate
Many species, particularly small mammals, do not migrate due to the cost of maintaining body temperature in cold climates.
pros and cons to migration
Some animals, like certain herb species, migrate to warmer climates during winter for food access.
Migration involves significant calorie expenditure and time, which prevents other activities like foraging.
stashing vs hoarding
Stashing involves hiding food in multiple locations, while hoarding stores food in one place.
Stashing reduces the risk of losing all stored food to predators and requires a lot of effort, unlike hoarding, where a single loss can be devastating.
what species stashes
Scrub jays stash grubs; however, when injected with acid that makes them taste bad, they resorted to peanuts in a study. This shows their ability to learn and adjust their behavior and future plan
Scrub jays ability to learn and adapt their stashing behavior is equivalent to what in humans
episodic memory, previously believed to be unique to humans
What did the Japanese quail study teach us about reproductive success?
Males that could anticipate the presence of other males performed better reproductively.
This behavior supports the idea that animals can anticipate and prepare for future events, particularly in reproductive contexts.
males perform better in competition and courtship when they anticipate a female presence
courtship and foreplay can increase reproductive success
Visual cues, such as the silhouette of a female, can trigger mating behavior
what does foreplay do in terms of reproduction
Foreplay not only increases sexual desire but also has physiological effects on reproduction.
In males, foreplay enhances sperm release during copulation.
In females, foreplay stimulates the release of eggs from the ovaries.
Many species rely on mating behaviors, such as foreplay, to trigger ovulation, unlike humans, who have regular ovulation cycles.
What kind of species shows more behavioral plasticity and learning capabilities?
Animals using the K-strategy (greater parental investment) tend to show more behavioral plasticity and learning capabilities.
Species that rely on the K-strategy often exhibit more advanced learning behaviors, as they invest more effort in each offspring.
In contrast, r-strategy species, which focus on quantity over quality, typically invest less in learning.
vicarious trial and error learning
learning through observing the success or failure of others, with an emphasis on successful outcomes because they learn better through successful actions that result in a reward rather than being punished for failures
Does punishment help one learn a desired behavior?
Punishment can decrease the frequency of undesired behaviors but doesn’t help the animal learn the desired behavior.
Punishment tends to reduce the behavior in the location where it occurred, but the behavior may recur in other contexts, making punishment less effective over time.
Carnivores training their young by bringing back prey for them to practice hunting is an example of what?
teaching
response modeling
a type of learning where an animal is guided to perform a behavior by shaping it gradually, usually with rewards.
Examples of response modeling include training animals like dolphins or teaching developmental tasks to people with challenges.
imitation
Imitation occurs without intent, where an individual copies the behavior of another without any deliberate teaching or guiding.
ex: Blue tits opening milk bottles without anyone teaching them. this behavior spread throughout the population
can cultural transmission occur with imitation
Cultural transmission through imitation can shape animal behavior
imitation examples
Cockatoos opening trash bins to access food
Macaque monkeys learning to wash sweet potatoes
Pigeons pressing keys to get food, Even when food was not visible, pigeons were still able to imitate the behavior of pressing the key, although less effectively. This suggests that motor behavior alone, without the direct reward of food, can still influence learning in animals.
In the absence of rewards how is imitation beneficial
improves the chances of survival even if its mindless
Who in particular is predisposed to imitate behaviors
animals in social groups
does observational learning transfer knowledge across generations
yes monkeys cockatoos and humans
contagion
an automatic, unconscious response (no new learning) ex: yawning when someone else yawns
social facilitation
The ACTION of a model draws attention to some aspect of the environment. Individuals learn from others, not so much by doing what they observer, as by being drawn to a particular area because
another individual.
local enhancement
Draws an individual to a specific location where something of interest is happening but without directly copying the actions of others.
no trial imitation
It involves mimicking a specific movement pattern, independent of its functionality, such as imitating a hand gesture.
emulation
The observer seeks the same goal or outcome as another but may use different methods to achieve it, like wanting to eat after seeing someone else eat without copying their technique.
true representation
It involves reproducing the exact technique used by another for a specific purpose, such as parakeets learning to open a food dish with their beaks or feet by watching others.
do most actions come from conscious reasoning or unconscious reasoning
Humans often attribute their actions to conscious reasoning, but much of their behavior occurs outside conscious awareness. Brain activity that leads to behavior can occur before the individual is consciously aware of it
reflexive imitation
Immediate copying of behavior upon exposure, like an ant following a trail.
delayed imitation
Involves a gap between exposure to the behavior and performing it, such as birds learning songs after hearing them at a young age.
when do infants start imitating
6 weeks
who learns tasks faster, animals in groups or isolation
groups
cultural transmission
refers to the way behaviors and knowledge are passed down across generations.
vertical transmission
The passing of knowledge from parents to offspring.
horizontal transmission
Knowledge is shared among peers of the same generation.
oblique transmission
A rare form of transmission where knowledge is passed between generations without direct parent-offspring transmission.
imprinting
Refers to animals forming attachments to objects or individuals they are exposed to early in life.
Animals raised in specific environments tend to prefer those environments later in life, demonstrating the impact of early exposure on behavior.
learning of affordance
learning responses and outcomes
true imitation
people are talking about a narrow sense of imitation in which one does something for a particular purpose using the same technique as a conspecific
mate choice copying
a form of social learning where an individual’s mate preference is influenced by observing the mating choices of others
what is an alternative to hibernation
allow their body temperature to drop
