Learning

Question 1

What is learning

Answer 1

A process by which an animals response to stimuli is altered as a result of experience

Question 2

What are the categories of learning

Answer 2

Habituation
Associative learning
Imprinting
Insight learning
Cultural transmission

Question 3

What is habituation learning

Answer 3

Gradual reduction in he strength of a response to a continuous or repeated stimulus that is not associated with a reinforced

Question 4

What is associative learning

Answer 4

Learning that one event is associated with another

Question 5

What are the two types of associated learning

Answer 5

Pavlovian conditioning - classical

Operant conditioning - instrumental

Question 6

What is instrumental conditioning

Answer 6

Where the animal learns the association between its behaviour and an outcome

Question 7

What is instrumental conditioning sometimes referred to

Answer 7

Trial and error

Question 8

Skinner believed that animals could learn to associate any stimulus with any reinforcement - what proved this to be wrong

Answer 8

Rats quickly learn to associate taste with nausea and a bell with an electric shock

the rats could not learn to associate the taste with the electrical shock or the bell with nausea

Question 9

What is imprinting

Answer 9

Specialised form of learning in which young animals learn to recognised and approach a large moving object - like their parents

Question 10

Why is imprinting a critical period of early development

Answer 10

This behaviour in the wild is a defence as they quickly learn to follow mum and dad which will protect them

Question 11

Who first described imprinting

Answer 11

Konrad Lorenz

Question 12

What is cognition

Answer 12

When birds and mammals use their knowledge and mental processing of information to solve complex problems

Question 13

Cognition in rats

Answer 13

Rats can form cognitive maps

Question 14

Cognition in chimps

Answer 14

Sign language

Show insight - eg chimp use water to fill tube to raise nut so chimp can eat nut

Question 15

Cognition in birds and primates

Answer 15

Use of tools

Question 16

Cognition in pigeons

Answer 16

Categorisation

Question 17

Cognition in primates, dolphins and elephants

Answer 17

Pass the mirror self recognition test

Question 18

What is cultural transmission

Answer 18

Some novel behaviour patterns may be copied and passed on to subsequent generations without an genetic changes being involved

Question 19

Is cultural transmission rapid within and between generations

Answer 19

Yes

Question 20

Examples of cultural transmission

Answer 20

Gull trapping by killer whales

Tools use and food washing in primates

Question 21

Explain species differences in learning

Answer 21

Some species differences in the ability to learn can be explained by the differing complexity of their nervous systems

Even within closely related taxonomic groups species specific differences in natural behaviour affect performance in learning tasks

Question 22

Why is a rhesus monkey more likely to solves a problem than a cat

Answer 22

Has a more complex nervous system so it more capable of learning

Question 23

Ecological importance of behaviour

Answer 23

Allows rapid modification of behaviour
Major importance for vertebrates and cephalopods
Habituation are likely to be important for other animals

Question 24

What does learning allow animals to do

Answer 24

Adapt rapidly to changes in their environment

Question 25

In what animals is learning found

Answer 25

In most animals even those with simple nervous systems