Lecture 2 Flashcards
What is the classic definition of behaviour?
The way in which an animal or person acts in response to a particular situation or stimulus (how Skinner thought).
What was Eibesfeldts definition of behaviour?
Behaviour consists of patterns in time.
What is fixed vs flexible behaviour?
Fixed-depends upon heredity
Flexible-Often depends on learning
What is the simple nervous system vs the complex nervous system?
Simple-Narrow range of behaviour. Complex-wide range of behaviour
What was Jerison’s Principle of Proper Mass?
Species exibiting more complex behaviours will possess relatively larger brains. Developed an index of brain size to allow comparisons. Used body size to predict brain size. As body size goes up, brain size increases approx. 2/3 the increase of body weight.
How does Jerison’s principle work on a graph?
He used a starting point, which was a cat brain, which had an EQ of 1.0. Then he graphed everything else. The further above or below something is from the trend line, the larger/smaller the brain is relative to body weight.
What is the EQ (encephalization quotient) in humans?
Approx. 7.
What is the Encephalization Quotient?
Measure of the brain size obtained from the ratio of actual brain size relative to expected brain size for an animal of a particular body size.
Does more neurons mean that an animal is smarter?
No. It depends on the connectivity beetween neurons and their packing density.
What is interesting about an elephants brain?
They have around 257 billion neurons (we only have 86), but 251 of those are located in the cerebellum, which is a 1:45 ratio in comparison to ours at 1:4.
What are some benefits associated with having a big brain?
Plasticity, adaptability, learning, social interaction, consciousness, creativity, memory storage, learning from memory, planning ahead.
What are some costs associated with having a big brain?
Longer developmental period, metabolically expensive, higher amount of damage to injured areas, too intelligent for our own good, higher probability of disability.
What is interesting about crows?
They are one of the few animals to demonstrate an ability to construct tools. They also have huge brains relative to other birds of similar size.
What does the evolutionary approach allow and what should we be cautious of?
Allows us to make brain behaviour comparisons between species, but we should be cautious when making them within species.
What are some facts about brain size that don’t necessarily affect intelligence?
Womens brains weigh 10% less than mens, but average intelligence shows no difference. Einsteins brain was relatively average weight.
