Ontogeny Flashcards
What do ontogeny studies focus on
Development of a behaviour in an individual over time (changes in beh over time)
How does behaviour function as a phenotype
It is the result of genetic x environmental interactions
Experience definition
Change in the brain that results from the information acquired from outside the brain
Experiences are consequences of…
Changes due to hormone levels, physical or chemical environment of the brain (physiological)
Sensory input
Imaginary
Learning definition
Change in the brain, which results in behaviour being modified for longer than a few seconds, as a consequence of information from outside the brain
Learning excludes…
Simple responses (like reflexes) because must change beh for at least a few seconds
Why might an event in the environment have no effect on future behaviour
Some events are not detected by the animal (do not reach decision-making centers due to sensory-filtering mechanisms)
Learning requires the animal to be aware of…
What is occurring, what has occurred, what is likely to occur
Two types of sensory-filtering mechanisms
Peripheral filtering
Central filtering
What kind of experiences do animals remember more?
Negative experiences
Why does a rat learn to avoid an electric shock faster than it learns to associate a cue with food dispersal
Rats that modify their behaviour quickly when a cue indicating danger is recognized tend to have more offspring than rats that don’t recognize dangerous cues (natural selection)
What is the garcia effect
animals tend to correlate nausea with the last thing they ate, and avoid the same food item thereafter
What is habituation
Waning of a response to a repeated stimulus
Adaptive response as it saves energy that would be wasted on repeated responses to trivial stimuli
E.g. of habituation
Flock of sheep near busy road would initially show frightened response, but each following vehicle would elicit less and less response until no response
What does the likelihood of habituation and its rate depend on
- the nature of the stimulus
- stimulus rate (frequent repetition = faster)
- its regularity (constant = easier)
- the state of the animal (amount of attention given to environment)
Production animals would need to be habituated to… (e.g.)
handling
introduction of different food containers
different items of clothing or colours
What is flooding
Concept related to habituation, with same goal (cease to elicit startle response)
BUT intensity and frequency of stimulus is high, over-stimulating the animal so that it ceases to try to react
Flooding leads to
Learned helplessness
What is sensitization? e.g.?
Increasing response to a repeated stimulus
Second wolf sighting may elicit a greater response (b/c greater danger) in sheep
What is classical conditioning
Animal learns to show an existing response to a previously neutral stimulus
Does not need to be aware
Not dependent on consequence
What is operant conditioning? Eg?
Animal learns to perform an “operant” response in order to obtain a reward or avoid an aversive experience
Animal has to be aware
e.g. skinner box
What is maze learning
Operant conditioning
Animal learns to take particular path in order to obtain reward
Types of operant conditioning
Positive/negative reinforcement
Positive/negative punishment
What is positive reinforcement
Increases the likelihood of a response by the addition of a pleasant stimulus to increase a behaviour
