Quiz 2 Flashcards
species-specific behaviors
behaviors that show little variability between members of the same species; a focus of ethologists
ethologists are concerned with (hint: 3 things)
- identifying and describing species-specific behaviors
- understanding the evolutionary pathway through which the genetic basis for the behavior came about.
- capturing their observations on tape or digitally (observations –> ethogram)
ethologists or psychologists:
trained in zoology and studies the evolution of behavior
ethologists
field observations
used by ethologists to make observations of animal behavior under natural conditions
according to classical ethologists, sign stimuli (“releasers”) act through innate releasing mechanisms to…
elicit species specific, fixed action patterns
ethologists or psychologists:
used the term instinct to explain motivation
ethologists
seven criteria of FAPs
later dismissed because this criteria was found to be too specific, virtually impossible to meet in the real world
- stereotyped; sequences of motor actions which occur in rigid, predictable, and highly structured sequences.
- complex patterns, distinguishing them from simple reflexes.
- FAPs are shown by all members of a species (or at least by all members of a given sex in the appropriate age range and physiological condition).
- elicited by simple, yet highly specific stimuli.
- self-exhausting… the occurrence (not consequence) of the FAP reduces the ease with which it can be re-elicited.
- triggered events, therefore, once elicited they will continue to completion, independent of external stimulation.
- the occurrence is independent of experience (indicating that there is a strong genetic basis for the behavior)
egg rolling behavior in geese (FAP)
RECOMMENDED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUNZv-ByPkU
elicited by a simple, yet specific stimuli (i.e. goose notices that egg has rolled away from nest)
shown by all members of a species in appropriate age range (i.e. female, mother geese)
stereotyped sequence of motor events (i.e. rolling of egg back to nest)
triggered, unable to be stopped once initiated (i.e. take away egg, behavior persists)
interspecific behavioral parasites
exploit innate behaviors due to their stereotyped nature
cuckoos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgIL8dbSMUA
RECOMMENDED
cuckoos are brood parasites that take over the nests of unsuspecting songbirds. They are fed by the songbird parents because they (the songbird parents) react innately to the cuckoos’ begging behavior.
take-away: FAPs are hard wired
‘behavior patterns’ or ‘behavioral acts’ or ‘innate behaviors’ replaced which term coined by early ethologists?
fixed action patterns (FAPs)
criticism of the term “Fixed Action Pattern”
- these behaviors are not really fixed… there are subtle variations between and within animals. (ex. the # of zig zags in male stickleback courting dance)
- Fixed Action Patterns are not really innate (i.e. instinctive or “hard-wired”)… they can be subtly modified by experience.
- behavior is modified as a result of an animal’s environment… not always triggered in the presence of the external stimulus.
sign stimulus
an external sensory stimulus which triggers a fixed-action pattern.
can be very simple and very specific
Niko Tinbergen: performed pioneering studies on sign stimuli (red ventral surface) for male 3-spined sticklebacks
observed: agonistic and courtship behavior of the 3-spined stickleback.
noticed: male 3-spined stickleback fish responded aggressively to red trucks passing by their tank.
Fixed-Action Pattern: Male sticklebacks attack other males that enter their territories.
Sign stimulus: The red belly of the invading male. Sticklebacks attacked non fish-like models with red on the ventral surface.
Tinbergen (1951) used crude models (simple and specific) of sticklebacks to investigate which features of male and female sticklebacks elicited attack and courtship behavior from male sticklebacks. What were his findings?
a model with a red belly was attacked
a model with a swollen belly was courted
The term “sign stimulus” or “releaser” was used to describe simple features (e.g., red belly) of a complex stimulus (e.g., male stickleback) that brings about a particular fixed action pattern (e.g., head down attack behavior in male sticklebacks).
gull chicks peck at the red dot on the bill of their parents (simple and specific) which causes the parents to regurgitate food into the chicks’ mouths. Identify the sign stimuli and FAPs (there are two)
sign stimuli: the red dot on the bill of the gull parents
FAPS: 1. gull chicks pecking at the red dot (precocial chicks); 2. gull parents regurgitating the food (behavior).
precocial v. altricial
altricial: hatching occurs in early stage of development… chicks will remain in the nest and depend on their parents for food, heat, and protection. Altricial chicks are born with closed eyes, naked, patches of down feathers, and unable to move away from the nest.
precocial: hatching occurs in a later sate of development… chicks are born with open eyes, well-developed down cover, and leave the nest soon after hatching. Precocial chicks can walk, run, and swim after a few hours of hatching. They can find their food, but they are usually helped and protected by their parents.
supernormal stimuli (hint: gull example)
an abnormally enhanced sign stimuli that is capable of producing a higher frequency of the effected FAP than the original sign stimuli.
gull example findings:
- goose head = normal
- cardboard head = normal
- just the bill = normal
- red tee with yellow lines = more
intense reaction (why? we flooded
the visual sensory system with red)
(recommended)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ9oujmuVd0
the ____ was viewed as intrinsically organized and held in check by active inhibitory processes in the ______ nervous system. The removal of this inhibition “released” the behavior and thus permitted its occurrence. The ____ was a hypothesized locus in the CNS on which Sign Stimuli operated to release the FAP
FAP
Central
IRM (innate releasing mechanism)
note: IRMs inhibits the performance of a FAP
tip: think of a hand holding down a spring… the sign stimuli knocks away your hand… your hand moving away is analogous to the FAP
action specific energy (ASE) …. a.k.a “motivation”
Each FAP was thought to have its own reservoir of “action specific energy.”
The amount of energy in the reservoir increased steadily as the animal refrained from displaying the FAP.
The ease with which the FAP was elicited was a function not only of the sign stimuli, but also of the level of ASE at that point in time.
Finally, the level of ASE could become so great that the FAP could occur in the absence of any stimulus; this was termed a “vacuum activity.”
AES: male guppy courtship behavior
define the following in this example:
- the external stimulation?
- the internal stimulation?
- relationship between ext. and int. stimulations
ext. stimulation = female size
int. stimulation = male motivation
note: highly motivated males still want a larger (i.e. more attractive) female mate, however, their threshold is lower, so they are willing to mate with a smaller (i.e. less attractive female)
note: in this particular example, BUT NOT ALWAYS, the ASE (male motivation) is inversely proportional to the sign stimuli (female size)
Lorenz (1950): the hydraulic or “flush toilet” model
also referred to as the “psychohydraulic” model
ASE: water from faucet filling the tank
valve: innate releasing mechanism
weight: sign stimulus
consummatory responce: FAP
take-away: in order to release the valve (i.e. overcome the valve), we need either: 1. a strong sign stimuli, 2. a high action specific energy, 3. a mix of the two.
take-away: this illustrates the possible cooperation of a sign stimulus (weight) and ASE/motivation (height of the water) to elicit a behavioral response (by opening the valve).
we have seen that action patterns are frequently triggered by a highly specific stimulus, which the ethologists called a “sign stimulus” or “releaser” … However, sometimes action patterns appear for no obvious reason at all. How can we explain this?
Vacuum activity: behaviors set off for no apparent reason (i.e. “in a vacuum” meaning that there is no sign stimulus).
Lorenz suggested that animals have a need to exercise biologically natural behaviors, even if the behavior has no function (or cause)
ex. Lorenz’s fly-catching birds snapping at the air in the absence of insects
displacement activities
out-of-context behaviors; common behaviors that are seen outside of their typical motivational context; seem to discharge tension or anxiety
example: Lorenz noticed that when confronted with a human holding food, squirrels are caught between approach and avoidance tendencies, but they cannot do both… instead they then may become visibly edgy… take a few hops toward the human holding the peanut, scratch itself suddenly or make a few digging movements.
when might displacement activities occur? (hint: there are two scenarios)
- when there are tendencies to engage in 2 different behaviors, such as “fight or flight”
- when there is a strong tendency to engage in a certain behavior, but simultaneously, a strong inhibition against that behavior
QU: What might happen when two birds (of different territories) meet?
displacement activities:
there are simultaneous conflicting urges to attack and retreat… as a result, the birds may begin to self-groom, or nest build (displacement activities)
redirected activity
mainly aggression; another resolution to conflicting behavioral states; a behavior might be directed towards an inanimate object or subordinate animal.
Lorenz defined redirected activity as a behavior that is redirected from a threatening or inaccessible target to another target that is more convenient or less threatening.
state the three action patterns aroused in unusual circumstances (proposed by Lorenz)
- vacuum activity
- displacement activity
- redirected activity
intention movements
the incomplete or preparatory movements that occur at the beginning of an activity; they provide information about the activity a particular animal is about to perform and act as a signal to others. (ex. the canine ‘play-bow’)
ex. N. Tinbergen and K. Lorenz suggested that bluffing and threat displays (i.e. bared teeth in animals or a clenched, raised first in humans) were intention movements which evolved through a process of “ritualization.”
