Responding to the Environment Flashcards

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1
Q

Define Behaviour

A

An animal response to a stimulus

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2
Q

Define ‘innate behaviour’

A

Any animal response that occurs without the need for learning. It is an inherited response, similar in all members of the same species and is always performed in the same way in response to the same stimulus.

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3
Q

Define ‘learned behaviour’

A

Animal responses that change or adapt with experience. There is a range of learned behaviours identified, from simply leaning not to respond to a repeated stimulation, to the ability to consider a problem and formulate a solution.

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4
Q

What are innate behaviours most useful for?

A

Short life spans

Species which do not look after their offspring

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5
Q

Define ‘reflexes’

A

An innate behaviour which allows escape from predators

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6
Q

Define ‘kineses’

A

Kineses is an orientation behaviours where the rate of movement increases where the organism is in unfavourable conditions

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7
Q

Define ‘taxes’

A

Taxes is a directional orientation response where the direction is determined by chemical (chemo) or light (photo) stimulus.

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8
Q

Why are learned behaviours important for humans?

A

Longer life spans
Care for their offsprings
Social groups

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9
Q

Define Habituation

A

The ability to ignore certain stimulus after repeated exposure after a long period of time

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10
Q

Define Imprinting

A

Young animals become associated with other organisms, usually a parent. This occurs in a sensitive/receptive period.

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11
Q

Define Classical Conditioning

A

Animals learn to relate a pair of events which produces a passive/involuntary response to the stimulus.

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12
Q

Define Operant Conditioning

A

This is where stimuli are used to reinforce certain actions. This requires some trial and error from the animal in order to find out which action produces the reward and which action produces the punishment.

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13
Q

Define Latent Learning

A

Animals explore the environment and retain information which may come in useful in the future. For example, escape routes can be planned in order to escape predation.

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14
Q

Define insight learning

A

This is the ability to reason and solve problems without the use of reflex responses or trial and error. Once this problem has been solved, the solution is remembered.

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15
Q

Define DRD4

A

DRD4 is one of the five genes that code for dopamine receptor molecules. Dopamine can bind to each of these receptor molecules but they cause differing effects because they lead to different cellular responses.

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16
Q

What are abnormally low levels of dopamine associated with?

A

Parkinson’s disease. This can be treated with L-Dopa, a precursor to dopamine.

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17
Q

What are the side effects of L-Dopa?

A

It can cause other mental health problems, such as schizophrenia, and also cause high levels of addictive behaviour leading to drug or gambling problems

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18
Q

What is the supposed cause of ADHD?

A

High levels of a variant of the DRD4 gene.

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19
Q

What drug is used to help treat ADHD?

A

Ritalin (methylphenidate)

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20
Q

Define Psychosis

A

A mental health condition, characterised by an impaired grasp on reality, diminished impulse control and disorder of perception (such as hallucinations)

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21
Q

Define Longitudinal Study

A

An investigation in which the same individuals are studied repeatedly over a long period of time in order to gather relevant data about progression of the factors under investigation

22
Q

Define Hierarchy

A

A hierarchy within a group exists where individuals have a place in the order of importance within the group. This is often shown by individuals higher up in the hierarchy receiving more food, or having rights of access to mate with other individuals.

23
Q

Define Social Behaviour

A

Refers to that f organisms of a particular species living together in groups with relatively defined roles for each member of the group.

24
Q

What are the advantages of social behaviour for apes?

A

Few infants provides higher maternal care for young, enhancing the survival rate of their young.
The young learn from others in the group, enhancing the survival rate by picking up skills they need to be taught.
Large brain size slows the maturity rate meaning they need to security of their mothers and family members.
Knowledge and food resources are shared within the group.
Greater ability to detect and deter predators in large numbers with higher communication.

25
Q

Define Tropism

A

A directional growth response in which the direction of the response is determined by the direction of the external stimulus.

26
Q

Give an example of phototropism

A

Shoots grow towards light (positive) which enables them to photosynthesise easier.

27
Q

Give an example of Geotropism

A

Roots grow towards the pull of gravity. This anchors them in the soil and helps them to take up water, which is needed for support (to keep cells turgid), as a raw material for photosynthesis and to help cool the plant.

28
Q

Chemotropism

A

On a flower, pollen tubes grow down the style attracted by chemicals, towards the ovary where fertilisers can take place.

29
Q

Thigmotropism

A

Shoots of climbing plants, such as ivy, wind around other plants or solid structures and gain support.

30
Q

What coordinates a plant’s response to the environment?

A

Hormones. They act very similar to animals hormones by being released throughout the plant until they reach, and act upon, the target cells/target tissue.

31
Q

Where are plant hormones produced?

A

They are produced by a variety of tissues in the plant instead of in endocrine glands like in an animal.

32
Q

What do hormones do when they reach their target cells?

A

They bind to receptors on the plasma membrane. The hormones have to have a complementary shape to the bindong site on the cell for it to bind to it so that they only cause reactions on specific cells in the plant.

33
Q

How do hormones move around the plant?

A

Active Transport
Diffusion
Mass flow in the phloem sap / xylem vessels

34
Q

What is synergy in hormones?

A

Where two or more hormomes amplify the effect of each other

35
Q

What is antagonism in hormones?

A

Where hormones cancel out the effect of each other

36
Q

What are meristems?

A

Groups of cells that are still immature enough to divide further so the plant can grow

37
Q

What are apical meristems

A

Located at the tips or apices of roots and shoots and are responsible for the roots and shoots getting longer

38
Q

What are lateral bud meristems?

A

Found in the buds. These have the ability to give rise to side shoots.

39
Q

What are lateral meristems?

A

Found in a cylinder near the outside of the roots and shoory and are responsible for the roots and shoots getting wider.

40
Q

What are Auxins and what do they do?

A

Auxins cause the cells they are effect to grow and become longer. They increase the stretchiness of the cell wall by promoting the active transport of hydrogen ions into the cell wall. This low Ph Provides optimum condistions for expansins (wall-loosening enzymes) to work. As the cell now takes in water, the cell walls will stretch and allow the cell to expand.

41
Q

What causes Phototropism?

A

The auxins in the plant stem move towards the shaded side, causing those cells to elongate faster, causing the plant to bend towards the light

42
Q

What is the part of the plant that stretches in phototropism called?

A

The region of elongation

43
Q

What is apical dominance?

A

The growing apical bud at the top of the shoot inhibits growth of the lateral buds further down the shoot.

44
Q

What is the cerebrum?

A

The largest and most recognisable part of the brain. It is responsible for the elements of the nervous system that are associated with being ‘human’, including thought, imagination and reasoning

45
Q

What are the areas the cerebral cortex is split into?

A

Sensory areas which recieve impulses indirectly from the receptors
Assosciation areas which compare previous experience in order to interpret what the input means to judge an appropriate response
Motor areas which send impulses to the effectors

46
Q

What does the cerebellum do?

A

Controls the coordination of movement and posture

47
Q

What does the hypothalamus do?

A

It controls the autonomic nervous system an the endocine glands. It controls the temperature and blood water potential throughout the body.

48
Q

What does the medulla oblongata do?

A

Controls the action of smooth muscle in the gut wall, and controls breathing movements and heart rate

49
Q

Where does the cerebellum receive information from to carry out its function?

A

The retina
The balance organs in the inner ear
Specialise spindle fibres in the muscle (for muscle tension)
The joints

50
Q

What does the central nervous system consist of?

A

The brain and the spinal cord

51
Q

What does the peripheral nervous system consists of?

A

All of the sensory and motor neurones that are outside the central nervous system - connecting the receptors and effectors to the CNS.

52
Q

What is the function of the corpus callosum?

A

It connects the two hemispheres of the brain. It is larger in females who use both sides of the brain equally, but smaller in males who use the right side of the brain more effectively (they have lateralised brains)