W1: Behavioral Development

Question 1

Genotype

Answer 1

the set of genes possessed by an individual OR the alleles possessed by an individual at a give locus

Question 2

Phenotype

Answer 2

any characteristic of an individual

Question 3

Genes for Behavior

Answer 3

shorthand for ‘a change at this genetic locus affects behavior’
Many different genes are likely to be involved in traits such as learning and a mutation in any one of them could potentially produce a learning deficit.
Genes are not ‘bad’; they are instructions for constructing traits.

Question 4

Quantitative Genetics Formulas

Answer 4

V(p) = V(g) + V(e)
h^2 = V(g)/V(p)

Question 5

Variables of the Quantitative Genetics Formulas

Answer 5

V = variance 
g = genetic 
e = environmental
p = phenotypic 
h^2 = heritability

Question 6

Properties of Heritability

Answer 6

1) if V(e) increases, then h^2 decreases
2) if V(g) = 0, then h^2 = 0
3) if V(e) = 0, then h^2 = 1
4) h^2 is a POPULATION measure
5) heritability does NOT equal inheritance

Question 7

The Problem of Common Environment Effects

Answer 7

-in any case where there is extensive parental care, parents provide both genes and environment, thus, it’s difficult to identify V(g) with parent-offspring regressions.

Question 8

Heritability by Artificial Selection Equation

Answer 8

R = h^2S

R = response to selection equals amount of change in mean value between first and second generation 
S = selection differential equals the difference from mean value in the first generation

h^2 = R/S

Question 9

Learning

Answer 9

A durable and usually adaptive change in —-an individual’s behavior traceable to a specific experience

• adaptive modification of behavior based on experience
• a process through which experience changes an individual’s behavior
• the behavioral change that learning causes ‘cannot be understood in terms of maturational growth processes in the nervous system, fatigue or sensory adaptation’

Question 10

What are the relationships between innate versus genetic and learned vs environmental?

Answer 10

innate ≠ genetic

learned ≠ environmental

Question 11

Innate/Instinctual

Answer 11

a behavior preformed properly the first time it is needed

Question 12

Behavior versus Genes

Answer 12

No behavior develops in the absence of genes or in the absense of the environment.
Genes affect learning.
Animals are ‘programmed’ to learn about important things

Question 13

Why are animals not blank slates?

Answer 13

Ethologist view: while some behaviors are innate, others must be learned and that animals are capable of learning only some things.

Question 14

We expect to learn when:

Answer 14

• There is no way to predict the relevant conditions (food conditions, exact types of predators)
• The cost of not learning or learning the wrong thing is not extreme

Question 15

Innate human fears:

Answer 15

1) heights
2) blood
3) deep water
4) the dark
5) snakes, spiders, centipedes

Not...
drugs
guns
electricity 
high speeds

Question 16

Types of Learning

Answer 16

1) Habituation
2) Sensitization
3) Classical Conditioning
4) Operant Conditioning
5) Latent Learning
6) Imprinting
7) Social Learning

Question 17

Habituation

Answer 17

Animal learns NOT to respond after repeated encounters with a benign stimulus

• Simplest type of learning (any animal can learn it)
• adaptive value (saves energy, time, and attention)

Question 18

Sensitization

Answer 18

Individual learns to increase responsiveness to a particular stimulus or class of stimuli
*a loud noise may elicit a startle response; repeated exposure to the loud noise bay cause individual to leave. In this case, there is no formal association between the stimulus and the response.

Question 19

Classical Conditioning

Answer 19

An individual learns to give a response normally elicited by one stimulus to a new stimulus.
UR = unconditioned response
US = unconditioned stimulus
CS = conditioned stimulus
Works best when the CS precedes the US by a few seconds. Too long: not predictive. Goal: develop predictive relationships
Adaptive value: allows animals to anticipate and prepare for recurring events

Question 20

Operant Conditioning

Answer 20

Trial and error learning: animal learns to associate a behavior with the consequences of that behavior.
Can be used to study discriminating abilities

Question 21

Latent Learning

Answer 21

Occurs without any obvious reward or reinforcement and is not apparent until later in life.

Question 22

Imprinting

Answer 22

Individuals exposed to certain key stumuli during a 'sensitive period' form an association with these stimuli.
Types:
1. Filial
2. Sexual
3. Natal Imprinting

Question 23

Filial Imprinting

Answer 23

Duckings identify ‘mother’ as that which is around less than 32 hours after hatching
(quantified by later following behavior)

Question 24

Sexual Imprinting

Answer 24

Critical period is important in the later direction of sexual behavior.

• sensitive period is usually longer than filial
• important for species identification

Question 25

Natal Imprinting

Answer 25

Allows animals to find their way back to natal location.

i.e. Salmon in stream

Question 26

Social Learning

Answer 26

Any of several forms of learning whereby animals in some way learn from others (observational/imitational)
i.e.
potato washing in macaques
university education in humans
termite fishing in chimps