Week 10

Question 1

Tinbergen’s Questions

Answer 1

causation
development
adaptive function
evolutionary history

Question 2

Tinbergen’s overarching question

Answer 2

Why does an animal exhibit a particular behaviour?

Question 3

causation

Answer 3

what physiological mechanisms cause the behaviour?

Question 4

development

Answer 4

How did the behaviour develop? (Focus on the role of genes and the environment in shaping the development of the behaviour)

Question 5

adaptive function

Answer 5

How does the behaviour promote the individual’s ability to survive and reproduce?

Question 6

evolutionary history

Answer 6

how did the behaviour evolve over time?

Question 7

displays

Answer 7

patterns of behaviour that are species specific and tend to follow the same sequence of actions whenever they are repeated and in a way that is similar from one individual to the next
Considered stereotypes

Question 8

FAPs

Answer 8

displays that consist of a sequence of behaviours that, once triggered, is followed through to completion

Question 9

key stimulus

Answer 9

stimulus that initiates the behaviour

Question 10

supernormal stimulus

Answer 10

larger than normal stimulus naturally encountered, but elicits an exaggerated response

Question 11

feature detectors

Answer 11

specialised sensory receptors or groups of sensory receptors that respond to important signals in the environment

Question 12

neuron vs hormones

Answer 12

Effect of a neuron is typically short lived and local
Hormones more prolonged and widespread
Can affect multiple cells in target organs simultaneously

Question 13

non associative learning

Answer 13

occurs in the absence of any particular outcome, such as a reward or punishment

Question 14

habituation

Answer 14

reduction or elimination of a behavioural response to a repeatedly presented stimulus

Question 15

sensitisation

Answer 15

enhancement of a response to a stimulus that is achieved by presenting a strong or novel stimulus first; the first stimulus makes the animal more alert and responsive to the next stimulus

Question 16

associative learning

Answer 16

when an animal learns to link or associate two event

Question 17

CC

Answer 17

a stimulus that leads to a behaviour was paired with a neutral stimulus that initially had nothing to do with the behaviour

Question 18

OC

Answer 18

punishment or reinforcement guide future behaviour

Question 19

imprinting

Answer 19

young animals acquire a certain behaviour in response to key experiences during a critical period of development

Question 20

filial imprinting

Answer 20

common in species whose offspring leave the nest and walk around while still young; the first being that a hatchling sees is a parent and they develop an association with them; developing an association with first thing they see
Occurs during a specific, sensitive period in the animal’s life and the results are usually irreversible

Question 21

proximate causes

Answer 21

mechanisms underlying behaviour
environmental stimuli
genetic or physiological mechanisms

Question 22

ultimate causes

Answer 22

evolutionary significance of behaviour and how it is favoured by selection