02 - Behaviour Controls & Information Processing

the different pathways of the nervous system

afferent and efferent

afferent pathway

ascending/toward CNS (usually sensory)

Receptor cell → spinal cord → brainstem → higher brain areas

enter

Efferent pathway

descending/away from CNS (usually motor)

Higher brain regions → brainstem → periphery (effector)

exit

feature detection

The process of identifying important components in the environment through the nervous system (e.g., detecting movement or color).

Feature detectors

specialized sensory receptors / groups of receptors that respond to important signals in environment

filters out unimp stuff

Hormone

chemical substances secreted in one part of the body that cause changes in other parts of the body (provoke longer lasting / more widespread responses).

Endocrine gland

ductless glands (as compared to exocrine glands that have ducts and provide saliva, sweat)

hormone effect on behaviour

Hormones are produced by endocrine glands and then

are carried by blood to their (distant) targets à allows

for longer-term behaviours

roles of genes in behaviour

even complex behaviours have a genetic basis to some extent but alot of it is env

Artificial selection

selectively breeding organisms to produce desirable traits, can be used to demonstrate effects of genes on behaviour because alleles being selected for will increase in population over time

flight distances

how close you can get before animal wants to fight you

shorter flight distances

fight response starts when the threat is further away

longer flight distances

fight response start when threat is closer

example of artificial selection

dogs

Selected animals for breeding based on short flight distances

(e.g., tameness)

•within 40 years à highly social, playful, barked, learned names, had

fur variations, were not afraid of humans

Habitat selection

rules by which an organism makes choices

about where to spend time (based on variations in resources, etc.)

factors affecting habitat selection

1. Resource availability – can be important aspect of

habitat quality

2. # individuals within a habitat – can indicate level of

competition for resources

Dispersal

permanent movement from one area to another

(relatively short-distance)

why disperse?

• (Resource) Competition hypothesis

• Inbreeding avoidance hypothesis

• Mate competition hypothesis

• Win-stay lose-shift hypothesis

(Resource) Competition hypothesis

dispersal decreases competition for resources (too many people

Inbreeding avoidance hypothesis

dispersal decreases chances of breeding with close kin

avoid interbreding

big role in mammels

Mate competition hypothesis

competition for mates drives dispersal

Win-stay lose-shift hypothesis

past breeding success drives dispersal

only if sucess

Migration

regular movements between two different locations (round-trip movements) requires orientation

Kinesis

random, undirected movements in

response to stimuli

Taxis

movement in a specific direction in response to stimuli

Orientation

process of determining and maintaining a specific directio

compass systems

- Sun compass

- Star compass

- Geomagnetic compass

Biological clock

produced by interacting proteins that

cycle on own to create regular rhythms

different clocks

•Circadian clock – daily cycle, regulates daily rhythms (e.g., feeding, sleeping, hormones)

•Lunar clock – cycle based on moon’s orbit (important for tidal species)

•Annual clock – yearly or multi-year cycles

Navigation

process of determining where you are in relation to a

particulat location and moving towards that specific location