PSYC 306 Midterm 1

What are the ultimate causes (level of analysis)

The evolutionary origins and current function on the lifetime reproduction success

What are the proximate causes (level of analysis)

How does it develop (genes/environment), and what immediately causes it (sensory-motor mechanisms / hormones)

What are the bond tendencies of prairie and meadow voles

Meadow are non-monogamous

Prairie are monogamous

What causes monogamy in Prairie voles

Monogamous voles have higher expression of vasopressin receptor in the ventral pallidum, while non-monogamous have higher expression in lateral septum

What is the relationship between Oxytocin and V1aR (vasopressin receptors) in males and female voles

Oxytocin more important/prominent in females, while V1aR is more important in male brains

How did they test for the relevance of V1aR in male brains

They transferred genes from a prairie vole into a meadow vole’s ventral pallidum. The tested vole was mated with a female, and when put in a box with the same female and one other, it remained monogamous with its mate. The control group (just saline vehicle) did not have this same behaviour.

What is evolution

Change in frequency of gene expression in a population over time

Evolution by natural selection occurs if 3 conditions are met:

Variation of characteristics within the species (morphological/phenotypes)

Heredity of specific characteristics

Differences in reproductions success (some individuals have more surviving offspring than others)

• Survivability affects gene expression

Does natural selection affect individuals or groups

Primarily on individuals

• Traits are for the good of the individual, not the species (langur monkeys)

How do female langur monkeys react to a new dominant male

They work together to fight back (to protect their babies) which can result in injuring or killing the new dominant male

What were the three hypotheses for male infanticide in langur monkeys?

Social Pathology: infanticide is abnormal, it’s due to overcrowding in areas where they are fed by humans (non-evolutionary)

Population regulation: Prevents the group from being too bug (evolution - group selection)

Quicker reproduction: Increases reprod of new male because when a lactating infant is killed, its mother resumes her reprod cycle sooner (evo - individual)

Why isn’t the social pathology hypothesis supported

It would occur only in areas where langur monkeys live in very high densities where they are also being fed by humans.

Why isn’t the population regulation hypothesis supported

Only would happen in very high densities

Why is the quicker reproduction hypothesis correct

Infanticide occurs soon after takeover, females resume reproductive cycling and become sexually receptive to the dominant male, dominant male doesn’t kill his own, infanticide isn’t dependant on group size or density

What would you expect to see in similar hierarchies to langar monkeys?

The quicker reproduction hypothesis (infanticide)

Can happen in horses, bats, other monkeys etc.

What’s the difference between a bird call and song

Songs are learned; all birds call while only some birds can learn songs

Do both M and F WCSP sing?

Only males

What are the axes on a sonogram

Y = Frequency

X = Time

What is another term for a sonogram

Spectrogram

What were the hypotheses regarding bird dialects and development and what experiment tested it

1. Hereditary (birds in different regions have different genes)

2. Environmental variables (e.g. social environments = different stimuli)

The WCSP Isolation Experiment

What was the WCSP Isolation Experiment parameters

Collected eggs from three different areas

Raised male chicks in soundproof containers

What were the results of the Isolation experiment in WCSP and what do they suggest

Male birds produced strange songs (compared to other WCSP) at 150 days of age

Isolate songs had strange patterns but still had a similar basic structure. Genetics contribute to the ability to learn and know songs, but environment changes song quality.

What was the conspecific tape tutoring experiment and what were the results

They gave the birds from the isolation experiment tutor tapes (WCSP) between 10-50 days of age. 8 minutes/day for 2-3 weeks.

At 150 days, the birds produced a good copy of the tape (regardless of whether the bird came from one region they will copy another)

Did not work on birds older than 50 days. (genetics control window)

What is the difference between conspecific and heterospecific?

Conspecific = same species

Hetero = different

What happened when the WCSP were given tapes from heterospecific birds

The produced songs similar to the isolate songs (genetic influence)

What is the timeframe for song learning in a WCSP

10-50 days = Neural template opens and song is learned

No singing between 50-150 days

150 days: song is developed and practiced (must be able to listen to subsong)

200 days: stable song, fully developed

What was a limitation to the isolation/tutoring experiment?

No live tutors → doesn’t account for social influences

(A further experiment showed that WCSP could learn from live finches and sang their songs, even after 50 days)

What sections of the brain are used for song production

HVC, RA, to brainstems (nXIIts) that control syrinx (vocal organ)

This is motor control in the back of the brain

What parts of the brain are important for song learning

IMAN and Area X (front of brain)

Compare the brain makeup of female and male Zebra finches

Males have larger RA sections in their brains (song production)

Females can listen and decide who to mate with from that. Areas of song perception are larger. RA doesn’t connect to HPC

Both brains are the same size

What is a coronal section

Front view of brain

What is a sagitial section

Side view

What is in situ hybridization

(staining for certain genes when everything is in its proper place)

How does DNA go to mRNA and then proteins?

Transcription then translation

Why is the FoxP2 gene important, and where do you find it

Needed for song learning. Found in Area X at 20-30 days.

How did reducing FoxP2 expression in finches affect their song quality

By stopping translation (using a chemical in a saline vehicle)

When both the control and the test animal were taught by tutor songs, only the control copied it. The tested animal developed a very different, worse song.

What is electrical activity

Neurons firing

What is BOS

Birds own song

What is the term for a song bird

Oscines (part of the Passeriformes order)

What does the phylogeny of song learning show

Either 3 separate gain of ability, or 2 gains and one loss in suboscines

What are the hypotheses towards adaptive dialects of songs

• Male to male territorial encounters

• Female preference to males in her area

What was the experiment for intrusions because of song type

Birds were removed from territory, then either control (silent speaker) or recorded song was played

More intrusion in control

What are the three types of learned songs between male neighbours

Type match

Repertoire match

Unshared song

How do female birds react to different song dialects

Come closer and show more interest in conspecific songs

Why is it bad to always do a within species experiment in the same order?

Causes the confound of an ORDER EFFECT

How does nutritional stress effect song development

When given 70% of the food the control got:

Experimental birds had lower HVC volume and lower song copy quality scores

What are the 3 Rs of Animal welfare in studies

Reduction, Refinement, Replacement

What is G x E

Gene by environment interaction

What is the social hierarchy of honeybees

1 female queen who lays all eggs

Workers (female) die in 30 days

• Nurses take care of larvae

• Foragers collect nectar (20-25 days old)

Males = Drones (just there to mate)

What is the job order/life stage for female bees

Cleaning cells

Feeding larvae

Feeding nest mates (up to about 15 days)

Packing pollen

Foraging

What are the juvenile hormone levels in nurses vs. foragers

Low in young nurses

High in older foragers

What happens if you paint the juvenile hormone onto a young nurse bee

Precocious forager (leaves prematurely)

What happens if the corpora allata gland is removed from a nurse

Delays foraging by a day or two (gland produces JH)

If the corpora allata is removed and JH is administered to nursing bee then…

Nurses transition to forager when the JH is restored

How does the social environment affect bee colonies and how was that tested

SE controls jobs of bees, not internal clock. Single cohort colony was formed with bees of all the same age, then older bees were added to one colony, and younger to another.

When older bees were added, they became forages. When younger bees were added the resident young bees foraged

What is ethyloleate in bees

Chemical found mainly in the honey crop of forager bees.

How do foragers inhibit JH synthesis in nurses

Foragers give a small dose of ethyl oleate to nurses when they transfer the nectar because it is located in the honey crop, which inhibits their foraging onset. (inhibits JH synthesis → gene expression in brain) Once the foragers have died, the nurses no longer are getting inhibited, and then transfer to foraging.

What gene is important for foraging in fruitflies and honeybees

“For” gene because it encodes Protein Kinase G (PKG)

When bees were treated with a PKG activator, they exhibited precocious foraging compared to control

What is the coefficient of relatedness

( R) = average % of genes that 2 individuals share

Parent to offspring is r=0.5

Full siblings = 0.5

What is the coefficent of relatedness between monozygotic twins

1

What is the coefficent of relatedness between dizygotic twins

0.5

What did studies show when mono and dizygotic twins were separated at birth

Genetic influences on personality, temperament, and social attitudes. MZ more similar than DZ.

Can behaviours be inherited as a single gene trait?

Yes

Do single genes code for specific behaviours?

No

How do male mice react to new females

Investigates a lot at first, and then gets used to her scent (controlled by oxytocin)

What did the oxytocin experiment show in mice behaviours

weakness?

Knockout mice did not lose interest in females and continued to smell them constantly.

Need to make sure its social amnesia and not loss of smell

What are the eating habits of garter snakes in different regions

Costal eat banana slugs, inland do not. Both eat frogs

What was the hypothesis for differing slug eating habits of garter snakes, and what was the experiment

• Caused by genetic differences between the two populations

• Brought pregnant females from both populations into lab, and newborn snakes were raised in same, uniform environment

What was the result of isolating baby snakes from different regions and offering them slug cubes. What was the bias

Inland snakes did not eat, while costal did. Proves that eating slugs is genetic and not environmental. Coastal slugs were resistant to the toxin banana slugs have that prevents action potentials.

Potential bias of prenatal environment (what mother ate prior to capture)

Why don’t inland snakes eat banana slugs

They are not immune to toxin in the slugs that blocks sodium channels. Coastal snakes have different allele for the sodium channel gene.

Less selective pressure to evolve because there are less banana slugs inland

What is homeostasis

Maintaining typical phenotype despite bad genes and/or bad environment (resilience)

E.g. redundancy in gene networks that if you knock out one gene, the animal can still perform a function because of the redundancy

Describe the Dutch Hunger Winter

Nazi embargo caused starvation in cities, but not rural. Caused severe calorie restriction.

What effect did they see on the mental state of children conceived/born during the Dutch Hunger Winter

No significant effect in 19 year olds.

What were the weaknesses/limitations of the Dutch hunger winter experiment

1. Comparability of cities and rural areas (other differences other than the embargo)

2. Only men were examined

3. Relatively short stress (proper nourishment before and after)

4. Selective survival in cities

5. Doesn’t measure mental cognition at any other point in life

What was the relationship between schizophrenia and dutch hunger winter

Both men and women who were conceived during the winter showed significant increased risk of schizophrenia

What is epigenetics

Long term changes in gene expression

Methylation inhibits gene expression

What are polyphenisms?

Affected gene expression due to environmental differences

• food induced (honeybees)

• Socially induced (colour changing fish)

• Predator induced (Larger armour/claws)

Give example of soically-induced polyphenism

In fish:

• Biggest fish is territorial and reproduces (larger testes, levels of T, GnRH neuron size and receptors)

• All other males are smaller, don’t reproduce, and look like females

How were the fish exhibiting polyphenisms

The hypothalamus (base of brain) codes to pituitary gland that controls testosterone output and teste size.

When a new fish becomes biggest, it will turn colourful and the GnRH neuron size grows, along with its testes. The other fish will immediately turn into the female colour

When does selection favour learning during development

Only when there is environmental unpredictability that has reproductive relevance. Comes with a price (brain space, time, energy)

Explain the spatial learning task in corvids and what learning goal it discusses

Learning in development

Clark’s nutcracker (cache food) was good at pecking the monitor to get food (spatial) while the Pinyon jay (who also caches food) wasn’t

In a nonspatial task the clark’s nutcracker was bad, while the pinyon jay was good. Nutcrack has not evolved all-purpose learning. Shows that abilities are geared for its natural environment.

What is golgistain

Stains for a few cells completely

Describe the system of a neuron

1. Receive input at dendrites of the cell body

2. Travels down axon in direction of action potential (electrical signal of ions)

3. Turns into chemical signal at axon terminal synapses with dendrites on target cell

Turn this to study an electron miscroscopy image of neuron cell

What is the structure of a synapse

What is the purpose of oligodencrocytes

Creates myelin sheath over axons which makes electrical signal move faster

What are microgrial cells

Immune cells

Define Ethology

Study of the natural behaviour of animals. Learned and unlearned behaviours, and how different animals solve the same problems (finding food, finding mates)

What is Umwelt

Portion of the environment we perceive after sensory and central filtering

What is sign stimulus and give an example

Component of the environment that triggers a specific instinctive behaviour. Fixed action pattern:

• Complex, stereotyped behavior that is instinctive

• Sign stimulus

• Innate releasing mech (neural)

• Fixed action pattern

Seagull chicks pecking at red dot on mom’s beak.

What was the result of the seagull stimulus experiment

When is bat orientation impaired in a dark room (for ultrasound 20+k Hz)

When ears are covered or mouth is kept closed

What is ultrasonic

Above 20kHz (1000 cycles/sec) (above human hearing)

What is the audible hearing range for humans

20hz to 20kHz

What is infra sonic

~5Hz

Describe the types of bat ultrasounds and what they look like/mean

Frequency Modulated (FM) signals

• broad, shirt durations, downward sweep on y axis

• Means species is hunting near the ground

Constant Frequency (CF) signals

• Narrow, longer, narrow frequency range (y axis)

• Hunt in open spaces

Which is broad band and which is CF-FM signal

1st is broadband, 2nd is CFFM

When does the frequency of calls quicken when approaching prey?

At 1m distance away from prey.

Goes from approach, track, to terminal

Do all moths have ears

No, 50% (noctuids) they are bimodal moths