Animal Behavior Exam 2

What percentage of abused children become abusers?

30% — majority do not

What hormones have been linked with abusers?

Altered levels of serotonin and norepinephrine linked to aggressiveness in humans

How does maternal deprivation and maltreatment impact animals?

Alters serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine systems (continues to adulthood)

What is monoamine oxidase A? Which sex is more likely to experience it?

MAOA is located on X chromosome, metabolizes neurotransmitters (norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin)

Males are more likely to experience disruptions (X-linked)

If MAOA is knocked out of rats, what is the impact?

Rats cannot habituate to chronic stress

What does MAOA code for?

MAOA is a gene that protects individuals against environmental insults (traumatic events)

What is the likely result from each of the scenarios?

High levels of MAOA and stable family life

High levels of MAOA and abusive family life

Low levels of MAOA and stable family life

Low levels of MAOA and abusive family life

High levels of MAOA and stable family life → normal adult

High levels of MAOA and abusive family life → normal adult

Low levels of MAOA and stable family life → normal adult

Low levels of MAOA and abusive family life → abusive adult

What is epigenesis?

Changes in gene expression that are inherited, and not caused by changes in DNA sequence— methylation tags

What is an example of epigenetics with water fleas?

Female water flea experiencing predation will produce offspring born with “helmets” but if no predation is experiences during pregnancy, the offspring will be born without helmets

What is an example of epigenetics with rats?

Highly nurtured rat pups tend to grow up to be calm adults, while rat pups who receive little nurturing tend to grow up to be anxious

If the mother of any animal/human is stressed during pregnancy what is a common result?

Higher risk of type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, insulin resistance, and high blood pressure

How can the enviornment influence sex determination in reptiles and fish?

Reptiles - incubation temperature determines sex

• Lizards and alligators = low temperature produces females, high temperature produces males

  • Turtles = low temperature produces males, high temperature produces females

Fish - some fish can change sex after adulthood

How does the pre-natal environment influence offspring sex ratios in mice?

2M female mice produce male-biased litters, while 2F females produces female-biased litter

How does hierarchy in rhesus monkeys and other primates influence offspring sex ratios?

Higher ranking female rhesus monkeys and other primates produce more male offspring

What is the Theory of Developmental Homeostasis?

Development is seen as a buffering or homeostatic process; traits have a background of genetic influence

Often only a bare minimum of experience is necessary to promote normal behavioral development, even under harsh conditions

In what ways in Developmental Homeostasis seen?

1) Consistency with which individuals of a species pass through certain stages (embryology)

2) Development of normal physiological and behavioral traits even when placed in “abnormal” environments (rural Guatemalan vs American infants: adolescent intellectual development is exactly the same in both groups)

Who conducted the deprivation experiments on rhesus monkeys?

Psychologists Margaret and Harry Harlow

What was the purpose of the deprivation experiments?

Determine how rearing conditions affected later social behavior

What was the result of the treatment where the rhesus monkeys were in total isolation for 3, 6, or 12 months (no physical, visual, or auditory contact)?

Total isolation for 3, 6, or 12 months resulted in rocking behavior, biting self, reduced immune system, aggressive toward others as adults, and inappropriate behaviors

Ignored and/or abused their offspring

What was the result of the treatment where the rhesus monkeys were alone in cage with no physical contact, but were near other monkeys?

No physical contact but near other monkeys resulted in behaviors similar to total isolates

What was the result of the treatment where the rhesus monkeys were in total isolation with inanimate surrogate?

Inanimate surrogate reared monkeys resulted in less biting of self, but still produced inappropriate adult social behaviors

*monkey preferred one that represented adult monkey more (covered in soft towel) and became attached to surrogate

What was the result of the treatment where the rhesus monkeys were in total isolation, but were allowed 15 minutes a day with anther isolate?

15 minutes a day with other rhesus monkey resulted in normal social development and behaviors as adults

*monkeys would initially just “cling” to each other, then begin play

What was the result of the treatment where the rhesus monkeys were alone with a dog as companion/surrogate?

Dog surrogate resulted in close-to-normal social behaviors and better learning ability

What was the result of the treatment where the rhesus monkeys were reared alone with mother versus reared alone with peers?

Rearing alone with peers resulted in more normal development, then rearing alone with mother.

What were the conclusions of the deprivation experiment?

Maternal care, physical contact, and living in a group, have a great impact on later reproductive, mating, parental, and social behaviors

What are rhesus monkeys sensitive period?

The critical period when care and contact needs to occur is from birth to 6 months

Which pattern of development do rhesus monkeys exhibit in terms of social bonds?

Semi-restricted/Flexible

How can dwarfism occur post-natal? Who does this occur most in?

Extreme post-natal stress causes children to stop growing

Occurs most in orphans, abused children, and even occurs in roundworms (c. elegans)

What is the restricted pattern of development? What is an example?

The restricted pattern indicates that organism's behavior is highly influenced by genetic makeup and learning has little impact

• have a complete neural template, all wiring is present at birth

Ex: Cowbird song

What is the semi-restricted pattern of development? What is an example?

Semi-restricted pattern indicates that an organism’s behavior is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors

• have a partial neural template

Ex: chaffinch song (needs to hear song during early development to be able to sing chaffinch song)

What is the sensitive or critical periods? What pattern of development is it associated with?

Sensitive/Critical/Restricted Period is when experience plays role in shaping that behavior — experience must occur during that time in order for partial template to be completed

What is the flexible pattern of development? What is an example?

Flexible patterns indicated organisms’s behavior is minimally influenced by genetics and learning plays a large role

• have an open template, experience critical in determining whether or not behavior is expressed completely

ex: zebra finch song (can hear any song and sing that species song)

What are characteristics of the critical period?

Fairly extended, gradual in onset and termination, differ in duration between species, individuals, and functional systems, and depend on the nature of intensity of environmental stimuli both before and during the critical period

Can behaviors based on critical periods be altered or suppressed?

Yes — under certain rare conditions

What is imprinting?

Learning to make a specific response to only one type of animal or object — occurs early in life, usually between parents and offspring

What is filial imprinting? What phases occur for this type of imprinting?

Development of social attachment to thing or animal - important for socialization and predator avoidance

Critical period - timeframe in which response is greatest to stimulus

Sensitive - time during which a response is possible

What is sexual imprinting? What phases occur for this type of imprinting?

Important for choice of partner later in life - requires longer contact

Acquisition phase: learning characteristics of parents and siblings and species

Consolidation phase: sexual preference is stabilized

What kind of behavior does the Japanese quail exhibit and what type of imprinting is it?

Japanese quail chooses to spend it time with cousins rather than unrelated or closely related individuals

Exhibits sexual imprinting and habituation

How is imprinting both nature and nurture?

Nature - instinct to form association with mother/individual is genetic

Nurture - Gosling won’t follow unless there is something to follow (environment)

What was Gottleib’s experiment with the vocal cords of ducklings?

Gottleib removed the vocal cords of ducklings to see if vocalizations had to do with imprinting.

He found that those who could not vocalize themselves had no preference for whom to imprint. Thus hearing themselves also helps them associate for imprinting

How do Curlews exhibit imprinting? What type of development is it? Why is this?

Curlews exhibit restricted development, thus they have a completely developed neural template for their parent (or any curlew parent).

This is because curlews live in large flocks with other bird species so natural selection has selected for them to imprint on their species so they won’t imprint on another bird.

How do Chicken and Ducks exhibit imprinting? What type of development is it? Why is this?

Chickens and Ducks exhibit semi-restricted development, partial template for identifying maternal call of their species, but no visual template.

This is because chickens and ducks live in areas with tall grasses so they need to have an association with vocalizations so they can still hear parent even when vision is blocked.

How do Turkeys and Geese exhibit imprinting? What type of development is it?

Turkeys and Geese exhibit flexible development, with no vocalization or visual preference. Their social bond is formed with the first moving object.

This is because turkeys and geese live in forests with little coverage and their nests are far apart from other species so they have not had pressure to select for specific imprinting traits.

What is maternal attachment? What is needed for this to occur?

Occurs with ungulates especially, the maternal attachment is a lasting mother-young bond that occurs rapidly after birth

Contact with newborn needs to be immediate (at least 5 minutes after birth)

How do shrews imprint?

Shrews imprint on odor of mother (from 8-10 days old) and will follow whoever they imprinted on

What is evidence for human incest taboo?

Arthur Wolf collected data from 14,000 women in China and discovered that “sim-puahs” who were married to their early childhood companion were more likely to end in divorce, produce no children, and involve more in adultery.

This was correlated to incest avoidance which indicates that there is imprinting occurring during critical period, but with aversion rather than attachment.

What is social play?

Interactive play with others of the same species (usually, can also be with other species) - establish and maintain social bonds

What is exercise/physical play?

Play that occurs alone and is important for fighting and prey capture

What is exploration play?

Play that involves the manipulation, sense, and observe new objects and is important for cognitive development and learning specific skills

Which organisms play the most?

Humans play the most of any species

What sensation decreases play behavior in ALL species?

Hunger

What is habituation?

Relatively permanent waning of a response as a result of repeated stimulation which is not followed by any kind of reinforcement

What is associative learning/conditioning? What are the two types of conditioning?

An association made between stimulus and response

Classical and Operant conditioning

What is classical conditioning?

A physiological response due to an association made with a stimulus

What was the PAVLOV experiment and which type of conditioning did it represent?

It demonstrated classical conditioning

PAVLOV hypothesized that dogs salivating at anticipation of food is due to learning, not inborn response

The experiment entailed ringing a bell and then presenting the dog food to eventually trigger salvation at the sound of the bell.

What is the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and unconditioned response (URC) in the PAVLOV experiment? What about the conditioned stimulus (CS) and conditioned response (CR)?

unconditioned stimulus (UCS) = food

unconditioned response (URC) = salivation

Conditioned stimulus (CS) = Bell

Conditioned response (CR) = salivation

In what order should the conditioned stimulus be in relation to the others?

Conditioned stimulus MUST appear before unconditioned stimulus

Serves as a signal that unconditioned stimulus will appear

What is operant conditioning?

Behavior is emitted voluntarily, due to reinforcement which follows closely

What was the Skinner box experiment and which type of conditioning did it represent?

The skinner box represented operant conditioning

The skinner box was a system to induce rats to want to press a level for a food reward

What is reinforcement schedules in terms of operant conditioning?

Frequency with which rewards are offered

What is fixed ratio in terms of operant conditioning? What is an example?

Fixed number of responses to receive reward

Ex: additional bonus for each individual commission

What is fixed interval in terms of operant conditioning? What is an example?

fixed amount of time between stimuli and reward

Ex: pay day every two weeks

What is variable ratio in terms of operant conditioning? What is an example?

number of responses required for reward varies randomly

Ex: lottery

What is variable interval in terms of operant conditioning? What is an example?

reinforcement after varying amounts of time

Ex: raise from boss

What is extinction in terms of operant conditioning? What is an example?

Response rate declines when reinforcement withheld

Ex: bell does not signify food, animal stops associating

Which consumer is most likely to get taste adversions?

Omnivores since they have more variety in what they eat - if an animal who can only consume one thing gets a taste aversion to that, then it would die

What is avoidance learning? What type of conditioning is it associated with?

Aversive conditioning due to an association of illness with new or distasteful food

Associated with classical conditioning

What is the “Garcia Effect”?

Garcia and Koelling are rats who learned to avoid food after experiencing nausea, but not after experiencing a shock

*could not make an association between environment and sickness, only taste

What is spatial learning?

Variation in hippocampus due to responsibility for spatial orientation

Prairie vole are monogamous species and meadow voles are promiscuous species. Which species is more likely to exhibit sexual dimorphism?

Meadow voles

What is observational learning/Imitation? Is is similar to operant or classical conditioning?

Learning by observing another’s performance — can occur without being reinforced

Similar to operant conditioning

Monkeys were present a video of another monkey exhibiting a fear response in the presence of a snake and flower. Did the monkey learn to fear these objects? Why/Why not?

Monkeys learned to be fearful of snake but could not learn to fear flowers.

This is because there is some genetical pre-wiring which allows organisms to learn some fears and not to learn others. Thus there is a degree of instinct in learning.

What is social learnng?

Learning from others — organism is teaching another to do behavior, more awareness of being observed/copied, than in observational learning.

What was the difference between children and monkeys in the Nordell box experiment?

Children and monkeys were presented a box (one opaque and one clear) and demonstrated a way to open it. The children copied the adults in the maneuver to open it for both boxes, while monkeys only did it for the opaque box. This is because children want to obey and please adults and are prewired to copy them, while monkeys do not have the same wiring and only will copy to get the treat.

What is insight learning?

Making new associations between previously learned items to solve a new problem

What is tool use learning?

The use of tool for an organisms benefit - to accomplish a task more efficiently

What is kin recognition learning?

Differential treatment of members of own species, especially relatives

What is an example of kin recognition in monkeys?

Monkeys can often recognize siblings reared apart and exhibit greater defense of them and do not choose them as sex partners

What is imprint learning?

Form an association with another individual or object — occurs early in life and is long-lasting

What occurs during the slow wave sleep (SWS) or deep sleep stage?

Strengthens memories or connections already in progress

What occurs during the rapid eye movement (REM) stage?

Associate and connect memories to each other

How does sleep impact zebra finches ability to learn song?

Zebra finch doesn’t show having learned complete song until after a full night’s sleep

What is anthropomorphism?

Associating human characteristics to animals

What is the blue jay experiment?

Blue Jays hide mealworms in presence of other jays who are watching, then after the “watcher” jays were removed, blue jays dug up mealworms and re-hid them in other places

What is the story of “Clever Hans”?

Clever Hans was a horse who was known to be able to solve math problems as well as answer other questions. However it was discovered that the horse was actually interpreting subtle changes in human expression to get math answer

What did the ability to anticipate consequences of one’s actions potentially select for?

Increased brain size and increased complexity of social life

Cognitively, are humans generalist or specialists? What about animals?

Humans are cognitive generalists

Animals are cognitive specialists

How are crows (clark’s nurcrackers) an example of cognitive specialists?

They can bury up to 30,000 pine seeds in fall in 200 square mile area and finds over 90% of them in winter

How do polar aphids exhibit habitat spacing?

Females reproduce asexually by forming galls on leaves. Female compete for territory and prefer larger leaves to be able to produce more and heavier offspring. The loser has to choose between a secondary position on the big leaf or move to a smaller leaf.

What is natal philopatry?

Offspring remain at natal area and share home-range/territory with parents

What is natal dispersal?

Move from birthplace and never return

How is philopatry beneficial? How is it costly?

Benefits — predator avoidance, food resources known, reduced aggression with neighbors, lower overall stress

Costs — increased risk of inbreeding, can lead to overcrowding, greater competition for food and mates

In birds which sex is more likely to disperse?

Females more likely to disperse

In mammals which sex is more likely to disperse?

Males more likely to disperse

What are the three hypotheses about dispersal?

Reduce inbreeding, reduce mate competition, reduce competition with parents

What determines which sex gets benefits of philopatry in birds?

Since birds are monogamous, males do not compete directly for mates, rather for territories instead, and females disperse to avoid inbreeding and look for the best territories/males

What determines which sex gets benefits of philopatry in mammals?

Since mammals are usually polygynous, males compete directly for females and young males disperse to increase their chance of breeding

Why do female mammals often live in matrilineal social groups?

They get the benefits of living with relatives, so males must disperse to avoid inbreeding

How does the father’s presence impact the daughter’s presence?

If father is NOT around (as in most mammals), then daughters have the first choice of breeding sites and don’t have to disperse to avoid inbreeding

If father IS around (as in most birds, chimpanzees, etc.), females disperse

How does mate competition in polygyous/promiscuous animals influence dispersal?

In polygyous/Promiscuous animals males compete and therefore males disperse