PBSI 311 psychology of animal behavior Exam #1

According to the video shown in class, what was the conditioned response that Pavlov observed in his dogs after training them with a conditioned stimulus (such as a sound) and the presentation of food (unconditioned stimulus)?
a) barking
b) playing dead
c) salivating
d) hiding

C) Salivating

According to the video shown in class, the water maze task that is used to assess spatial learning in rodents is named after a scientist named \_______.
a) Pavlov
b) Morris
c) Skinner
d) Tinbergen

B) Morris

According to the video shown in class, the song of the plainfin midshipman type I male sounds similar to which of the following?
a) A siren
b) A doorbell
c) A house finch
d) A foghorn

D) A foghorn

The gene mutation that made Hawaiian male crickets become silent directly affects
a) Male body size
b) Male wing shape
c) Male food preference
d) Male mate preference

B) Male wing shape

On the Hawaiian island of Kauai, what feature of female cricket behavior is likely to have evolved in response to increasing numbers of silent males?
a) Wing rubbing
b) Tendency to explore environment in search of mates
c) Increased attraction to singing males
d) Decreased choosiness

D) Decreased choosiness

The appearance of silent crickets on the neighboring island of Oahu was due to \________ .
a) convergent evolution
b) Kauai crickets traveling there by boat
c) Kauai crickets traveling there by plane
d) the lack of parasitoid flies

A) Convergent Evolution

Phenotypic plasticity in response to being reared in silence (increased wandering behavior) was observed in
a) male crickets from Kauai only.
b) male crickets from Oahu only.
c) male crickets from an island with only chirpers.
d) male crickets from both Kauai and Oahu.

A) Male crickets from Kauai only

After only nine generations, Belyaev's silver foxes displayed which of the following common aspects of a domesticated phenotype?
a) smaller body size
b) floppier ears
c) piebald coats
d) floppier ears and piebald coats

D) Floppier ears and piebald coats

Leif Andersson's research focuses on identifying potential domestication genes in
a) foxes.
b) chickens.
c) pigs.
d) dogs.

B) Chickens

What characteristic did Lyudmila Trut look for when initially selecting foxes for the fox- farm experiment?
a) tameness
b) aggressiveness
c) novel coat color
d) curly tails

A) Tameness

According to Leif Andersson, why do domesticated animals have phenotypes that differ from their wild counterparts?
a) Human care allowed mutant traits to persist that would not otherwise succeed in the wild.
b) Humans selectively bred animals for mutant traits such as a novel coat color.
c) There is a causal and direct relationship between tameness and the domestication phenotype.
d) Both human care and selective breeding contributed to the maintenance of mutant traits in domesticated animals.

D) Both human care and selective breeding contributed to the maintenance of mutant traits in domesticated animals.

Sleeping with one eye open was most recently discovered in \______.
a) Humboldt penguins
b) Wahlberg's epauletted fruit bats
c) domestic chickens
d) mallards

B) Wahlberg's epaulettes fruit bats

Otters have been known to display which of the following sleep behaviors?
a) They weave "mattresses" out of leaves and branches.
b) They fluff their pectoral tufts to ward away predators.
c) They sleep with one eye open.
d) They wrap themselves in seaweed to stay anchored.

D) They wrap themselves in seaweed to stay anchored

Unihemispheric sleep is when \_______ .
a) half of the brain shows waking activity and the other half shows slow- wave sleep activity
b) both halves of the brain display waking activity
c) both halves of the brain display slow-wave sleep activity
d) neither half of the brain is involved in waking activity or slow-wave sleep
activity

A) half of the brain shows waking activity and the other half shows slow-wave sleep activity

One reason that orangutans are thought to have begun building complex nests is in order to
a) recover from sleep deprivation.
b) ward off predators.
c) avoid falling out of high tree tops.
d) protect their offspring.

C) avoid falling out of high tree tops.

Who are the three fathers of modern ethology?

Nikolaas Tinbergen, Konrad Lorenz, and
Karl Von Frisch

Nikolaas Tinbergen proposed that the study of animal behavior involves 4 types of questions? What are they?

1) Mechanistic \= what stimulus elicits behavior? How does the animal respond?
2) Developmental \= How does behavior change as animal matures?
3) Survival value \= How does behavior affect survival and reproduction
4) Evolutionary/Phylogenetic \= How does behavior vary across the phylogeny of the animal ?

Tinbergen's 4 types of questions can be categorized into 2 types of analyses; what are they and what does each refer to in terms of factors that can shape behavior?

1) Proximate analysis \= Immediate causes
( Mechanistic and developmental)
2) Ultimate analysis \= Evolutionary forces
( Survival value and evolutionary)

What are the 3 foundations of ethology?

1) Natural Selection \= retention of features in a species that contribute to success of survival and reproduction
2) Individual Learning \= events happening in an animal's lifetime that change its behavior
3) Cultural Transmission\= different species as well as generation teach new behaviors

Know the two examples of natural selection presented in lecture:

1) loss of singing
in male field crickets,
2) xenophobia in common mole rats.

This is an example of natural selection.
Xenophobia\= intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries.

Why was singing behavior dangerous for male field crickets? What strategy do non-singing males use to find females?

Singing attracted flies to lay eggs on the back of male crickets, when the larvae was born they would eat and kill the cricket. Non-singing males would stand near singing males and attract females going to mate with singing mates (satellite approach )

How do arid (dry) and mesic (moist) environments affect xenophobic behavior in common mole rats? [Hint: How is aggression affected?] How does the sex of the tested pairs of rats affect the level of aggression observed? [Does aggression differ when same-sex pairs are compared to opposite-sex pairs?]

Male mole rats from arid environments were most likely to reject males from his own population than the males from a mesic environment. When males were paired with females, those from arid environments were still more aggressive but overall level of aggression was lower. Aggression was the highest in same-sex pairs.
When resources are scarce, as is the case for those rats living in arid environments, behavior is more aggressive because there is more competition in order to survive. when resource are plentiful, as is the case for the rats in the mesic or moist environments, aggression is less because there is less competition.

Both males or both females\=Arid mole rats were more likely to reject own population

Males paired w/ females\=More aggression in arid, but overall lower level of aggression

Know the two examples of individual learning presented in lecture:

1) the model for learning involving female birds choosing males for high reproductive fitness,
2) foraging in grasshoppers.

How did the learning treatment used on grasshoppers affect the proportion of visits made to the balanced diet dish as compared to the unbalanced diet dish? [Hint: Grasshoppers from the "learning" group differed from those in the "random" group.] How did the learning treatment affect grasshopper growth rate?

Findings: Learning condition\=more visits to balanced diet

(random condition\= eventually had more visits to balanced diet, just not at first)

Learning treatment growth rate was 20% higher than that of the random treatment

Know the examples of cultural transmission presented in lecture: 1) scavenging or foraging in rats (cocoa vs. cinnamon; hot dog). How does cultural transmission differ from individual learning? [Hint: What is social learning? Which process allows for between-generation transfer of learning?]

Cultural transmission- animals learn something by copying behavior of others (referred to as social learning)
Individual learning differs from social learning in that it does not involve learning from others.

How did the demonstrator rat's diet influence the observer rat's food preference? In other words, if the demonstrator ate cocoa-flavored food, did the observer also prefer cocoa-flavored food? If the demonstrator ate cinnamon-flavored food, how did the observer like cocoa-flavored food? [Make sure you know the difference between the "demonstrator" rat and the "observer" rat.]

One demonstrator, allowed to go back to colony and present the flavors

After demonstrators were exposed to cocoa-flavored foods, observers preferred cocoa-flavored as well.

How does the hot dog example of scavenging in rats illustrate between-generation as well as within-generation transfer of learning?

Generation 1 smells demonstrator rat, then eats hot dog

Rat pups smell generation 1, then eat hot dog

What are 3 different approaches used to study ethology?

1) conceptual approach
2) empirical approach
3) Theoretical approach

From which type of approach did the concept of kin selection arise?

Conceptual approach

An approach that entails gathering data in one form or another and drawing inferences from that data. Most often in either an observational or experimental form. what type of approach is this?

Empirical approach

An approach that entails the generation of a predictive model. Usually a mathematical model. what type of approach is this?

Theoretical approach

How do the concepts of direct and indirect fitness apply to a female monkey and her two daughters?

Direct Fitness\= care that the mother gives directly to offspring (nursing, grooming, protection)

Indirect Fitness\= transpires between siblings or with offspring and mother. (Grooming strengthens social bonds and serves biological function. Sharing food, play)

You watched 2 video clips on cultural transmission, one involving Japanese macaques, the other involving chimpanzees. What were the behaviors transmitted in each case?

Japanese Macaques:
Cultural Transmission
, Researchers provide monkeys with some extra food like sweet potatoes, began with an individual female monkey, others caught on and passed on through generations, other monkeys dump the sweet potatoes in the water to wash the sand off.

Fongoli Chimpanzees:
Cultural Transmission, there is a whole group doing the behaviors that are specific to this particular area... making tools to hunt with, use plant stems as a foraging tool, getting in the pond on a hot day

Know the 2 real-world examples of artificial selection presented in lecture and video clips:

1) tumbler pigeons,
2) "domesticated" silver foxes.

Selective breeding of wild-caught foxes resulted in changes in both behavior and appearance across generations. What are some examples of such changes?

Changes in behavior:
o

2nd gen (1962)- Approachability
o

4th gen (1964)- Tail wagging & Petting
o

6th gen (1966)- Full affinity/accepting of humans

Changes in appearance:
o

9th gen (1969)- Floppy ears & coat color variation
o

13th gen (1973)- Curly tail
o

15th gen (1975)- Shorter tail

In the herding dog model for artificial selection, how might the proportion of good herders change across generations?

o

Gen 1: Very good, good, poor
o

Gen 2: Very good, good, good
o
Gen 3: Excellent, excellent, very good



Selective breeding can allow you to increase the frequency at which certain behaviors are exhibited

Know the African wild dog example of how natural selection might influence hunting strategy (individual vs. group hunting).

Group hunters: coordination among a large number of individuals\=more success than a single hunter

Natural selection would favor pack hunting

What are the 3 main prerequisites for the study of natural selection? How does the example of novel object approach time in ravens illustrate 2 of these prerequisites? Which prerequisite is illustrated by colony size/nesting preference in cliff swallows?

3 MAIN PRE-REQS
1)
Variation in a trait
/type of behavior/coat color (trait comes in different varieties)

2)
Different fitness consequences

(reproductive success) of trait variations

3)
Mode of inheritance
(trait can be passed on to the next generation)

EXAMPLE OF NOVEL OBJECT :
1. Variations in Novel Object Approach

Ravens (Speed, curiosity)
2. Fitness consequences of variation in approach time
Ravens that are reluctant to approach novel objects may add fewer new food items to their diet and hence have relatively low reproductive success.

Ravens that approach novel objects quickly may add new food items to their diet and hence have relatively high reproductive success.

PRE-REQ FOR CLIFF SWALLOW:
Mode of inheritance;
Colony size preference is inherited

Know the 2 examples of adaptation:

1) antipredator behavior in guppies,
2) cooperative behavior/eusociality in naked mole rats.

How does predation pressure affect group size, number of offspring, and offspring size in guppies?

In areas of low predation risk, the color of the males is much more variable and bright as opposed to a high risk area

Low predation site-
Females produce fewer, but bigger offspring

High-predation site-
Females produce many small offspring

What did the transplantation experiment show about how quickly natural selection can act on anti-predator behavior in guppies (i.e. does it take thousands of years or several generations?)

Over the course of several generations, as a result of new selection pressures, transplanted populations converge on the characteristics of the fish in the populations into which they were transplanted

Kinship theory suggests that the more closely related individual organisms are, the more likely they are to show cooperation. How does eusociality in naked mole rats illustrate this?

(The 3 characteristics of eusociality) :

1) A reproductive division of labor in which individuals in certain castes reproduce and individuals of other castes do not.

2) Overlapping generations, such that individuals of different generations are alive at the same time

3)Communal care of young

What are phylogenetic trees used for? What type of analysis is applied to building the simplest tree that accounts for existing data?

Can be used to trace common ancestry for traits (behavioral and physical)

Scientists select for the simplest form that accounts for data (parsimony analysis) or Occam's razor

What is the difference between a homologous trait and an analogous trait? Which type of trait involves convergent evolution?

Homology:
a trait that is shared by more than one species due to a common ancestor

Homoplasy (also called analogy):
a trait that is not due to a shared common ancestor but a result of natural selection acting independently

ANALOGOUS INVOLVES CONVERGENT EVOLUTION

The study of plumage coloration (feather color) in the house finch demonstrates

analysis from proximate (how? what?)
and ultimate (why?) perspectives.

For male and female finches, what determines plumage coloration? What
contributes to differences between males and females?

Differences in
male plumage brightness:
depends on amount of carotenoid color pigment-containing food eaten

Differences in
female plumage brightness:
depends on differential availability of pigment-containing foods

Why do males seek out pigment-containing food (i.e. what are the benefits of brighter plumage?)

Males but not females benefit from having brighter plumage

Females turn out to be attracted to brighter plumage

Why do females seek out brightly-colored males (i.e. what are the benefits?)?

Indicates that males are:

Pathogen resistance

Better parental care

Better foragers

what is the difference between male and female in regards brightly-colored feather?

depends on differences in foraging strategies: males seek out pigment-containing food whereas females do not

The endocrine system (hormones) and the nervous system represent two sources of proximate causes of behavior.

Endocrine system: a network of glands that secrete hormones in the bloodstream (vertebrates) or extracellular fluid ( Invertebrate)

What is the relationship between hormones, glands, and target cells (i.e. what do glands and target cells do?)?

Hormones : chemical messengers that affect target cells at a location distant from the gland they are secreted from.

Glands: Specialized organs that produce and or secrete hormones

Target cells: cells with receptors of surface of membrane

What are the characteristics of the 2 main hormone types?

Protein/peptide : Made from amino acids, water-soluble

Steroid: Made from cholesterol, fat-soluble

Know the 2 examples of hormones affecting behavior by 2 different stimuli:

1) environmental stress in Magellanic penguins,
2) day length in birds.

What effect does ecotourism stress have on penguin chicks?

They show higher levels of stress hormones
May be due to altered behavior of parents (less interaction with chicks, more variations in chick body temperature)

What effect does day length have on testosterone levels and reproductive behavior in male birds?

Longer day length \= Increased testosterone & reproductive behavior

What are 2 general types of effects that hormones can have on animals and their behavior? Give an example of each.

Activational: short-term effects (in adulthood)
Testosterone makes males more likely to be aggressive

Organizational: long-term effects (during development)
Males surrounded by 2 females act "feminized" as adults; females surrounded by 2 males act "masculinized" as adults

How is parental care in Mongolian gerbils affected by in utero position? [Hint: Uterine positions result in different circulating testosterone levels of developing embryos.] What happens to parental care in castrated male gerbils?

The more male neighbors, the more testosterone. The more females you are exposed to more of the female hormones

2M male: more circulating levels of testosterone, more aggressive, better at mating, less invested in parental care

PARENTAL CARE CASTRATED:

Increased time caring for pups (shows there is definitely a causal relationship between testosterone and parental care)

Two neurohormones are involved in the display of social and reproductive behaviors in voles; what are they?

Vasopressin and oxytocin

How do prairie voles and meadow voles differ in terms of their mating and reproductive behaviors (i.e. mating strategy, parental care)?

Prairie: Mate for life, or just breeding season, male stays around until after the pups are born and participates in parental care


Monogamous prairie voles have a high concentration of vasopressin receptors in the ventral pallidum (VP) area of the brain (darker VP area in brain)

Meadow:
Polygamous (male will mate with multiple females, not involved in parental care of young)

Polygamous meadow voles have a lower concentration of vasopressin receptors in the ventral pallidum of the brain. (lighter VP area in brain)

Which species of vole has higher levels of vasopressin receptor in the brain? Is there an experimental way to change the behavior of male meadow voles?

SPECIES OF VOLE HAS HIGH LEVELS OF VASOPRESSIN: Prairie

Increasing the V1a receptors leads to increased prosocial behavior in male meadow voles. (Injecting the virus into brain of male meadow voles to make the cells produce more receptors)

This manipulation actually changed the behavior of the animals

In honeybees, what hormone causes the shift from in-hive worker to forager? What effect does removal of hormone's gland (corpus allatum) have on foraging behavior?

HORMONE THAT CAUSES SHIFT IN HIVE WORKER:
Increasing levels of juvenile hormone III



EFFECT FROM REMOVAL OF HORMONE GLAND:
slowed shift to foraging, poor navigation

What hormone increases foraging behavior in honeybees? [Hint: It is similar in structure to the "fight or flight" hormone in vertebrates, noradrenaline.]

Octopamine

Spatial learning differs between prairie voles and meadow voles. How do these differences relate to home range size and spatial learning abilities of males and females? What brain structure is important for this type of learning? Which vole species shows sex differences in the size of this brain structure?

Home ranges of male meadow voles are 10X larger than those of female meadow voles (polygamous species)

Home ranges of male prairie voles are similar in size to those of female prairie voles (monogamous species)

THE HIPPOCAMPUS IMPORTANT STRUCTURE FOR LEARNING !!!

MEADOW shows sex differences in the size of this brain structure.

In honeybees, what nervous system structure is important for foraging behavior? How does the size of this structure vary between foragers and non-foragers and does it depend on the age of the bee?

mushroom bodies

foragers have larger mushroom bodies than non-foragers\----Not due to age

What is the mating strategy of male plain midshipman fish (i.e. how do the type I and type II males differ in terms of their singing/courtship behavior?)? How do the sonic muscles of type I fish differ from those of type II fish?

Type I:
Larger, make nests in rocky enclosures, will guard fertilized eggs, engage in humming, large vocal muscles

Type II:
Physically smaller, larger gonads, satellite strategy

kind of hang around until the females come around. Trying to fertilize eggs.

Type I males have bigger muscles, faster pacemaker neurons (the better to sing with)

What anti-predator behavior strategy do ducks and aquatic mammals share?

uni-hemispheric sleep: Only half the brain is asleep at a time

Ducks: sleep with one eye open
Seal: still paddling with one flipper

For the purposes of this course, how is learning defined?

According to Shettleworth... a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience.
Adaptation can occur if an animal begins to learn

Paper wasps are similar to what 2 groups of vertebrate animals in that they exhibit facial learning?

primates signals: visual, auditory, tactile
rodents signals: tactile, visual, smell-taste

Rodents: saliva is used for signals

What was the task used to test paper wasps for facial learning? Which visual stimuli resulted in facial learning (caterpillar, geometric pattern, rearranged wasp face, antenna-less wasp face, normal wasp face)? Which species of paper wasps show facial learning: P. fuscatus or P. metricus?

Experiment: Can this wasp learn/distinguish between the two distinct wasp faces? The wasp had to look at two pictures, one on the left and one on the right
o

If they go to one face\=safe, if they go to other\=shock
o

By the end, they learn to go to the "friendly" face

VISUAL STIMULI IN FACIAL LEARNING

Couldn't learn patterns or caterpillars

SPECIES THAT SHOW FACIAL LEARNING

P. Fiscatus
is a more communal species... Need facial recognition for every day tasks
P. metricus are loners

What is phenotypic plasticity? Are all forms of learning considered phenotypic plasticity? Are all forms of phenotypic plasticity considered learning?

Phenotypic plasticity :an organism's ability to produce different phenotypes in response to the environment (ability to show different physical features in response to stimuli/environment)

NO NOT ALL FORMS OF LEARNING CONSIDERED PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY

YES ALL FROM OF PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY CONSIDERED LEARNING.

Know the 2 example of phenotypic plasticity that do not involve learning:

1) spine formation in the sea mat,
2) flushing behavior in the painted redstart.

What triggers spine formation in the sea mat?

Exposure to chemical stimulus from predators causes spine formation (to protect from sea slugs)

Why do painted redstarts show flushing behavior if it is not learned?

Behavior appears to genetically programmed and not learned! Stimulus in environment which triggers response.

What are 3 common types of experiences that lead to learning?

1) Single stimulus : Interaction/sensor

2) Stimulus-stimulus : see an association between 2 stimuli

3) Response-reinforcer: the make a response and there is a consequence

What are 2 examples of single stimulus learning?

Habituation-rat pays less attention each time

Sensitization-rat pays more attention each time

Ex. Blue stick presented to animal and they may do 1 of 2 response.

What happens during Pavlovian conditioning (i.e. what happens to a neutral stimulus that is paired with an unconditioned stimulus?)? When a natural unconditioned response becomes associated with a conditioned stimulus, what is it called?

when a neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditional stimulus it is UNCONDITIONAL RESPONSE

when a natural unconditioned response become is paired with a conditioned stimulus it is CONDITIONED RESPONSE

With regards to Pavlovian conditioning, what are the 2 general types of stimuli and conditioning that are possible?

Types of stimuli:

1) Appetitive - positive, pleasant (food, mate, safety)
2) Aversive - negative, unpleasant (shock, bad smell)

Types of conditioning:

1) Excitatory - first stimulus predicts second stimulus (positive relationship)
2) Inhibitory - first stimulus does not predict second stimulus (negative relationship)

Know the difference between first order conditioning (the simple case involving one conditioned stimulus) and second order conditioning (involving 2 conditioned stimuli).

FIRST ORDER: the simple case involving one conditioned stimuli
SECOND ORDER: involving 2 conditioned stimuli

What is learnability and what are the 3 types?

Learnability: ability to learn under certain conditions

3 types of learnability :

1) Overshadowing
·

2) Blocking
·

3) Latent inhibition

How do overshadowing, blocking, and latent inhibition affect learning (i.e. ability to
make associations, respond to CS, etc.)?

all try to stop or slow down learning

What is instrumental conditioning? What kind of association is made in this type of learning?

Animal's response is
reinforced
or
increased
by a reward or the end of an aversive stimulus

Animal's response is suppressed or decreased by an aversive stimulus or termination of a reward

In order for learning to occur, animal must act or produce a response

What is Thorndike's law of effect?

If a response in the presence of a stimulus is followed by a positive event, the association between the response and the stimulus is strengthened.

If a response is followed by an aversive event, the association will be weakened.

What testing apparatuses did Thorndike (book & video clip) and Skinner use for
their instrumental conditioning studies?

skinner boxes/ puzzle boxes

In the case study of optimal memory in mantis shrimp, how long did male and female shrimp "recognize" each other? What might be an important factor in maintaining recognition memory between males and females that have recently mated?

For at least 2 weeks after breeding, males show less aggression; females show less resistance.

IMPORTANT FACTOR:
Not known but suggests natural selection can determine how long memories are kept.

Know the 2 examples of population comparisons that demonstrate effects of natural selection on learning:

1) foraging tasks in Zenaida doves,
2) predator avoidance in stickleback fish.

How does living arrangement affect learning of foraging tasks in doves?

Territorial population has less pass percentage compared to group living population in learning trials as the level of difficult increases

Zenaida doves have 2 kinds of living arrangement: Solitary or territorial or group

How does the background (predator-rich vs. predator-free) of naïve (inexperienced) offspring of stickleback fish influence learning about food and predators?

Although both stocks of fish were equal in learning about food location, predator-rich offspring were much faster at learning to avoid a simulated predator.

Two learning theories dealing with a cost-benefit perspective are:

1) trade-off between learning and lifespan (i.e. can have one at the cost of the other)

2) predictability or stability in the environment within-lifetime and between- generation influences balance between learning and genetically determined responses.

What are 4 important things that animals learn about?

1) Predators
2) Mates
3) Family
4) Aggression

How does the case study of damselfly larvae and antipredator behavior allow us distinguish between behavior that is innate (inherited) and behavior that is learned?

damselflies reduced their activity when exposed to water from a pike that had eaten either a minnow or damselfly, but not a pike that had eaten mealworm. The damselflies in these experiments had no prior encounters with a pike, so the responses seen here are not evidence of learning.

How does training affect antipredator behavior in hellbender salamanders? What type of training is used (Pavlovian? Instrumental?)?

Teaches animals to avoid predators

Pair alarm secretion (causes escape behavior) to predator odor

What type of training is used ?
Pavlovian/Classical

How does parental investment relate to the ability to learn about mates in different animal species? Consider the parenting strategies of Japanese quail, blue gourami fish, and Mongolian gerbils.

Level of parental investment is correlated with ability to learn about potential mates (e.g. location of opposite sex)

For animals with low parental investment by males, males show greater learning ability (need females to provide investment)

For animals with equal parental investment, learning ability of males and females is similar


Consider parenting strategies of Japanese quail:
Japanese quail (Low)

Males do not invest any effort into parenting, but show greater learning ability about females

Blue gourami (Equal M/F learning ability)

Mongolian gerbil (Equal M/F learning ability)

How do long-tailed tits learn about family? What is the evidence for this learning?

frequently act as 'helpers' for close genetic relatives (nest building, foraging, feeding chicks)

recognition of "churr" call

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING :
1) calls of foster siblings raised together were about as similar as calls of biological siblings raised together

2) calls of biological siblings raised apart were as dissimilar as calls of unrelated individuals in nature

3) the songs of foster parents and their foster offspring were very similar

How does training affect aggression in male blue gourami fish?

Blue gourami males that are trained to associate a cue (light) with an intruder are more aggressive in actual battles/contests

Genetic basis of learning ability:

The development of the Syracuse High Avoidance (SHA) and Syracuse Low Avoidance (SLA) rat lines resulted from artificial selection using performance on an avoidance learning task. SHA rats are good learners of the avoidance task and show low anxiety on another test; SLA rats are poor learners of the avoidance task and show high anxiety on a separate test.

What did genetic analysis suggest about how complex traits such as anxiety and avoidance learning are encoded?

Hormonal basis of learning ability:

The identification of High Anxiety and Low Anxiety rats based on anxiety tests showed that the higher levels of stress hormone in High Anxiety rats were linked to slower learning ability and worse memory on the water maze task.

The use of phylogenetic trees to understand animal behavior is an example of using \_____ questions.
A) Developmental
B) Survival value
C) Mechanistic
D) Evolutionary

D) Evolutionary \= deal with survival and how natural selection acted upon behavior traits

A rat discovers pizza on the streets of NYC members of its social group start including pizza in their diet. what is that an example of ?

Cultural Transmission \= social learning because the behavior was transmitted to others.

In a house finch, brighter feathers in a male mean ?
A) Pathogen resistance
B) Better Parental care
C) Better Foragers
D) all of the above
E) B+C

D) all of the above