Animal Behaviour: Psych.Biol. 3750

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Animal BehaviourPsych./Biol. 3750

• Lecture 3 September 14, 2009

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Brown-headed Cowbirds

• Parasitic egg layers
• How do males acquire their own song?

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Young cowbirds modify song in presence of
dominants (West et al, 1981), then Fig 6.28 and
1215 males learn attractive songs
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Cowbird song modified in adulthood by exposure to
males and females

• Young males learn not to sing most potent song
• Males learn new songs when exposed to females
  from different areas

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Integrating the four questions song cowbirds

• Development innate or learned? Critical period?
• Mechanism role of learning
• Function larger song repertoire
• Evolution sexual selection

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Integating mechanism and function grasshopper
feeding and growth Fig 1.10-1.12

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History of Animal Behaviour

• Darwin
• Natural selection acts on behaviour, as well as
  on morphology and physiology

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Darwinian ideas used in animal behaviour

• Sign stimulus
• Response to PART of the stimulus
• Ritualization
• Behaviour becomes stereotyped and changes
  function

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More recent History

• 1. European Ethologists (pre 1970)
• 2. North American Psychology (pre 1970)
• 3. Behavioural Ecology (1975-)
• 4. Modern Synthesis

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Ethology

• Species-typical natural behaviour
• Observation FIRST - Ethogram (Lorenz)
• Then experiments (Tinbergen, Von Frisch). See
  Figure 113

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Ethological concepts

• Sign Stimulus
• Innate Releasing Mechanism (IRM)
• Fixed action pattern (FAP)

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Sign stimulus red belly of male stickleback

• Releases female zig-zag swimming (FAP)
• Females respond to red belly

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Egg out of nest (SS)?IRM?egg rolling (FAP)
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Moving from observation to Experiments

• Egg releases egg-rolling behaviour
• What aspects of eggness release egg rolling?

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Determining Important SS qualities

• Rolled

• Not Rolled

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Supernormal Stimuli
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Three Important Ethologists

• Lorenz focus on observation, ethogram
• Tinbergen
• 4 Questions Ultimate vs Proximate Causation
• Observation followed by Functional Experiments
• Von Frisch
• Honey Bee Dance (chapter 12)

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Lorenz contributions

• Observation ethogram
• Behaviour taxonomy
• Imprinting
• Ritualization
• Motivation models

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2b. Duck Display as taxonomic indicators
(Lorenz) behaviour as an organ
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• Lorenz model of motivation
• Motivation increases with time since last
  performance

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2. Experimental Psychology

• Learned behaviour
• Discover general principles
• Experiments only

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The controversy Behaviour is

• Instinctive, species-typical and stereotyped
  versus
• Flexible, principles can be generalized across
  species

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Ethologists versus Experimental Psychologists

• Criticisms of Ethologists
• theories not consistent with internal mechanisms
• not enough experiments
• Criticisms of Experimental Psychologists
• - not natural behavior
• - not enough observation

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Resolution Craigs Dichotomy

• Appetitive Behaviour
• flexible behavior leading to a goal
• Consummatory Behaviour
• Stereotyped end of behavioral sequence