Overview
This lecture introduced ethology—the study of animal behavior in natural settings—contrasting it with behaviorism, and explored concepts such as fixed action patterns, releasing stimuli, learning, adaptive value, and cognitive ethology.
Behaviorism vs. Ethology
- Behaviorism focused on observable behaviors shaped only by environmental reinforcements (rewards and punishments).
- Behaviorists believed in universality: all species learn similarly, so animal models in labs are sufficient.
- Ethology emerged in Europe, emphasizing studying animals in natural environments and highlighting behavioral diversity across species.
- Ethologists prioritized gene-environment interactions and species-specific behaviors.
Key Figures and Foundations of Ethology
- Founders: Niko Tinbergen, Konrad Lorenz, Hugo von Frisch.
- Ethology seeks to "interview an animal in its own language," meaning understanding behavior in the animal's natural context.
Fixed Action Patterns and Learning
- Fixed action patterns: stereotyped, hardwired behaviors triggered by specific stimuli, but their context and efficiency are shaped by experience.
- Examples: squirrel nut-cracking, visual cliff avoidance in infants, alarm calls in vervet monkeys, infant smiling and nursing.
- Experience refines when and how fixed action patterns are used.
Releasing Stimuli and Experimental Approaches
- Releasing stimulus: external cue that triggers a fixed action pattern (e.g., red spot on a gull’s beak).
- Approaches include subtraction, replacement, substitution, and super-stimuli (exaggerated cues).
- Animals sense and communicate using modalities humans may not detect (auditory, olfactory, tactile, electric, vibrational).
Adaptive Value and Experiments
- Adaptive value: the functional benefit of a behavior (e.g., camouflage from predators, food communication in bees).
- Classic experiments: Tinbergen with gull eggshells, von Frisch with bee waggle dances.
Neuroethology and Mechanisms
- Neuroethology investigates the brain mechanisms that convert releasing stimuli into behaviors (e.g., bird song learning, lordosis reflex in hamsters).
- Field studies (e.g., in migratory birds, baboons) link neurobiology with behavior in natural contexts.
Learning Beyond Classical Paradigms
- Some behaviors must be learned (maternal competence in primates, tool use in apes).
- Prepared learning: species are predisposed to associate certain stimuli more readily (e.g., taste aversion, fear of snakes/spiders).
- One-trial learning/imprinting: rapid, often irreversible learning during critical periods (e.g., ducklings following the first moving object).
Cognitive Ethology and Animal Minds
- Cognitive ethology studies animal awareness, self-recognition (mirror test in chimps, elephants), theory of mind (understanding others’ knowledge), and intentionality.
- Animals show planning, numerosity (sense of numbers), transitive inference, and flexible cognitive strategies.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Behaviorism — Psychological approach focusing on measurable behaviors shaped by environmental reinforcement.
- Ethology — Study of animal behavior in natural environments, emphasizing species-specific patterns and evolutionary context.
- Fixed Action Pattern — Innate, stereotyped behavior sequence triggered by specific stimuli.
- Releasing Stimulus — External signal that elicits a fixed action pattern.
- Neuroethology — Study of neural mechanisms underlying natural behaviors.
- Prepared Learning — Innate predisposition to form certain associations more easily than others.
- Imprinting — Rapid, early learning resulting in strong, long-lasting behavioral responses.
- Cognitive Ethology — Branch studying animal cognition, awareness, and problem-solving.
- Theory of Mind — Awareness that others have different information or perspectives.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review related textbook sections on ethology, fixed action patterns, and animal cognition.
- Prepare for upcoming lectures on nervous system and endocrinology.
- Optional: Research classic ethological experiments (Tinbergen, Lorenz, von Frisch) for further understanding.