34 1 Elements of Behavior Slide 1 of

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Slide 1 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Stimulus and Response Biologists define behavior as the way an organism reacts to changes in its internal condition or external environment. A behavior can be simple or complex. Behaviors are performed when an animal reacts to a stimulus. A stimulus is any kind of signal that carries information and can be detected. For example, hunger is an internal stimulus that may prompt you to eat. Slide 2 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Stimulus and Response A single, specific reaction to a stimulus is called a response. A behavior may consist of more than one response. For example, a shark may respond to the movement of prey by swimming toward the prey and attacking it. Slide 3 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Stimulus and Response Types of Stimuli Animals respond to many types of stimuli, such as light, sound, odors, and heat. Not every animal can detect all of these stimuli. The Mexican bulldog bat uses high-pitched sounds to detect ripples made by a fish breaking the surface of a lake. Some birds detect the Earth’s magnetic field for migration. Slide 4 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Stimulus and Response How Animals Respond Because of the differences in animals’ sensory abilities, responses vary greatly. When an animal responds to a stimulus, its body systems, including the sense organs, nervous system, and muscles, interact to produce the resultant behavior. Slide 5 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Stimulus and Response Once the senses detect an external stimulus, information is passed along nerve cells to the brain. The brain and nervous system process the information, and direct the response. Animals with simple nervous systems have simple behaviors, such as moving toward or away from a stimulus. Animals with complex nervous systems have more complicated and precise behaviors. Slide 6 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior and Evolution Animal behavior is important to survival & reproduction. Many behaviors are influenced by genes and can be inherited. Behaviors may evolve under the influence of natural selection. Organisms with an adaptive behavior will survive and reproduce better than organisms that lack the behavior. After natural selection has operated for many generations, most individuals will exhibit the adaptive behavior. Slide 7 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Innate Behavior An innate behavior is an instinct, or inborn behavior. Innate behaviors appear in fully functional form the first time they are performed, even though the animal may have had no previous experience with the stimuli to which it responds. Innate behaviors depend on internal mechanisms that develop from complex interactions between an animal's genes and its environment. Slide 8 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Innate Behavior Examples of innate behavior: • the suckling of a newborn mammal • the weaving of a spider web • the building of hanging nests by weaver birds Slide 9 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Learned Behavior Animals often live in unpredictable environments, so their behavior must be flexible enough to deal with uncertainty and change. Many animals can alter their behavior based on experience. A change in behavior that results from experience is called learning. Learning is also called acquired behavior. The four major types of learning are: habituation, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and insight learning. Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall Slide 10 of 35 End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Learned Behavior Habituation - the simplest type of learning Habituation is a process by which an animal decreases or stops its response to a repetitive stimulus that neither rewards nor harms it. For example, a worm may stop responding to the shadow of something that neither provides the worm with food nor threatens it. By ignoring a nonthreatening or unrewarding stimulus, animals can spend their time and energy more efficiently. Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall Slide 11 of 35 End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Learned Behavior Classical Conditioning Any time an animal makes a mental connection between a stimulus and some kind of reward or punishment, it has learned by classical conditioning. An example of classical conditioning is the work of Pavlov and his dog. (Pavlov's experiment is shown on the next few slides. ) Slide 12 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Learned Behavior 1. Before Conditioning When a dog sees or smells food, it produces saliva. Food is the stimulus and the dog’s response is salivation. Dogs do not usually salivate in response to nonfood stimuli. Slide 13 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Learned Behavior 2. During Conditioning By ringing a bell every time he fed the dog, Pavlov trained the dog to associate the sight and smell of food with the ringing bell. Slide 14 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Learned Behavior 3. After Conditioning When Pavlov rang a bell in the absence of food, the dog still salivated. The dog was conditioned to salivate in response to a stimulus that it did not normally associate with food. Slide 15 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Learned Behavior Operant Conditioning Operant conditioning occurs when an animal learns to behave in a certain way through repeated practice, in order to receive a reward or avoid punishment. Operant conditioning is also called trial-and-error learning. Slide 16 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Learned Behavior Operant conditioning was first described by B. F. Skinner in the 1940 s. Skinner invented a testing procedure using a “Skinner box. ” A Skinner box has a colored button that, when pressed, delivers a food reward. After an animal is rewarded several times, it learns that it gets food whenever it presses the button. Slide 17 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Learned Behavior Insight Learning - the most complex form of learning Insight learning, or reasoning, occurs when an animal applies something it has already learned to a new situation, without a period of trial and error. Insight learning is common among humans and primates. If you are given a math problem on an exam, you use insight learning in order to solve it. Slide 18 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Instinct and Learning Combined Most behaviors are a combination of instinct and learning. Young white-crowned sparrows have an innate ability to recognize their own species’ song. To sing the complete version, however, the young birds must first hear it sung by adults. Some young animals learn to recognize and follow the first moving object they see during an early time in their lives; usually this is their mother or father. This process is called imprinting. Slide 19 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Elements of Behavior Instinct and Learning Combined Imprinting keeps young animals close to their mother, who protects them and leads them to food. Once imprinting occurs, the behavior cannot be changed. Imprinting involves both innate and learned behaviors and can occur through scent as well as sight. Salmon imprint on the odor of the stream in which they hatch. When they are mature, salmon remember the odor of the stream and return there to spawn. Slide 20 of 35 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall End Show

34 -1 Change in an animal's behavior as a result of experience is called a. stimulus. b. learning. c. response. d. reflex. Slide 21 of 35 End Show Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

34 -1 When a spider builds a web, it displays a. learned behavior. b. innate behavior. c. habituation. d. insight learning. Slide 22 of 35 End Show Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

34 -1 Ivan Pavlov's training of a dog to salivate in response to a ringing bell is known as a. habituation. b. imprinting. c. classical conditioning. d. stimulus. Slide 23 of 35 End Show Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

34 -1 The process in which young animals learn to recognize and follow the first moving object they see is called a. insight learning. b. habituation. c. imprinting. d. classical conditioning. Slide 24 of 35 End Show Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

34 -1 Habituation helps animals survive because it a. helps animals find food. b. enables animals to escape predators. c. enables animals to recognize members of their own species. d. helps animals avoid wasting time and energy. Slide 25 of 35 End Show Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall