Animal Behavior Study Guide #1
Ch. 1, 10, 11, 12, pg 411-419 of 13; Activities 1 and 2; Animal Care and Use Handout
1. Animal Behavior as a discipline and research techniques
a. Early studies were anthropomorphic – what does that mean?
b. What is the Nature/Nurture controversy about? How does that relate to the
Reductionism/Behaviorism debate?
1. How did that lead to the development of some of the modern fields in behavior?
2. What is a tropism? What is the difference between a taxis and a kinesis? Is this a part of
reductionism or behaviorism?
c. What is the difference between a proximate causation and an ultimate causation question
relating to animal behavior?
d. What is an ethogram and how is one developed?
e. What is the difference between scan sampling and focal animal sampling of behavior?
f. Song development in White-crowned sparrow males is a great example of the interactive theory of
behavior development. It was also used here for showing that behavior can be influenced by
genes, a critical learning period, social environment, and neural development. Know this study
and the outcomes of experimentally manipulating the males.
1. How do males and females differ in their ability to learn to sing songs and what does this say
about the influence of hormones? What types of neural changes occur in the brains of males
and females?
2. Why might learning a regional variation of a song be advantageous?
g. What is the difference between animal rights and animal welfare?
1. What does the Animal Welfare Act regulate?
2. What are Animal Care and Use Committees?
3. What are the three R’s of animal experimentation? Refinement, Reduction, Replacement
a. What do these mean?
2. Evolution and the Genetic Regulation of Behavior
a. What is a species?
b. What is evolution (biological definition)? What factors influence evolution?
c. What is natural selection and how is it thought to work?
d. What are the components of variation in a trait? Which component can be acted on by natural
selection?
e. What are five lines of evidence that demonstrate genetic influence over behavior? Be able to
describe examples of studies in each of the five areas.
f. What is a phylogeny?
g. What is the difference between analogous and homologous traits?
3. Development of Behavior
a. What is the Integrative Theory of Behavioral Development?
b. Be able to describe studies that demonstrate this understanding of the influences on behavior.
c. What is polyphenism?
d. Be able to cite examples of restricted behavioral development, semi-restricted behavioral
development and flexible behavioral development.
e. What is a fixed action pattern? What is meant by is sign stimulus and the innate releasing
mechanism?
f. What is imprinting? Know that there is a critical learning period and what this is.
g. What are the parallels between human language learning and song development in male whitecrowned sparrows?
h. What are the five types of learning gone over in class and be able to describe examples of each.
i. When is learning adaptive or non-adaptive? When is restricted behavioral development adaptive
or non-adaptive? When would it be optimum to have semi-restricted development?
4. Neural Underpinnings of Behavior
a. What is an animal’s Umwelt?
b. Be able to draw and label the structures of an average neuron.
c. What are some of the evolutionary changes that have occurred in the nervous system as animals
have become more structurally complex?
d. What are the major types of sensory receptors? What kind of structures do these have and what
might be their functions?
e. Why is perception not exactly what is picked up by the sensory receptors? How does this relate to
optical illusions such as the one in class?
f. What do we mean by a Sensory Filtering Mechanism? Be able to give an example.
g. Be able to describe the sensory filtering mechanism in moths detecting and avoiding bat predators.
What are the relative roles of A1 and A2 sensory neurons?
h. How is the actual vibration of the tympanum in some moths part of the sensory filtering
mechanism as well?
i. Some incoming information is handled in a hierarchical fashion by the brain. What are some
examples of this?
j. What are Central Pattern Generators and how do these create rapid responses in some animals?
5. Endocrine Underpinnings of Behavior
a. definitions:
endocrine gland = ductless gland which secretes product (hormone) into the blood
hormone = chemical released by a gland which communicates with target cells or organs; mood
setting - explain.
target organ (cells) = the tissue that responds to the hormone
feedback mechanism or loop = The resulting physiological or behavioral changes inhibit further
hormone secretion.
b. Hormones often have direct effects on the changes in anatomy and behavior at the onset of sexual
maturity. Be able to describe work that shows this in rats.
c. Sensitivity to hormone may change with environmental changes such as temperature. Be able to
describe work that shows this.
d. Sensitivity to hormones may change with social environment. Be able to describe work that shows
this.