Animal learning and behaviour (summary)

Podcast

Play an AI-generated podcast conversation about this lesson

Questions and Answers

What is the main criticism about using speed as a measure of intelligence in animals?

It's difficult to determine the motivation of each animal to carry out the task. (correct)

Speed can be influenced by factors other than intelligence, such as perception and motivation. (correct)

Animals may have different levels of motor skills, which can influence their performance. (correct)

Speed is not a reliable indicator of cognitive abilities in animals. (correct)

What did Bitterman's experiments with systematically varied perceptual and motivational demands demonstrate?

Perceptual and motivational factors can significantly affect learning outcomes in animals. (correct)

Animals can learn to associate specific stimuli with rewards or punishments.

Animals learn best when motivated by a reward.

The speed of learning is influenced by the complexity of the task.

What was the main finding of Garcia and Koelling's experiment with rats?

Rats can learn to associate different stimuli with specific outcomes.

Rats are more likely to associate taste with illness than visual or auditory stimuli. (correct)

Rats have a strong aversion to lithium chloride.

Rats can be trained to avoid certain stimuli through classical conditioning.

What is the main challenge in comparing the intelligence of different animal species?

Animals have different cognitive abilities, making it challenging to find common measures of intelligence. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main difference between the concept of 'learning' and 'knowledge'?

Learning is a change in behaviour based on experience, while knowledge is a mentalistic process. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main reason why the Clark's nutcracker has a remarkable ability to remember food caches?

They live in a harsh environment with limited food resources. (D) Signup and view all the answers

Vander Wall's research on the Clark's nutcracker highlights what aspect of animal intelligence?

Spatial memory (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main reason why pigeons can learn to peck keys associated with specific photos?

Pigeons can readily associate visual stimuli with rewards. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What was ruled out as the reason for birds finding food through spatial location?

They had simply learned the spatial location of food. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What maximum number of items can a subject perform subitizing tasks on?

7 or 8 items (D) Signup and view all the answers

According to Herrnstein et al., what ability do pigeons have?

They can categorize information. (C) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following best describes innate categories?

Characteristics present from birth. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What phenomenon occurs when there is a reduction in responsiveness to a stimulus after repeated presentation?

Habituation (B) Signup and view all the answers

What was the result of Whitlow's study on rabbits in response to a loud tone?

Stronger response on the first presentation compared to subsequent ones. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What challenge do rats face when navigating a radial maze with more arms?

Increasing number of arms makes completion difficult. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is receptor fatigue?

Less sensitivity after stimulus presentation. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What concept did Lloyd Morgan argue against regarding animal behavior?

Anthropomorphism (A) Signup and view all the answers

Which principle is highlighted by Thorndike's law of effect?

Responses leading to satisfying outcomes are strengthened. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What did Skinner contribute to the study of animal learning?

Radical behaviorism and operant conditioning. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What do fixed interval schedules in operant conditioning entail?

Reinforcement is provided after a specific amount of time has passed. (D) Signup and view all the answers

In classical conditioning, what does the CS represent?

Conditioned Stimulus (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary focus of Watson's behaviorism?

Explaining behavior solely through environmental factors. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What does the term 'survival of the fittest' relate to in the context of Darwin's theory?

The competition for limited resources leading to natural selection. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What technique did Thorndike famously use to study animal intelligence?

Puzzle boxes with cats (D) Signup and view all the answers

What did Beatty & Shavalia (1980) find in their study with rats regarding retroactive interference?

The second task had no effect on the memory for the first task. (D) Signup and view all the answers

According to Mackintosh's theory, what type of stimuli are animals most likely to pay attention to?

Stimuli that are good predictors of significant events. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What role does consolidation play in long-term memory according to Hebb (1949)?

It is essential for forming permanent neuronal connections. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What do affective qualities refer to in the context of stimuli?

The emotional responses evoked by stimuli. (A) Signup and view all the answers

How does LePelley's theory describe the focus of attention in learning?

It is influenced by past experiences with cues. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What phenomenon occurs when conditioned responding drops off to almost nothing after the conditioned stimulus is presented alone?

Extinction (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the re-presentation of the conditioned stimulus alone after a rest period that produces a conditioned response called?

Spontaneous Recovery (B) Signup and view all the answers

What does the Pearce-Hall theory suggest about associative learning?

Unexpected outcomes increase attention and learning of stimuli. (B) Signup and view all the answers

In the context of learning, what does a generalisation gradient represent?

The drop in conditioned responses due to a deviation from the original conditioned stimulus (C) Signup and view all the answers

What was Duncan's (1949) finding regarding ECS and memory tasks?

ECS impaired memory in rehearsal tasks. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What element does Wagner's theory focus on in terms of learning?

Associations between conditioned and unconditioned stimuli. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What does a lower conditioned responding due to a slight difference between the trained and presented conditioned response indicate?

Generalisation decrement (C) Signup and view all the answers

According to the foraging intelligence hypothesis, which brain region is suggested to correlate with certain behaviors in animals?

Hippocampus (D) Signup and view all the answers

What does a higher cephalisation index imply about a species?

It has a larger brain for its body size (B) Signup and view all the answers

What does the principle of proper mass suggest about brain function?

Functions considered important are allocated more brain resources (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which hypothesis posits that social complexity drives the evolution of larger brains and cognitive abilities in animals?

Social intelligence hypothesis (C) Signup and view all the answers

What can be concluded about birds learning photographs?

Birds can remember 320 photographs. (D) Signup and view all the answers

How do circadian rhythms influence animal behavior?

By aligning with innate 24-hour cycles. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What was the finding of Bolles & Lorge (1962) regarding rats raised with altered day cycles?

They struggled to anticipate feeding times. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What uniquely demonstrates the ability of rats to remember time intervals?

Pressing a lever to earn food. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What was discovered by Pfungst (1908) about Clever Hans?

Hans relied on human cues, not actual counting. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What major conclusion did Meck & Church (1983) reach regarding rats in their study?

Rats learned to count rather than just time the stimuli. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What did Brannon & Terrace (2000) demonstrate about monkeys?

Monkeys can remember and organize numerosity. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What ability was shown by five-day-old chicks in the study by Rugani, Regotin, and Vallortigara (2007)?

They could recall specific food well positions. (B) Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Historical Background

Darwin's theory proposes evolutionary continuity between animals and humans through natural selection.
Variability in individuals is hereditary.
Organisms produce more offspring than the environment can support, leading to competition for resources.
Survival of the fittest organisms occurs.

Romanes (1881)

Proposed anthropomorphism—attributing human characteristics to animals.
Believed animals possess rationality, empathy, and reasoning.
Suggested a simple progression in the intelligence of animals (insects, birds, apes, humans), driven by natural selection.

Lloyd Morgan (1890s)

Criticized anthropomorphism.
Argued that animal behavior should be explained by the simplest possible mechanisms, such as trial and error.
Proposed that complex behaviours should not be attributed to higher mental processes if simpler explanations are sufficient.

Lloyd Morgan's Canon (1894)

Complex behaviours should not be explained by higher mental abilities if simpler behaviours are sufficient.

Thorndike (1874-1949)

Studied animal learning, focusing on trial and error.
Used puzzle boxes to examine animal problem-solving.
Proposed the Law of Effect - behaviors followed by positive consequences are more likely to be repeated.

Watson (1878-1958)

Emphasized the importance of learning.
Promoted behaviorism, viewing human beings as blank slates shaped by the environment.
Argued against introspection as a method for studying the mind.

Titchener

Promoted structuralism, focusing on the analysis of the basic elements of consciousness.
Used introspection (self-observation) as a method.

Skinner (1904-1990)

Developed radical behaviorism, which focused on observable behaviors in humans and animals.
Used instrumental/operant conditioning.
Emphasized the importance of environmental stimuli and reinforcement schedules.
Investigated response shaping, schedules of reinforcement, and stimulus-response associations.
- Skinner boxes for automated apparatus
  - Interval schedules: reinforcement after a set interval
    - Fixed interval: reinforcement after a fixed amount of time
    - Variable interval: reinforcement after a variable amount of time
  - Ratio schedules: reinforcement after a certain number of responses
    - Fixed ratio: reinforcement after a fixed number of responses
    - Variable ratio: reinforcement after a variable number of responses

Pavlov's Classical Conditioning

Pavlov experimentally investigated classical conditioning, where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a naturally occurring stimulus.
During acquisition, the number of conditioned responses (drops of saliva) increases with repeated pairing of the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli.
Extinction occurs when the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus, reducing the conditioned response.
Spontaneous recovery refers to the reappearance of a conditioned response after a rest period, indicating that extinction doesn't erase the association but rather inhibits it.
Stimulus generalization occurs when a similar stimulus elicits a similar response.

Animal Intelligence

Nakajima et al. (2002) used a scale to rank animal intelligence.
Aristotle's Great Chain of Being suggests a progressive complexity in animals.
Comparing brain size to body size can provide an indication of potential intelligence.

Foraging Intelligence Hypothesis

Specific brain regions correlate with particular behaviors, such as food hoarding (hippocampus).

Social complexity is the driving factor behind the evolution of large brains.

Learning and Intelligence

Intelligence can only be measured with well-controlled experiments.
Learning in animals involves permanent behavioral changes from experience.
Variables in learning assessments include motivational differences and perceptual demands. -Skard compared rats and humans in maze navigation. -Angermeier trained multiple animals (fish, chickens, rats, rabbits).

García and Koelling (1966)

Conducted experiment demonstrating aversion learning with rodents (association between taste/odor and illness).

Animal Memory

Research on animal memory demonstrates that animals have diverse and flexible memory abilities.
These involve time perception, spatial memory, learning, and remembering actions and cues.
- Some species exhibit remarkable spatial memory abilities (e.g. Clark's nutcracker storing seeds).
- Biological and psychological factors affect memory.

Memory and Associate Learning

Habituation describes reduced response to repeated stimuli.
Animal studies have demonstrated various learning mechanisms and memory consolidation.

Consolidation and Rehearsal

Hebb (1949): Consolidation and rehearsal are crucial for forming long-term memories.
Duncan (1949) , Holland (1990), and others did studies on consolidation and rehearsal's effect on animals' memory.

Associative Learning

LePelley's theory highlights the importance of existing knowledge in how animals learn.
Blocking, loss of effectiveness, and attention loss play a role.

Biological Factors of Learning

Metabolic and synaptic changes influence learning.
Conditioning effects on homeostasis impact learning.

Studying That Suits You

Use AI to generate personalized quizzes and flashcards to suit your learning preferences.

Description

Explore the key concepts of Darwin's evolutionary theory and its implications on animal behavior as discussed by Romanes and Lloyd Morgan. Understand the debates surrounding anthropomorphism and the principles of simplification in behavioral analysis. Test your knowledge on the evolution of ideas about intelligence in animals.