Elicited behaviour
Occurs in response to a stimuli
Reflex
- Eliciting stimulus (usually from the environment)
- Corresponding response (rarely occurs in the absence of a particular stimulus)
- responses are hard-wired (reflex arc)
- reflexes one adaptive and contribute to an animal’s well-being or survival
Modal action patterns (MAP)
- MAP for: feeding behaviour, sexual behaviour, territorial defence, and prey capture
- MAP still continues all the way through even if eliciting stimulus is taken away
- sign stimulus: feature or combination of features that elicit (release) the behaviour
- supernormal stimulus: making the sign stimulus more exaggerated than how it’s found in nature
Sequence of behaviours (appetitive behaviours)
- Early in the sequence
- less stereotyped (can vary greatly)
- may be shaped by learning
- bring animals in contact with stimuli that will lead them to consummatory behaviour
Sequence of behaviours (consummatory behaviours)
- Late in sequence
- highly stereotyped (have specific eliciting stimuli); similar across species (ie. You can only consume food in so many ways)
- MAPs
Habituation
- Decline in responding occurs with repeated presentation of a stimulus (repeated stimulation can alter the behavioural response)
- long-term habituation: when stimuli are presented spaced over time
- short-term habituation: when stimuli are presented close together over time
Spontaneous recovery
Recovery of a behavioural response after a period of rest in habituation paradigm
Advantages of functional habituation
Allows animals to focus on important features of the environment, while ignoring features that do not provide unique or important information
What is not considered habituation?
- Sensory adaptation: reduction in sensitivity of the sense organs caused by repeated or excessive stimulation
- fatigue: decrease in behaviour due to repeated or excessive use of muscles
Sensitization effect
Increase in vigour of behaviour that can result from repeated presentations of a stimulus or from exposure to a strong extraneous stimulus
→ underlying arousal of the subject is important in whether habituation or sensitization occur to the same stimulus
Sensitization process
A neural mechanism that increases the magnitude of responses elicited by a stimulus
Habituation effect
A progressive decrease in the vigour of the elicited behaviour that may occur with repeated presentations of the eliciting stimulus
Habituation process
A neural mechanism activated by repetitions of a stimulus that reduces the magnitude of responses elicited by that stimulus
Dual - process theory of habituation and sensitization
- An underlying neural process that is presumed to cause the behaviours that are habituation and sensitization effects
- two processes:
→ habituation process: produces decrease in behaviour
→ sensitization process: produces increase in behaviour - these processes can occur at the same time but there is only one behavioural outcome
Where does the habituation process occur?
S-R (stimulus-response) system: shortest neural pathway that connects the sense organ to the muscle to produce an elicited response
→ always activated when eliciting stimulus is present
→ stimulus specific (stimulus has to be present for a response to happen)
Where does the sensitization process occur?
State system (nervous system): neural structures that determine the general level of arousal an organism is experiencing
→ not always activated
→ not stimulus specific
Dishabituation
- Momentary disruption of habituation because of an extraneous stimuli
→ special case of sensitization
→ dishabituation can only occur if the behaviour is already habituated
Dishabituation
- Momentary disruption of habituation because of an extraneous stimuli
→ special case of sensitization
→ dishabituation can only occur if the behaviour is already habituated
Songbird brain
- Has specialized areas for learning, production / perception of vocalizations
- habituation of neural response: examined whether the immediate early gene (measure of activation) response in the NCM changed with repeated presentation of the same song
