Innate and learned behaviour

p.135

by Changting Luo

Behaviour

• Behavior is action that alters the relationship between an organism and its environment.

Behavior may occur as a result of• internal stimulus (hunger)• an external stimulus (sight of a predator)

Innate behaviour

• behavior determined by the "hard-wiring" of the nervous system. It is usually inflexible, a given stimulus triggering a given response.

Innate behaviour in invertebrate

• Most behaviour in invertebrate is innate,not learned.• Innate behaviour is sometimes called instinctive.• It develops independently of the environmenal context

learned behavior and survival

• behavior that is more or less permanently altered as a result of the experience of the individual organism.

• Animals can improve their chances of survival by learning new behaviour patterns:

• Some Chimpanzees learn to catch termites by poking sticks in termite mounds.

• In britain,hedgehogs have learned to run across busy roads,instead of rolling up into a ball.

Pavlov and conditioning in dogs

Ivan pavlov investigated the salivation reflex in dogs secreted saliva when they saw or tasted food.The sight or taste of meat is called the unconditioned stimulus and the secretion of salia is called the unconditione response.

Pavlov and conditioning in dogs

Pavlov then gave the dogs a neutral stimulus,such as the sound of a ringing bell,before he gave the unconditioned stimulus-the sight or taste of food.He found that after repeating this procedure for a few days,the dogs started to secrete saliva before they recieved the unconditioned stimulus.The sound is called the conditioned stimulus and the secretion of saliva before the unconditioned stimulus is the conditioned response