Scribd
Upload
41 views8 pages

Handouts Lesson No. 28-34

Handouts Lesson no. 28-34

Uploaded by

Sami Buzdar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
41 views8 pages

Handouts Lesson No. 28-34

Handouts Lesson no. 28-34

Uploaded by

Sami Buzdar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 8

Topic-28-29 Habituation and Imprinting

Learning Behaviors

Most behaviors are variable with experience. Such behaviors are known as
learning behaviors. Habituation and imprinting are two of the many
examples of learning behaviors.

Habituation

Habituation is one of the simplest forms of learning.

In habituation, an animal learns to ignore a repeated, irrelevant stimulus.

It is defined as a loss of responsiveness to stimuli that convey little or no


new information.

Example

Many mammals and birds recognize alarm calls of members of their


species.

However, if these calls prove fake repetitively, they stop responding (the
"cry-wolf" effect).

An example of learning by habituation is observed in squirrels.

When one squirrel feels threatened, the others hear its signal and go to the
nearest refuge.

However if the signal comes from an individual who has caused many false
alarms, its signal is ignored.

Significance

By habituation to unimportant stimuli, an animal conserves energy and time


that are better spent on other important functions.

Imprinting

Imprinting is the formation of a long-lasting behavioral attachment to a


particular individual or object at a specific stage in life.

It is a type of learning in which a very young animal fixes its attention on


the first object with which it has visual, auditory or tactile experience and
thereafter follows that object.
Sensitive or Critical Period

Imprinting usually forms only during a specific sensitive period, also called
a critical period, a limited developmental phase when certain behaviors can
be learned.

During the sensitive period, the young imprint on their parent and learn the
basic behaviors of their species, while the parent learns to recognize its
offspring.

Examples

Among gulls, the sensitive period for a parent to bond with its young lasts
one to two days. If bonding does not occur, the parent will not care for the
infant, leading to death for the offspring.

Another example comes from the classic experiment of Konard Lorenz who
conducted experiments with geese. He made the goslings to imprint on him.
These goslings followed him as though he was their mother.
Topic-30 Associative Learning

A learning that involves making associations between experiences.

Example

If a white-footed mouse bites a brightly colored caterpillar that tastes bad,


the mouse avoids attacking insects of similar appearance in future.

The ability to associate one environmental feature (such as a color) with


another (such as a foul taste) is called associative learning.

Types of Associative learning

Associative learning can be divided into two types:

 Classical conditioning
 Operant conditioning

Classical Conditioning

In classical conditioning, an arbitrary stimulus becomes associated with a


particular outcome.

Example

Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov carried out early experiments in classical


conditioning, demonstrating that if he always rang a bell just before feeding
a dog, the dog would eventually salivate at the bell's sound alone, in
anticipation of food.
Operant Conditioning

In operant conditioning, also called trial-and-error learning, an animal


learns to associate one of its own behaviors with a reward or punishment
and then tends to repeat or avoid that behavior.

Example

A predator may learn to avoid certain kinds of potential prey if they are
associated with painful experiences.

Similarly, an animal may repeat an action that has resulted in a surprise


finding of food. For example, in a classic experiment, a rat was trained
through repeated trials to obtain food by pressing a lever.
Topic-31 Insight learning

This is the highest form of learning which does not result from immediate
trial and-error learning but may be based on information previously learned
by other behavioural activities.

In insight learning, the animal uses cognitive or mental processes to


associate experiences and solve problems.

The classic example is the work of Wolfgang Kohler (1887–1967) on


chimpanzees that were trained to use tools to obtain food rewards. One
chimpanzee was given some bamboo poles that could be joined to make a
longer pole, and some bananas were hung from the ceiling. Once the chimp
formed the longer pole, it used the pole to knock the bananas to the cage
floor. Kohler believed that the animal used insight learning to get the
bananas.

Insight learning is widely regarded as the most advanced form of learning.


Responses produced by insight are those resulting from a rapid
appreciation of relationships in which animals solve problems too quickly to
have gone through a trial-and-error process. The animal seems to arrive at a
solution by reasoning (defined as 'the ability to combine spontaneously two
or more separate or isolated experiences to form a new experience, which is
effective for obtaining a desired end). A common experimental procedure
used to test for reasoning involves an animal's ability to make detours in a
maze. Shepard found that once rats had learned a maze, they quickly
capitalized on newly created short-cuts (created by removing partitions, so
that what was previously a blind alley became a quicker route to the goal
box). Tool use, e.g. chimpanzees reaching bananas high up in their cage by
piling boxes on top of each other or joining lengths of stick together,
provides another possible instance of reasoning.
Topic-33 Spatial Learning and Cognitive Maps

Spatial Learning

Every natural environment shows some spatial variation, e.g. in the


locations of nest sites, hazards, food, and prospective mates. Consequently,
an organism's fitness may be enhanced by the capacity for spatial learning,
the establishment of a memory that reflects the environment's spatial
structure.

Example

The behavior of a female digger wasp, which nests in small burrows dug
into sand mounds. When a wasp lefts her nest to go hunting, she covers the
entrance with sand. Upon her return, she flies directly to her hidden nest,
despite the presence of hundreds of other burrows in the area. The wasp
locates her nest by learning its position relative to visible landmarks, or
location indicators.

This visual learning of object maps is proved by experimentally disturbing


the landmarks that confuses the wasp.

Cognitive Maps

Some animals guide their activity by a cognitive map, a representation in


the nervous system of the spatial relationships between objects in an
animal's surroundings. Rather than relying solely on moving from landmark
to landmark, animals using cognitive maps can navigate more flexibly and
efficiently by relating landmark positions to one another.

Example
The Clark's nutcracker birds store thousands of pine seeds in fall at
thousands of hiding places called caches, distributed over an area as large
as 35 km2. During the winter, the birds relocate many of their caches.

By experimentally varying the distance between landmarks, researchers


demonstrated that birds can identify the halfway point between landmarks.
Such behavior suggests that nutcrackers employ an abstract geometric rule,
which we can approximate as "Seed caches are found halfway between
particular landmarks". Such rules are a fundamental property of cognitive
maps and reduce the amount of detail required to remember an object's
location.
Topic-34 Cognition and Problem Solving

Cognition

Cognition is the process of intellect, represented by awareness,


understanding, reasoning, recalling memories and judgments.

It is the most complex form of learning.

Cognition is exhibited characteristically by primates. Many mammals,


cephalopods and insects also exhibit cognition.

Problem Solving

Problem solving is a cognitive activity of devising a method to proceed from


one state to another in the face of apparent obstacles.

Problem solving capacity of an animal depends on the information


processing ability of a nervous system.

Examples

If a chimpanzee is placed in a room with several boxes on the floor and a


banana hung high out of reach, the chimp can “size up" the situation and
stack the boxes, enabling it to reach the food.

Such problem solving behavior is highly developed in some mammals,


especially primates and dolphins.

Notable examples have also been observed in some bird species, especially
ravens, crows, and jays.

Many animals learn to solve problems by observing the behavior of other


individuals. Young wild chimpanzees, for example, learn how to crack oil
palm nuts with two stones by copying experienced chimpanzees.

You might also like