Option E3 Innate and Learned Behaviour

1. Option E3 Innate and Learned Behaviour

2. Assessment Statements E3.1 Distinguish between innate and learned behaviour E3.2 Design experiments to investigate innate behaviour in invertebrates including either a taxis or a kinesis E3.3 Analyse data from invertebrate behaviour experiments in terms of the effect on chances of survival and reproduction. E3.4 Discuss how the process of learning can improve survival. E3.5 Outline Pavlov’s experiment into conditioning of dogs. E3.6 Outline the role of inheritance and learning in the development of birdsong in young birds.

3. E3.1 Distinguish between innate and learned behaviour

4. Definitions Innate behaviour An instinctive response that is developmentally fixed (i.e. independent of environmental context) Learned behaviour Is modified by experience Click on the link to read more about innate and learned behaviour in invertebrates

5. Click on the link and watch the videos • Record your observations of the animal behaviour • Classify the behaviours as innate/learned • Explain how the behaviour helps the animal to survive

7. Innate Behaviour in Invertebrates Taxis is a change in movement in response to a stimulus Positive - towards the stimulus Negative - away from the stimulus Kinesis is a change in activity rate in response to a stimulus

8. Euglena is a photosynthetic unicellular organism that requires light as a source of energy • Step 1: Place Euglena in a petri dish with appropriate environmental conditions • Step 2: Cover dish with aluminium foil, excluding a few small exposed sections • Step 3: With a light source placed above, Euglena should aggregate towards holes

9. Woodlice have gills for respiration that will tend to dry out in dry conditions • Step 1: Place a woodlouse in a dry petri dish and mark its movements every 30 seconds • Step 2: Repeat for a second woodlouse placed in moist conditions • Step 3: Compare the rate of movement for the two woodlice (should be more in dry dish)

10. Choice Chamber Experiment

11. E3.4 Discuss how the process of learning can improve survival. Learning involves acquiring information from past experiences to adapt to new situations Organisms capable of learning can modify their behaviours in response to environmental change in order to survive

12. Non-Associative Learning Reduced response to repeated stimulus e.g. tuning out background noise Habituation Sensitization Increased response to a repeated stimulus e.g.ticking clock preventing sleep Can you think of more examples of each? What survival advantages do each of these types of learning provide?

13. Associative Learning Observation - learning by copying others Classical Conditioning - pairing stimulus with response (involuntary behaviours) Operant Conditioning – reinforcement increases behaviour, punishment decreases it (voluntary behaviours) Imprinting - rapid phase sensitive learning

14. Observational Learning

15. Classical Conditioning

16. Operant Conditioning

17. Imprinting

18. Animals learn how to avoid dangerous situations and predators Imprinting Watch the video. How does imprinting improve survival?

19. Animals learn how to hunt and obtain food Operant conditioning The bears get better at catching salmon the more practice they get!

20. Positive and Negative Reinforcement

21. The difference between classical and operant conditioning

22. Try operant conditioning on yourself!

23. TOK How far can we trust animal behavioural experiments? Do the experiments themselves change the behaviour?

24. E3.5 Outline Pavlov’s experiment into conditioning of dogs. • Pavlov was a Russian scientist who conducted experiments into classical conditioning • Dogs normally salivate (unconditioned response) in anticipation of being fed (unconditioned stimulus) • Pavlov sounded a bell (neutral stimulus) prior to feeding a dog • After many repetitions, the dog came to associate the bell with food and began to salivate when the bell was rung (conditioned response) • Pavlov described this as a conditioned reflex - the stimulus that prompted the response had been changed

26. Pavlov’s Dogs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMJJpbRx_O8

27. E3.6 Outline the role of inheritance and learning in the development of birdsong in young birds. • Male birds use birdsong as a means of communication - either signalling attraction or establishing territorial boundaries • Most birds are born with a crude template song that is genetically inherited • Whilst young, fledglings learn to expand the song by listening to, and mimicking, the adult version (motor learning)

28. The possession of an innate template prevents the bird from learning the wrong species song, however birds raised in isolation will lack the complexity that develops from social interaction • Birds are generally selective in what song they learn (not any song can be learnt) and once learnt the song is rarely modified

29. Innate component: the innate template song prevents hatchlings learning the wrong species song. • Learned component: allows the bird to modify the song to the correct local dialect.

30. Find out more about how birds learn to sing here:

31. Questions 1.(a) Suggest an experimental design that could be used to investigate either taxis or kinesis in an invertebrate.(3) 2.a) Distinguish, using examples, between innate behaviour and learned behaviour. (3) (b) Using two examples, discuss how the process of learning can improve survival. (2)

32. 1. taxis: named independent variable e.g. light, humidity, dissolved nutrient or other suitable example; named example of suitable invertebrate e.g. Flatworm, maggots; named dependent variable e.g. direction of movement / time taken to change direction; use of choice chamber to record number or percentage of organisms in a particular environment; use of video to monitor and then analyse movement;

33. 1. or kinesis: named independent variable e.g. light, humidity, dissolved nutrient or other suitable example; named example of suitable invertebrate e.g. woodlice; named dependent variable e.g. rate of movement / rate of turning (of the head); use of choice chamber to record percentage of active versus inactive organisms; use of video to monitor and then analyse movement; 3 max

34. 2a) learned behaviour occurs as a result of experience (while innate is independent of environment); innate behaviour is controlled by genes/inherited (while learned is not inherited); correct example of both;

35. 2b) name of animal, how they learn and advantages for survival; name of another animal, how they learn and advantages for survival; e.g. grizzly bears by operant conditioning/practise how to catch salmon providing needed food supply; goslings learn who their mother is/imprinting, avoid predators by staying near mother;