Deck 7: Learning, Neuroethology, and Cognition

Question 1

What hypothesis did Megan Gibbons, Arianne Ferguson and Danielle Lee examine in their study of learning in salamanders?

A) As individuals age, they learn to avoid predators.
B) As individuals age, they learn to consume different food items.
C) As individuals age, they learn from experience and become more efficient at capturing prey.
D) Individuals do not learn from experience as they age.
E) Young individuals learn faster than old individuals.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

If habitat selection behavior is influenced by genes, why is learning not an adaptation in a fixed world with constant good and bad habitat types?

A) Selection will favor individuals that prefer to breed in the good habitat, so the world will contain individuals that only breed in the good habitat and learning will be unnecessary.
B) Learning will only lead to breeding in the good habitat 50% of the time, so it will not be favored.
C) In a fixed world, there is no relationship between past experience and future conditions, so learning is not beneficial.
D) Learning is too costly in a fixed world.
E) The benefits of learning in a fixed world are too unpredictable.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Habituation ______________.

A) is a form of habitat selection
B) is the reduction and then lack of response to a stimulus over time
C) is the environment in which an individual lives
D) describes the size of a territory defended
E) is a form of filial imprinting

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Meredith and colleagues (2004) demonstrated that IMHV brain tissue had higher glutamate neurotransmitter levels in chicks imprinted on a visual stimulus compared to chicks not imprinted on a visual stimulus. In contrast, the neurotransmitter GABA did not differ in these groups. Which of the following is NOT a valid conclusion from their study?

A) Glutamate and GABA are released in varying amounts in individuals.
B) Neurotransmitter release is associated with learning.
C) Learning is associated with changes in the brain.
D) Glutamate release is associated with imprinting.
E) GABA plays an important role in learning.

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT associated with learning?

A) Dendritic spine formation
B) Neurotransmitter release
C) Neural plasticity
D) Heterochrony
E) Dendritic spine elimination

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT associated with classical conditioning?

A) Innate behaviors
B) Pavlovian conditioning
C) Conditioning for mating opportunities in Japanese quail
D) Salivary response in dogs.
E) B.F. Skinner

Question 7

How did Adkins-Regan and MacKillop (2003) demonstrate a link between classical conditioning and fitness in quail?

A) Birds had higher reproductive success in the cage in the condition in which they learned mating occurs
B) Males had lower reproductive success in the condition in which they learned mating occurs
C) Females learned an association between a chemical alarm substance and a novel predator
D) Birds had higher survivorship when they learned an association between chemical alarm substance and predators
E) Conditioning led to higher food intake rates for all birds

Question 8

What association did fish learn in Mitchell et al.'s (2011) study?

A) Fish odor and the risk of predation from an unfamiliar predator via chemical alarm substance
B) Location and food patch quality
C) Chemical alarm substance and negative reinforcement
D) Food patch quality and predation risk
E) Mating opportunities and fish odor

Question 9

Which of the following describes a phenomenon in which a behavior declines over time?

A) Local enhancement
B) Negative reinforcement
C) Operant conditioning
D) Positive punishment
E) Numerical competency

Question 10

Which of the following explains why a researcher would measure learning curves of different individuals?

A) To compare how quickly neural plasticity changes
B) To quantify the speed of habituation to a novel stimulus
C) To characterize differences in imprinting
D) To compare the rate of filial imprinting
E) To compare how quickly individuals learn new associations

Question 11

Which of the following is NOT true about learning curves?

A) Individuals commonly exhibit different learning curves
B) They are used to measure episodic memory
C) Researchers often examine learning curves by training individuals to behave differently from their innate preferences
D) Individuals with steep learning curves learn faster than those with more shallow curves
E) Learning curves measure changes in behavior over time

Question 12

What data allowed Jennifer Clarke (2010) to conclude that hens teach their chicks?

A) There was a strong relationship between the plants near which chick mothers produced food calls and the diet of their chick
B) Chicks performed food calls near the same plants they saw their mothers near
C) Chicks and their mothers produced food calls near the same plants
D) Chicks learned antipredator behaviors by observing their mother's reaction to predators
E) Chicks learned the location of food patches by observing their mother

Question 13

What distinguishes local enhancement (LE) from public information (PI) with respect to learning about food patches?

A) LE involves learning the specific location of a patch, while PI involves learning the general location of the patch.
B) LE involves learning about the size of a patch, while PI involves learning its location.
C) LE involves learning about the location, while PI involves learning about quality.
D) LE refers to patch type, while PI refers to patch size.
E) LE refers to the kind of food in the patch, while PI refers to food abundance in the patch.

Question 14

What result allowed Coolen and colleagues (2005) to conclude that sticklebacks use public information?

A) Focal fish preferred the patch with the most food.
B) Focal fish preferred the patch where they observed the greatest number of fish.
C) Focal fish preferred the patch with the lowest predation risk.
D) Focal fish preferred the patch where they observed the highest feeding rates.
E) Focal fish preferred the patch that was largest in size.

Question 15

What is a prediction of public information (PI) use?

A) Individuals that use PI will consume a greater variety of food items than individuals that do not use PI.
B) Individuals that use PI exploit food patches more completely than individuals that do not use PI.
C) Individuals that use PI will spend longer in food patches than individuals that do not use PI.
D) Individuals that use PI estimate the quality of food patches faster than individuals that do not use PI.
E) Individuals that use PI will learn the location of food patches faster than those that do not use PI.

Question 16

Which of the following is not associated with behavioral traditions?

A) Social learning
B) Insight learning
C) Tool use
D) Animal culture
E) Differences in behavior among populations

Question 17

Under which of the following conditions would you expect habituation to occur?

A) Prairie dogs in a zoo will habituate to the loud noise of people outside their enclosure.
B) Deer in a national forest where hunting is allowed will habituate to hikers.
C) Wrasse on a reef will habituate to predators that are common visitors to a reef.
D) Squirrels in a woodland will habituate to hawks that frequent the woods every few weeks.
E) Geese defending their nest and chicks become habituated to humans walking close to their nest.

Question 18

Hunt et al. (2008) examined numerical competency in New Zealand robins. They found that

A) The birds always chose the cache with the larger number of food items
B) The birds took many trials to learn which cache had the larger number of food items
C) The birds took many trials to learn that they would get the larger food reward if they chose the cache with the smaller amount of food
D) The birds always chose the cache that had the first food items placed in it
E) The birds preferred the larger cache when the total number of food items was less than ten

Question 19

What data suggested the existence of behavioral traditions in great tits studied by Lucy Aplin and her colleagues?

A) In each population studied, individuals changed their behavior over time
B) Individuals taught new behaviors to others
C) A novel foraging technique persisted in each population
D) Individuals learned at different rates
E) Individuals in different populations exhibited different learned behaviors

Question 20

Define animal teaching. Explain how the example of tandem running ants satisfies this definition.

Question 21

How did Shier and Owings (2007) demonstrate that young prairie dogs learn antipredator behaviors from adults? Describe the experimental treatments and results.

Question 22

Describe the cognitive buffer hypothesis and the data on birds used to examine it.

Question 23

What evidence from guppies supports the cognitive buffer hypothesis?

Question 24

On the same graph, draw learning curves for two individuals that differ in their rate of learning showing a fast learner and a slow learner. Explain which curve represents the faster learner. Be sure to label both axes.

Question 25

Shier and Owings (2007) showed that young prairie dogs appear to learn anti-predator behavior from experienced adults. Explain why this is not an example of teaching.