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LearningA “relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience”
- what is learning?- which behaviors are learned?- why learn or when will learning evolve?- evolution of learning and forgetting
A simple experimental example
Can fish learn about predation risk in a body of water through chemical cues?
1) They react with an appropriate anti-predatory behavior
2) They retain this reaction for a period of time
+ +
DW
PO PO
TSE
Farm raisedjuvenile brown trout
Short-term effects
4-days later
21-days later
A “relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience”
Eagle alarm
Leopard alarm
Snake alarm
Socially acquiredpredator avoidance
InfantsN=24
Raptors Non-raptors
Goshawk Snake Bateleur Tawny Fish Eagle Eagle Eagle
Vulture Bee-eater
JuvenilesN=53
Raptors Non-raptors
Goshawk Snake Bateleur Martial Crowned Tawny Fish Harrier Owl Eagle Eagle Eagle Eagle Eagle
Vulture Stork Bustard
AdultsN=55
Raptors Non-raptors
Goshawk Snake Martial Crowned Tawny Fish Hawk Owl Eagle Eagle Eagle Eagle Eagle Eagle
Vulture
< 56-10
11-15>15
How do infants come to recognize the association between an alarm calland 1-2 predators?
100%
64%14%
3%4%
Probability of adult alarm calling after infant alarm callby avian species – Reinforcers?
3/4 4/5 5/6 6/7
100
100
100
Responses of infants to playbacks of adult alarm calls
Number of infants responding
correctly incorrectly
Verveteaglealarm
Starlingeaglealarm
Verveteaglealarm
Vervetleopardalarm
Starling eaglealarm
Vervetleopardalarm
habituation
• Vervets habituate to call (learn it’s a false alarm)
• Learning of vervet eagle alarm extends to starling raptor alarm
• But learning does not extend betweenclasses of predators
Learning curves associated with locating and extracting nectar as a function of experience
detections
Simple recognition learning –
In this example, birds learnwho their neighbors are and associate them to a particular place – the territory boundary
songs per min
“Dear-enemy” effect
Learning is a proximal cause of animal behavior because learning itself is a strategy/trait subject to natural selection
Under this perspective we can redefine learning as a tool that allows individuals to adjust their behavior to the local state of their world – i.e., to the set of local spatial, temporal, and social circumstances
Learning is a proximal cause of animal behavior because learning itself is a strategy/trait subject to natural selection
Under this perspective we can redefine learning as a tool that allows individuals to adjust their behavior to the local state of their world – i.e., to the set of local spatial, temporal, and social circumstances.
- Where is food and what make-up is it? - Who are my territorial neighbors – do I recognize them? - What predators are nearby and what are their intentions?
Learning is a proximal cause of animal behavior because learning itself is a strategy/trait subject to natural selection
Under this perspective we can redefine learning as a tool that allows individuals to adjust their behavior to the local state of their world – i.e., to local spatial, temporal, social, and causal relationships
Where is food and what make-up is it?Who are my territorial neighbors – do I recognize them? What predators are nearby and what are their intentions?
- recognizing kin from non-kin- social hierarchies: recognizing strangers from non-strangers- remembering past interactions (winners and losers) - recognizing high quality mates
Within-lifetime Predictability
Low
High
Between-generationPredictability
learn
ignore experience
ignore experience
ignore experience
Dave Stephen’s Model
Low
experience in the past is not useful
High
it is useful
If offspring’s environmentis nearly identical, fixed genetic transmission isfavored over costly learning
experience is useful within generation, and learning anew is favored each generation
Evolution of Learning
Summary:
- Learning is a likely element of proximal causation for most of the behaviors discussed in the remainder of the class
- More importantly, the entire learning process is under evolutionary selection pressure
- We can broadly understand the evolution of learning in response to thepredictability of an organism’s environment in its own lifetime and beyond
or we can ask detailed questions about the evolution of learning under specific contexts with a cost-benefit analysis ….
e.g. members of each new generation may find food in different places,but there is always value in being able to learn where food is
learnLow
between-generationpredictability
High within-lifetime predictability
The conditions that bring about learning should be reliable correlates of the state of the world the animal needs to adjust to
This differs from classical views of learning that assumed:(1) The ability to learn is an unadulterated good(2) Learning abilities are human-like: general and unlimited
Dave Stephen’s Model
Br dParasitism
Tailorbird feeding a Plaintive Cuckoo
Brown-headed Cowbird