Question 1

If you have performed a cross-fostering experiment, you would have evidence that sexual imprinting had occurred if the subject later displayed a mating preference for

Accepted Answer

Sexual imprinting involves an organism developing a preference for the characteristics of a particular individual or species that it is exposed to at a young age, often used to explain mating preferences. In a cross-fostering experiment, if the subject shows a mating preference for an opposite sex individual from the host species, it indicates that sexual imprinting has occurred, as the subject has developed a preference for the species it was raised with, rather than its own species.

Question 2

Field experiments with free-living birds, such as those conducted by Slagsvold and coworkers, indicate that species vary in their sensitivity to sexual imprinting. It has been suggested that sensitivity to sexual imprinting may be decreased in species that are

Accepted Answer

The answer of Field experiments with free-living birds, such as...

Question 3

Evidence for sexual imprinting has been found in mammals as well as birds, for example in studies conducted by Kendrick and colleagues with sheep and goats. What physical characteristics do these animals seem to be attending to as they develop their preferences?

Accepted Answer

Research by Kendrick and colleagues has shown that sheep and goats develop preferences based on facial features, indicating that these animals attend to facial characteristics during sexual imprinting.

Question 4

Maternal attachment differs from filial imprinting in that maternal attachment

Accepted Answer

The answer of Maternal attachment differs from filial imprinting in...

Question 5

The sensitive period for development of maternal selectivity extends from parturition to perhaps 1 or 2 hours postpartum. Thus, this sensitive period appears to

Accepted Answer

The sensitive period for the development of maternal selectivity, which extends from parturition to perhaps 1 or 2 hours postpartum, lies within the broader sensitive period for maternal responsiveness. This means that the time when a mother becomes selectively attached to her own offspring is part of the larger timeframe during which she is generally responsive to offspring.

Question 6

Champalbert and Lachaud's 1990 study that examined the effects of a 10-day period of social isolation on behavioral development in worker Neotropical ants (Ectatomma tuberculatum) showed that

Accepted Answer

Workers isolated at 2 days after emergence showed the most abnormal behavioral development, indicating that early isolation has a significant impact on their behavioral development.

Question 7

Champalbert and Lachaud concluded from their 1990 experiment with E. tuberculatum worker ants that the reintroduction of workers after having been isolated at emergence mimics an emergence and delays closure of the sensitive period for social contact with colony members. This provides additional support for the need for change in Lorenz's original definition of "critical period" in the area of

Accepted Answer

The experiment suggests that the sensitive period for social contact can be delayed, indicating that the onset and termination of the critical period are not as well-defined as Lorenz's original definition suggested.

Question 8

Zebra finches display sex differences in both organization of song nuclei in the brain and in singing behavior. This appears to be the result of both the organizational and the activational effects of hormones in that

Accepted Answer

Testosterone early in life organizes the development of a male song system in zebra finches, and testosterone in adulthood stimulates song production, which is consistent with the known effects of testosterone on the development and activation of sexually dimorphic traits in many animal species.

Question 9

Research suggests that song development in sparrows consists of two phases: a sensory phase and a sensorimotor phase. During the sensory phase,

Accepted Answer

During the sensory phase, sparrows store sounds heard early in life in memory, which is foundational for later song development.

Question 10

Research suggests that song development in sparrows consists of two phases: a sensory phase and a sensorimotor phase. During the sensorimotor phase, a male bird

Accepted Answer

During the sensorimotor phase, a male bird rehearses a song and matches it to sounds he memorized earlier, refining his song to match the memorized template. This phase follows the sensory phase, where the bird initially learns and memorizes songs.

Question 11

As young male song sparrows move from the plastic phase of song to the crystallized phase, they sometimes drop songs from their plastic song repertoire.

Accepted Answer

During the transition from the plastic to the crystallized phase, young male song sparrows refine their song repertoire by dropping songs that are less similar to those of their neighbors. This process helps them to better match the local song patterns, which is important for territory establishment and mate attraction.

Question 12

You would have a higher probability of being able to sing your species song at sexual maturity without having heard it during the earliest stages of your life if you were a

Accepted Answer

Brown-headed cowbirds are brood parasites, meaning they lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species. Despite not being raised by their own species, cowbirds can still sing their species-specific song upon reaching sexual maturity. This ability suggests that their song is not learned by listening to adult conspecifics during the earliest stages of life, unlike the other birds listed, which learn their songs through exposure to them during a critical learning period.

Question 13

When young male white-crowned sparrows were tutored with tape recordings of songs of both song sparrows and white-crowned sparrows, they

Accepted Answer

Young male white-crowned sparrows will learn the songs of their own species when exposed to recordings of both their species and another species, indicating an innate preference or predisposition for their species-specific songs.

Question 14

The songs of male cowbirds reared in isolation from male conspecifics are substantially more appealing to female cowbirds than are the songs of males reared in groups. Additional observation revealed that when they were individually introduced into an aviary with an established colony of cowbirds,

Accepted Answer

The answer of The songs of male cowbirds reared in...

Question 15

The songs of male cowbirds reared in isolation from male conspecifics were substantially more appealing to female cowbirds than were the songs of normal males. Why were their songs believed to be more potent than those of the group reared males?

Accepted Answer

Isolates had not learned to modulate their songs in the presence of dominant males, likely leading to the production of more potent songs due to the lack of social cues that would normally influence song characteristics.

Question 16

A male songbird's eventual song repertoire may be influenced by

Accepted Answer

Male songbirds' song repertoires can be influenced by a variety of social interactions, including direct interactions with other males, observations of interactions between other males (eavesdropping), and the preferences or responses of females.

Question 17

Reimers and colleagues (2007) studied 13 male chimpanzees who had experienced profound social isolation and found that, even two decades or more later, they could recover and live less stressful lives with conspecifics. This capacity for resiliency is referred to as

Accepted Answer

Developmental homeostasis refers to the ability of an organism to maintain normal development despite experiencing adverse conditions, such as social isolation, indicating resilience and recovery potential.

Quiz 8: The Development of Behavior