Abstract
In the past there has been a tendency for many ethologists to dismiss laboratory studies of learning as unnatural and irrelevant, while many students of animal learning have seen little relevance in the ethological work on the innate bases of behavior. We argue and, in a preliminary way, attempt to demonstrate that a selective synthesis of these two disciplines offers a potentially powerful perspective on learning and suggests comprehensive and testable hypotheses about the mechanisms, organization, and evolution of learning in animals under natural conditions.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bailey, M.B. 1984. Intelligence and the ecological niche. In Animal Intelligence, ed. R.J. Hoage. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Press, in press.
Bateson, P. 1978. Sexual imprinting and optimal outbreeding. Nature 273: 659–660.
Bateson, P. 1982. Preferences for cousins in Japanese quail. Nature 295: 236–237.
Bateson, P. 1982. Preferences for cousins in Japanese quail. Nature 295: 236–237.
Birkhead, R.T. 1978. Behavioral adaptations to high-density nesting in the common guillemot. Anim. Behay. 26: 321–331.
Boesch, C., and Boesch, H. 1983. Optimisation of nutcracking with natural hammers by wild chimpanzees. Behaviour 83: 265–286.
Bonner, J.T. 1980. The Evolution of Culture in Animals. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Brzoska, J., and Obert, H.-J. 1980. Acoustic signals influencing hormone production of the testes in the grass frog. J. Comp. Physiol. 140: 25–29.
Burghardt, G.M., and Hess, E.H. 1966. Food imprinting in the snapping turtle. Science 151: 108–109.
Burtt, E.H. 1977. Some factors in the timing of parent-chick recognition in swallows. Anim. Behay. 25: 231–239.
Changeux, J.-P., and Danchin, A. 1976. Selective stabilization of developing synapses as a mechanism for the specification of neuronal networks. Nature 264: 705–712.
Collias, N.E., and Collias, E.C. 1962. An experimental study of the mechanisms of nest building in a weaver bird. Auk 79: 568–595.
Cowie, R.J.; Krebs, J.R.; and Sherry, D.F. 1981. Food storing by marsh tits. Anim. Behay. 29: 1252–1259.
Cullen, E. 1957. Adaptations in the kittiwake to cliff-nesting. Ibis 99: 275–302.
Curio, E., and Vieth, W. 1978. Cultural transmission of enemy recognition. Science 202: 899–901.
Dyer, F.C., and Gould, J.L. 1983. Honey bee navigation. Am. Sci. 71: 587–597.
Edelman, G., and Mountcastle, V. 1978. The Mindful Brain: Cortical Organization and the Group-Selective Theory of Higher Brain Function. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Emlen, S. 1975. The stellar-orientation system of migratory birds. Sci. Am. 233 (2):102–111.
Ewer, R.F. 1965. Food burying in the African ground squirrel. Z. Tierpsych. 22: 321–327.
Ewert, J.-P. 1981. Neuro-ethology. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Forse, D.D., and LoLordo, V.M. 1973. Attention in the pigeon: differential effects of food-getting vs. shock-avoidance procedures. J. Comp. Physiol. Psychol. 88: 551–558.
Gallup, G.G. 1977. Tonic immobility: the role of fear and predation. Psychol. Rec. 27: 41–61.
Gould, J.L. 1982. Ethology: The Mechanisms and Evolution of Behavior. New York: Nortons.
Gould, J.L. 1982. The map sense of pigeons. Nature 296: 205–211.
Griffin, D.R. 1981. The Question of Animal Awareness, revised ed. New York: Rockefeller University Press.
Hailman, J. 1967. The ontogeny of an instinct. Behay. Suppl. 15: 1–159.
Harding, C.F., and Follett, B.K. 1979. Hormone changes triggered by aggression in a natural population of blackbirds. Science 203: 918–920.
Heiligenberg, W. 1974. Processes governing behavioral states of readiness. Adv. Study Behay. 5: 173–200.
Kandel, E.R. 1976. Cellular Basis of Behavior. San Francisco: Freeman.
Kandel, E.R. 1976. Cellular Basis of Behavior. San Francisco: Freeman.
Klinghammer, E., and Hess, E.H. 1964. Parental feeding in ring doves: innate or learned? Z. Tierpsych.“21: 338–347.
Lashley, K.S. 1938. Conditional reactions in the rat. J. Psychol. 6: 311–324.
Leger, D.W.; Owings, D.H.; and Gelfand, D.L. 1980. Single-note vocalizations of California ground squirrels: graded signals and situation specificity of predator and socially evoked calls. Z. Tierpsych. 52: 227–246.
Lindauer, M. 1954. Temperaturregulierung und Wasserhaushalt im Bienenstaat. Z. vgl. Physiol. 36: 391–432.
Lindauer, M. 1957. Sonnenorientierung der Bienen unter der Aequatorsonne und zur Nachtzeit. Naturwissenschaften 44: 16.
Lorenz, K.Z., and Tinbergen, N. 1938. Taxis und Instinktbegriffe in der Eirollbewegung der Graugans. Z. Tierpsych. 2: 1–29.
Marler, P. 1970. Song development in white-crowned sparrows. J. Comp. Physiol. Psychol. 71(2):1–25 (Monogr.).
Mason, W.A. 1968. Early social deprivation in the non-human primates: implications for human behavior. In Environmental Influences, ed. D.C. Glass, pp. 70–100. New York: Rockefeller University Press.
McFarland, D.J., and Lloyd, LH. 1973. Time-shared feeding and drinking. Q. J. Exp. Psychol. 25: 48–61.
McGrew, W.C., and Tutin, C.E.G. 1973. Chimpanzee tool use in dental grooming. Nature 241: 477–478.
Mishkin, M. 1982. A memory system in the monkey. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. B 298: 85–95.
Norton-Griffiths, M.N. 1969. Organization, control, and development of parental feeding in the oystercatcher. Behaviour 34: 55–114.
Nottebohm, F. 1971. Neural lateralization of vocal control in a passerine bird. I. Song. J. Exp. Zool. 177: 229–262.
Olton, D.S. 1978. Characteristics of spatial memory. In Cognitive Processes in Animal Behavior, eds. S.H. Hulse, H. Fowler, and W.K. Honig, pp. 341–373. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Rothstein, S.I. 1978. Mechanisms of avian egg-recognition: additional evidence for learned components. Anim. Behay. 26: 671–677.
Rothstein, S.I. 1982. Successes and failures in avian egg and nestling recognition. Am. Zool. 22: 547–560.
Sackett, G.P. 1966. Monkeys reared in visual isolation with pictures as visual input: evidence for an innate releasing mechanism. Science 154: 1468–1472.
Schwartz, B. 1978. Psychology of Learning and Behavior. New York: Nortons.
Seyfarth, R.M.; Cheney, D.L.; and Marier, P. 1980. Vervet monkey alarm calls: semantic communication in a free-ranging primate. Anim. Behay. 28: 1070–1094.
Smith, A.W. 1978. Investigation of the mechanisms underlying nest construction in a mud wasp. Anim. Behay. 26: 232–240.
Smith, S.M. 1975. Innate recognition of a coral snake by a possible avian predator. Science 187: 759–760.
Staddon, J.E.R. 1983. Adaptive Behavior and Learning. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Thorpe, W. 1950. The concepts of learning and their relationship to those of instinct. Symp. Soc. Exp. Biol. 4: 387–408.
Tinbergen, N., and Perdeck, A.C. 1950. On the stimulus situation releasing the begging response in the newly hatched herring gull chick. Behaviour 3: 1–39.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1984 Berlin, Heildelberg, New York, Tokyo: Springer-Verlag
About this paper
Cite this paper
Gould, J.L., Marler, P. (1984). Ethology and the Natural History of Learning. In: Marler, P., Terrace, H.S. (eds) The Biology of Learning. Dahlem Workshop Reports, vol 29. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70094-1_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70094-1_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-70096-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-70094-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive