The biological process that allows animals to tell time
What is a biological rhythm?
The simplest form of instinctual behaviors
What are reflexes?
Behaviors animals apply to scenarios similar to ones they have previously experienced and even new situations.
What are complex learned behaviors?
Orcinus orca
What are orcas?
The individual cells that make up the nervous system and are responsible for the transmission of electrical impulses
What are neurons?
The study of biological rhythms
What is chronobiology?
The action of engaging in instinctual behavior regardless of changes in the environment
What is a fixed-motor pattern?
A form of nonassociative learning where animals become accustomed to a non-threatening stimulus over repeated exposure
What is habituation?
Pan troglodytes
What are chimpanzees?
A series of bones along the animal’s back.
What is a spinal column?
The German term that translates literally as “time giver.”
What is a zeitgeber?
Learning that involves learning about one stimulus and can involve only a few neurons.
What is nonassociative Learning?
When animals observe other animals do something and then modify their own behavior.
What is social learning?
Drosophila
What are fruit flies?
The “fight or flight” system
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
When outside forces like the environment or behavior change how a gene is expressed
What is epigenetic modification?
The two main types of associative learning
What is classical conditioning and operant conditioning?
landmarks, routes, and cognitive maps
What are the three distinct aspects to spatial cognition?
Larus argentatus
What are herring gulls?
A layer of cells surrounding the blood supply in the brain that only allows specific molecules to enter and exit the brain.
What is the blood-brain barrier?
The master timekeeper
What is the suprachiasmatic nucleus?
The ability of an animal’s neuronal connections to change over time based on the animal’s experiences
What is synaptic plasticity?
When animals are punished for doing a behavior
What is positive punishment?
Aplysia californica
What are sea slugs?
They can detect different kinds of pressure and temperature, and protect an animal from harm.
What are nociceptors?