PSYC 41043 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Reflex Arc, Biological Neural Network, The Reflex

• School: Kent State University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 41043
• Professor: Stephen B Fountain

Document Summary

Elicited behavior: elicited behavior occurs in response to a stimulus, simplest form of elicited behavior, the reflex arc, example: spinal reflexes. Reflexes are specialized for adaptive function: dog and sloth withdrawal reflexes, dogs pull their leg into their body, while sloths move away from. It"s innate (11-week-old fetuses yawn: 55% of people will yawn within five minutes of seeing someone else yawn, blind people yawn more after hearing an audio tape of people yawning. It takes one experience for them to develop the aversion: respiratory system, sneezing, coughing, asthma attack, reproductive system, vaginal lubrication, penile erection, orgasm, milk release, emotional system, fear, avoidance, flight, anger, aggression, erotic feelings. The larger the egg, the faster they go after the egg, vice versa. Interest peaks after the first trial of the 12x12 checkerboard, but then it still is habituated at a similar rate as the 4x4, just not as drastically.