PNB 2XC3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Reinforcement Learning, Operant Conditioning Chamber, Mantis Shrimp
16 Dec 2017
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Paper wasps use facial learning in order to recognize their hive mates. Wasps were able to learn to avoid the facial image associated with a shock. When the pictures of the stimulus wasps lacked antennae, or the faces on the pictures were artificially rearranged, wasps were not capable of pairing one image with an electric shock. Wasps were also not capable of pairing geometric patterns with an electric shock, again strongly suggesting facial learning. Learning refers to a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience. Phenotype- the observable characteristic of an organism. Phenotypic plasticity- the ability of an organism to produce different phenotypes depending on environmental conditions: i. e some individuals will grown spines when in the presence of predators. If we replace behavior with phenotype in our definition of learning, phenotypic plasticity becomes the broader category under which learning is subsumed. So all learning is a type of phenotypic plasticity, but not all phenotypic plasticity involves learning.
