Learning, like reflexes and instincts, allows an organism to adapt to its environment. ![]() Nobody teaches the baby to suck, just as no one teaches a sea turtle hatchling to move toward the ocean. Babies are born knowing how to suck on a nipple, whether artificial (from a bottle) or human. For example, every healthy human baby has a sucking reflex, present at birth. They are more complex patterns of behavior, involve movement of the organism as a whole (e.g., sexual activity and migration), and involve higher brain centers.īoth reflexes and instincts help an organism adapt to its environment and do not have to be learned. In contrast, instincts are innate behaviors that are triggered by a broader range of events, such as aging and the change of seasons. They tend to be simpler than instincts, involve the activity of specific body parts and systems (e.g., the knee-jerk reflex and the contraction of the pupil in bright light), and involve more primitive centers of the central nervous system (e.g., the spinal cord and the medulla). ![]() Reflexes are a motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment. Both instincts and reflexes are innate behaviors that organisms are born with. What do these seemingly unrelated behaviors have in common? They all are unlearned behaviors. Salmon swim upstream to spawn, and spiders spin intricate webs. Recognize and define three basic forms of learning-classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learningīirds build nests and migrate as winter approaches.Explain how learned behaviors are different from instincts and reflexes. ![]() By the end of this section, you will be able to:
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