Xref: utzoo sci.psychology:193 rec.birds:523 sci.bio:1062 Path: utzoo!yunexus!geac!sigrid From: sigrid@geac.UUCP (Sigrid Grimm) Newsgroups: sci.psychology,rec.birds,sci.bio Subject: Re: Intelligent Parrots, or Self-deception and Gullibility. Summary: hardwired behaviour Message-ID: <2550@geac.UUCP> Date: 8 Apr 88 19:58:28 GMT Article-I.D.: geac.2550 Posted: Fri Apr 8 15:58:28 1988 References: <1988Mar4.162334.18184@utzoo.uucp> <4299@blia.BLI.COM> <1988Mar9.132722.3364@mntgfx.mentor.com> <2495@geac.UUCP> <2535@saturn.ucsc.edu> <762@actnyc.UUCP> <2231@ttidca.TTI.COM> Reply-To: sigrid@geac.UUCP (Sigrid Grimm) Organization: The little blue rock next to that twinkly star. Lines: 68 In article <2231@ttidca.TTI.COM> hollombe@ttidcb.tti.com (The Polymath) writes: >In article <762@actnyc.UUCP> gcf@actnyc.UUCP (Gordon Fitch) writes: >>... What do we call behavior which is apparently programmed >>into the behaving organism? It used to be called instinct. > >There's some question whether _any_ behavior is hard-wired in any creature >above the level of insect. The following example ... I don't know if we must question if _any_ behaviour is hardwired. A good example is the behaviour caused by any reflex action. This is clearly "behaviour" because the organism does something in response to something else. It is also hardwired. So is blinking an eye in response to having a bug fly into it ... This is not very *interesting* behaviour however. I also recall a couple of years ago seeing something on TVO regarding hardwired behaviour in cats. The deal was that they figured *walking* is hardwired into a cat because they can stimulate a part of the cat's brain and the cat will walk. I clearly recall the segment: they had a kitty on a treadmill and the kitty's brain had been opened and electrodes attached to parts of it's brain. When they stimulated that part of the brain, *presto*, the cat's legs started walking. The cat didn't appear to be too involved, I might add. My recall about the details however, is fuzzy at best ... anyone else see this? Intuitively, hardwired behaviour makes sense: think of what we do with computer technology ... Alot of machine "behaviour" that was previously software-driven is now hardwired. This is because this behaviour is required again and again and again. With time, if the software aspect is considered relatively stable and necessary, the software is removed and replaced with firmware or even hardware - to speed up processing. This is how our computer systems have *evolved*. The body is much the same I think, except it can take much longer and is *evolved* through natural selection. The more profound the change is, the longer it takes. The more a given behaviour is required and standardized (e.g., walking), the more the body doesn't want to have to "think" about it. It wants it to become automatic, so it becomes hardwired. We notice this tendency on a smaller scale with behaviour that becomes automatic with practise (e.g., driving). This may be like the "firmware" stage ... and indeed there are *physical* changes (in the brain) which reflect this adaptation. Perhaps then, once a behaviour has been firmwired long enough, the body evolves and the behaviour becomes hardwired. Walking on our hind legs is a good example of this. We have been walking upright for tons of years. At first, when we were learning to walk upright at all (as a species, that is), we maybe had to be quite conscious of it all until it became second nature (firmwired). Next, once we had been walking for ages and ages and since walking upright was good (free hands and all that), those with the hardwired tendency did better and eventually the hardwired walking was just part of the human default configuration. The converse may also be true for firmwired stuff. If the firmwired potential is not realized when the body is modified by actual use, then perhaps the potential is lost in favour of whatever else may become necessary. This would explain why the chicks couldn't scratch and peck after awhile since their firmwired potential for this was *inhibited* when the body's *startup* routine was working. This is sort of like a computer freeing up firmware that isn't used during the first few months of system use so that this firmware can be used to better ends (e.g.,put the X routine here since I've been using it so often and I have to get it from disk every time, while I've never used the stuff which is programmed into the firmware now). Well, that's my humble two cents worth wrt hardwired behaviour. It's Friday afternoon, eh, and from many many weeks of this, my brain is becoming firmwired to shut down around now, so I'm finding ... it ... harder ... and ....... h..a..r..d..e..r .... to ... k...e...e...p ...... o...n..... ... t...h...i...n...k...i...n...g... ... ...