Exploratory behavior

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As exploratory behavior called behavioral biologists both the active penetration of an animal in previously unvisited areas as making contact with new, unknown objects in the environment already known too. Exploratory behavior is sometimes referred to as exploration behavior or - with a clearly anthropomorphic overtone - as curiosity behavior . The term exploratory behavior is used in relation to humans, especially their ability to learn .

Features of exploratory behavior

It is particularly noticeable for every experienced observer that exploring animals usually move very slowly, repeatedly and intensely sniff or gnaw at an unknown object, and after a short approach withdraw again to move forward again immediately. In a similar way, the penetration into new biotopes usually takes place with clearly noticeable use of all sensory organs and also alternating between advancing and retreating.

Through exploratory behavior, an animal expands its scope of action, gets to know a certain spatial environment and generally unknown things (e.g. new food). Accordingly, exploratory behavior can be observed in young animals, whereby it is often difficult for the observer to distinguish this behavior from play behavior .

Research into exploratory behavior

The exploratory behavior, especially of house mice and brown rats, is one of the best investigated animal behavior because it can easily be recorded quantitatively and qualitatively in the laboratory. For this purpose, an ethogram of the male and / or female animals of a certain age is first created. A test animal is then placed, for example, in a completely flat, unstructured rectangular plastic tub that is unknown to it, and from the moment it is inserted, a precise record of the observable behavior in this environment, which is completely unknown to the test animal, is created. This special test situation for exploratory behavior is known as the open field test . During the duration of the test, the behavior of the animal is recorded for a few minutes, how long each behavior lasts, how the behavior follows one another and in which positions the animal is (e.g. in a corner, near the outer wall, in the middle of the Test area). By comparing the behavior of individuals from different breeding lines , u. a. Differences between such breeding lines can be recognized. By mating individuals from different breeding lines, it was possible to prove in their offspring that the differences are inherited, i.e. that they are genetically determined.

Influence of genes on exploratory behavior

In 2007, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and the Netherlands Institute of Ecology demonstrated what they called the “curiosity gene” in great tits : The Drd4 gene therefore carries the building instructions for a receptor that is docked in the brain for the messenger substance dopamine . In birds with a certain variant of this dopamine receptor D4 gene, the scientists observed a significantly more pronounced exploratory behavior than in their conspecifics with other forms of the gene. The researchers used the exploratory behavior of young animals shortly after they had fledged ( early exploratory behavior ) as a measure . In a behavior test, the biologists recorded the time it took for a bird to visit four out of five “trees” (more precisely: simple stakes with crossed perches) in the observation room. In a second test, the reaction of the young animals to two unknown objects was assessed. Studies on wild birds confirmed the result: in these, too, the scientists found a significant link between certain genotypes and the different characteristics of exploratory behavior.

human

In humans, as in other primates , exploration or exploration behavior is seen from the perspective of developmental psychology in a relationship to attachment behavior. Here, the attachment behavior and the exploratory behavior are complementary to each other, so they are mutually exclusive: Both behaviors cannot be lived out at the same time, but they interact as early, innate behaviors. Both behaviors also have a major influence on later development. A human child often only shows exploratory behavior when it is certain that the attachment figure is available at all times to be able to deal with emotional unrest. Children who show a disproportion between exploratory and attachment behaviors often show negative abnormalities in their social behavior later in their development . Children who show an increased exploratory behavior are just as much under increased stress as children in whom the attachment behavior predominates.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt : Outline of Comparative Behavioral Research. 7th edition. Piper, Munich and Zurich 1967, p. 401, ISBN 3-492-03074-2 .
  2. ↑ Bernhard Hassenstein : Learning and play behavior. Chapter 22 in: Klaus Immelmann : Grzimeks animal life , special volume behavior research. Kindler Verlag, Zurich 1974, p. 316.
  3. ↑ John Archer: Tests for emotionality in rats and mice: A review. In: Animal Behavior. Volume 21, No. 2, 1973, pp. 205-235, doi: 10.1016 / S0003-3472 (73) 80065-X .
  4. ^ Roger M. Walsh and Robert A. Cummins, The Open-Field Test: a critical review. In: Psychological Bulletin. Volume 83, No. 3, 1976, pp. 482-504, doi: 10.1037 / 0033-2909.83.3.482 , full text (PDF) .
  5. ↑ Karl-Heinz Wellmann : On the effect of disruptive selection on the behavior of house mice (Mus musculus domesticus Rutty): Registering nestlings, further elements of brood care behavior and exploration. Science publishing house Dr. Wigbert Maraun, Frankfurt am Main 1991, pp. 66-86, ISBN 3-927548-18-9 .
  6. ↑ Andrew E. Fidler et al .: Drd4 gene polymorphisms are associated with personality variation in a passerin bird. In: Proceedings of the Royal Society London B. Online publication of July 22, 2007, doi: 10.1098 / rspb.2007.0337 .
    "Character gene" makes tits curious. On: mpg.de from May 2, 2007.
  7. ^ Carina-Christin Traeder: Attachment in early childhood. The influence of early attachment experiences on social-emotional personality development. Hamburg 2016, p. 12 f., Full text (PDF) .