Fixed action pattern: Difference between revisions

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== Characteristics ==

There are 6six characteristics of fixed action patterns.<ref name=":22"/> Fixed action patterns are said to be stereotyped, complex, species-characteristic, released, triggered, and independent of experience.<ref name=":22"/>

*'''Stereotyped''': Fixed action patterns occur in rigid, predictable, and highly-structured sequences.<ref name=":22"/>

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Exaggerated models of these attributes are called [[Supernormal stimulus|supernormal stimuli]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |title=The herring gull's world; a study of the social behaviour of birds |last=Tinbergen, Niko |date=1953 |publisher=Collins |isbn=0002194449 |___location=London |oclc=1029697}}</ref> A supernormal stimulus leads to an exaggerated response.<ref name=":4" /> Supernormal stimuli are more effective at releasing a response than a natural stimulus.<ref name=":4" />

An external stimulus that elicits a fixed action pattern is termed a sign stimulus if the stimuli emanates from the environment.,<ref name=":3" /> Whereas,whereas a releaser emanates from one's own species.<ref name=":3" />

===Supernormal stimuli===

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=== Male stickleback mating behavior ===

[[File:3-spined_stickleback.jpg|alt=|thumb|A 3three-spined stickleback like those used in Tinbergen's experiments.]]

One example of fixed action patterns is the courtship and aggression behaviours of the male [[stickleback]], particularly the [[three-spined stickleback]], during mating season, described in a series of studies by Niko Tinbergen.<ref name=":82"/><ref name=":2">{{cite journal |last1=Rowland |first1=William |title=Habituation and development of response specificity to a sign stimulus: male preference for female courtship posture in stickleback |journal=Animal Behaviour |date=February 3, 2000 |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=63–68 |doi=10.1006/anbe.2000.1462 |pmid=10924204 |s2cid=23095310 }}</ref> During the spring mating season, male sticklebacks' ventrum turns red and they establish a territory to build a nest.<ref name=":82"/> They attack other male sticklebacks that enter their territory, but court females and entice them to enter the nest to lay their eggs.<ref name=":82"/> Tinbergen used models of sticklebacks to investigate which features of male and female sticklebacks elicited attack and courtship behavior from male sticklebacks.<ref name=":82"/> Tinbergen's main findings were that male sticklebacks responded in a relatively invariant way and attacked even the most crude of models with a red belly, but in contrast, courted a model with a swollen belly.<ref name=":82"/> He also found that when presented with both a real male stickleback and a crude model, if the model's stomach was more red, the stickleback would attack the model as opposed to the other real male stickleback.<ref name=":82"/>

=== Greylag goose egg-retrieval behavior ===

[[File:Grey_lag.jpg|thumb|A greylag goose which participates in the described egg-retrieval behavior.]]

Another example of a behavior that has been described as a fixed action pattern is the egg-retrieval behavior of the [[greylag goose]], reported in classic studies by Niko Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz.<ref name=":92"/> Like many ground-nesting birds, if an [[Egg (biology)|egg]] becomes displaced from the nest, the greylag rolls it back to the nest with its beak.<ref name=":92"/><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/psych26/fap.htm|title=Fixed Action Pattern - Greylag Goose|website=pigeon.psy.tufts.edu|access-date=December 11, 2018}}</ref> The sight of the displaced egg is the sign stimulus and elicits the egg-retrieval behavior.<ref name=":92"/> First, the goose fixates its sight on the egg.<ref name=":92"/> Next, it extends its neck over the egg.<ref name=":92"/> Finally, it rolls the egg back to the nest using the underside of its beak.<ref name=":92"/> If the egg is removed from the goose during the performance of egg-rolling, the bird will continue with the behavior, pulling its head back as if an imaginary egg is still being maneuvered.<ref name=":92"/> It has been shown that the greylag will also attempt to retrieve other egg-shaped objects, such as a golf ball, door knob, or even a model egg too large to have possibly been laid by the goose itself (i.e. a supernormal stimulus).<ref>Tinbergen, N. (1951). ''The Study of Instinct''. Oxford University Press, New York.</ref>

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== Exceptions ==

There are 4four exceptions to fixed action pattern rules.<ref name=":142"/> These include reduced response threshold, vacuum activity, displacement behavior, and graded response.<ref name=":142"/>

=== Reduced response threshold ===