"'''"Fixed action pattern"'''" is an [[Ethology|ethological]] term describing an [[instinct]]ive behavioral sequence that is highly stereotyped and species-characteristic.<ref name=":03">{{Cite journal |last1=Páez-Rondón |first1=Oscar |last2=Aldana |first2=Elis |last3=Dickens |first3=Joseph |last4=Otálora-Luna |first4=Fernando |date=May 2018 |title=Ethological description of a fixed action pattern in a kissing bug (Triatominae): vision, gustation, proboscis extension and drinking of water and guava |journal=Journal of Ethology |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=107–116 |doi=10.1007/s10164-018-0547-y |issn=0289-0771|doi-access=free }}</ref> Fixed action patterns are said to be produced by the innate releasing mechanism, a "hard-wired" [[neural network]], in response to a [[Fixed action pattern#Sign stimulus|sign/key stimulus]] or '''releaser'''.<ref name=":03"/><ref name=":15">{{Cite journal |last=Ronacher |first=Bernhard |date=February 2019 |title=Innate releasing mechanisms and fixed action patterns: basic ethological concepts as drivers for neuroethological studies on acoustic communication in Orthoptera |journal=Journal of Comparative Physiology A |volume=205 |issue=1 |pages=33–50 |doi=10.1007/s00359-018-01311-3 |issn=0340-7594 |pmc=6394777 |pmid=30617601}}</ref> Once released, a fixed action pattern runs to completion.<ref name=":03"/>
This term is often associated with [[Konrad Lorenz]], who is the founder of the concept.<ref name=":03"/> Lorenz identified six characteristics of fixed action patterns.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |title=Studying animal behavior : autobiographies of the founders |date=1989 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |others=Dewsbury, Donald A. |isbn=0226144100 |___location=Chicago |oclc=19670401}}</ref> These characteristics state that fixed action patterns are stereotyped, complex, species-characteristic, released, triggered, and independent of experience.<ref name=":22" />
