Abstract:
An examination of innate behavior and its possible origins suggests parallels with the formation of habitual behavior. Inflexible but adaptive responses-innate reflexive behavior, Pavlovian conditioned responses, and operant habits-may have evolved from variable behavior in phylogeny and ontogeny. This form of \"plasticity-first\" scientific narrative was unpopular post-Darwin but has recently gained credibility in evolutionary biology. The present article seeks to identify originating events and contingencies contributing to such inflexible but adaptive behavior at both phylogenic and ontogenic levels of selection. In ontogeny, the development of inflexible performance (i.e., habit) from variable operant behavior is reminiscent of the genetic accommodation of initially variable phylogenic traits. The effects characteristic of habit (e.g., unresponsiveness to reinforcer devaluation) are explicable as the result of a conflict between behaviors at distinct levels of selection. The present interpretation validates the practice of seeking hard analogies between evolutionary biology and operant behavior. Finding such parallels implies the validity of a claim that organismal behavior, both innate and learned, is a product of selection by consequences. A complete and coherent account of organismal behavior may ultimately focus on functional selective histories in much the same way evolutionary biology does with its subject matter.
摘要:
对先天行为及其可能起源的检查表明,这与习惯性行为的形成相似。不灵活但适应性的反应-先天的反射行为,巴甫洛夫条件性反应,和操作性习惯-可能是从系统发育和个体发育中的可变行为演变而来的。这种“可塑性优先”的科学叙事形式在达尔文时代后并不受欢迎,但最近在进化生物学中获得了可信度。本文旨在确定在系统发育和本体选择水平上导致这种不灵活但适应性行为的起源事件和偶然性。在个体发育中,发展不灵活的绩效(即,习性)来自可变的操作行为,让人想起最初可变的系统发育性状的遗传适应。习惯特征的影响(例如,对增强剂贬值的反应迟钝)是由于不同选择级别的行为之间的冲突而可以解释的。本解释验证了在进化生物学和操作行为之间寻求严格类比的做法。找到这样的相似之处意味着有机行为,天生和博学,是通过后果选择的产物。对有机体行为的完整和连贯的解释最终可能会集中在功能选择性历史上,就像进化生物学对其主题的处理方式一样。