Instincts vs. Acquired Behavior
Instinctive activity is evolutionarily adapted to a stable habitat. It features rigid programming of every step. During an instinctive act, the achieved intermediate result is continuously checked against the parameters of the action result acceptor. If a stage is not successfully completed, progression toward the goal is blocked. The animal must go through all stages of the program to satisfy the dominant need.
In a constantly changing environment, rigid instinctive frameworks are ineffective. Here, individual learning comes to the forefront. Genetic mechanisms provide only the initial base—the foundation of biological motivations. Further quantization of activity is formed through acquired mechanisms.
Mechanisms of acquired behavior formation
The foundation of acquired behavior is the formation of conditioned reflexes—the establishment of functional temporary connections between a signaling (conditioned) stimulus and an unconditioned reinforcement. Due to this, the organism is capable of anticipatory reactions, preparing for future events.
Individually acquired activity has several unique properties:
- Selectivity. Attention is concentrated exclusively on those stimuli that are critically important for satisfying the current leading need.
- Ignoring the secondary. Signals of lesser significance are filtered out, even if they accompanied success in the past.
- High plasticity. The meaning of conditioned signals is dynamic: they can acquire a signaling role or lose it entirely depending on the presence of reinforcement.
Exploratory activity, play, and memory
Building behavior in a new, unfamiliar environment relies on innate exploratory-investigatory activity. Encountering unknown factors or upon an increase in need, the animal actively scans the environment, assessing whether stimuli promote or hinder goal achievement. This reaction is accompanied by powerful brain activation: at the cellular level, the expression of "immediate-early genes" is triggered (e.g., c-Fos, c-Jun), which is necessary for fixing information in memory.
The most durable trace (engram) is left by those reinforcing impacts that satisfy the dominant need. At the same time, the developed skill can be transferred to other situations.
Play is of immense importance in independent learning. In a playful form, motor skills are perfected, sensory analysis is trained, and dynamic behavioral programs—flexible schemes based on the capacity for anticipation (foreseeing events)—are formed.
Structure and automation of the behavioral act
In the process of repeated repetition, goal-directed behavior transforms, shifting from an elaborated action to an automated skill.
- Detailed behavioral act. At the stage of mastering a new action (in a changing environment), the dominant motivation triggers a program that is executed strictly in stages. The key feature here is continuous control. Information about the results of each intermediate stage is fed back to the central nervous system (afferent feedback) to be compared with the plan. This requires the involvement of higher cortical regions and a high level of concentration.
- Automated skill. When actions are consolidated in stable conditions, intermediate stages merge into a single block. Intermediate conscious control is reduced. The command from the CNS is directed immediately to achieving the final goal, and feedback arrives only after the final result is reached. Control shifts to the level of internal brain self-regulation systems, leading to a sharp decrease in the total energy expenditure of the CNS. The cortex intervenes only in case of an error (failure to achieve the goal).
Briefly: answers to topical questions
What is the role of the action result acceptor in P.K. Anokhin's functional system of behavior?
The role of the action result acceptor consists in anticipating the required adaptive result (goal) and comparing the results of behavior with it. In the functional system of behavior, this apparatus performs the following functions:
- Participates in anticipating the required result at one of the stages of the systemic organization of the behavioral act.
- At the stage of the action result acceptor, environmental factors and previously acquired experience are taken into account.
- Through feedback afferentation, it ensures the comparison of achieved stage and final results with the properties of the result pre-programmed in the acceptor.
- In the absence of achieving the result, a mismatch arises in the action result acceptor associated with a negative emotion; achieving the required result is associated with a positive emotion.
- During behavior, the action result acceptor is enriched with new information; brain structures, primarily the action result acceptors, participate in the formation of dynamic behavioral programs.
To easily understand the difference between elaborated and automated behavior, recall the process of learning to ride a bicycle or drive a car. At first, you monitor every movement (steering wheel, pedals, mirrors) — this is an elaborated act with constant monitoring of every step. Once the skill is formed, you simply ride from point A to point B without thinking about leg and hand movements. Intermediate control turns off, the brain rests.
Class and exam questions
What is the main difference between acquired behavior and instinctive behavior?
Instincts are hardwired and require the complete, error-free completion of all stages to achieve the goal, which is effective only in a stable environment. Acquired behavior is flexible, built on individual experience, and allows adaptation to constant changes.
What are dynamic behavioral programs?
These are flexible action schemes formed within the structures of the action result acceptors. Unlike instincts, they include the anticipation of only the most important (reference) stimuli necessary to satisfy a need.
Why are "immediate-early genes" needed during the orienting reaction?
The expression of immediate-early genes (such as c-Fos and c-Jun) in neurons indicates active remodeling of cellular metabolism. This is the physiological basis for memory consolidation and the formation of new behavioral experience when exploring an unfamiliar environment.
What else to study on this topic
- The architecture of the functional system according to P.K. Anokhin
- Stage of afferent synthesis: components and significance
- Action result acceptor as an apparatus of anticipation
- Physiological mechanisms of memory formation (engrams)
- Differences between unconditioned and conditioned reflexes
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