Main description:

The previous volume in this series (Blass, 1986) focused on the interface between developmental psychobiology and developmental neurobiology. The volume emphasized that an understanding of central nervous system development and function can be obtained only with reference to the behaviors that it manages, and it emphasized how those behaviors, in tum, shape central development. The present volume explores another natural interface of developmental psy chobiology; behavioral ecology. It documents the progress made by developmental psychobiologists since the mid-1970s in identifying capacities of learning and con ditioning in birds and mammals during the very moments following birth-indeed, during the antenatal period. These breakthroughs in a field that had previously lain dormant reflect the need to "meet the infant where it is" in order for behavior to emerge. Accordingly, studies have been conducted at nest temperature; infants have been rewarded by opportunities to huddle, suckle, or obtain milk, behaviors that are normally engaged in the nest. In addition, there was rejection of the exces sive deprivation, extreme handling, and traumatic manipulation studies of the 1950s and 1960s that yielded information on how animals could respond to trauma but did not reveal mechanisms of normal development. In their place has arisen a series of analyses of how naturally occurring stimuli and situations gain control over behavior and how specifiable experiences impose limitations on subsequent development. Constraints were identified on the range of interactions that remained available to developing animals as a result of particular events.

Contents:

1 Ecology and Experience: Sources of Means and Meaning of Developmental Change.- Ontogenetic Niches in Mammalian Development.- Making a Living: Address and Occupation.- Making a Mammal: Adaptation and Anticipation.- Concepts of Ontogenetic Niche and Adaptation in Mammalian Development.- Uterus as Habitat.- The Uterus as Life Support System.- Life in the Uterine World.- Mother as Habitat.- Mother as Life Support System.- Adapting to the Nursing World.- Learning in the Nursing Niche.- Huddle as Habitat.- Ecological Significance of Huddling by Adults.- Allometric Imperatives.- Learning in the Huddle Habitat.- Coterie as Habitat.- Taking on Life Support for Oneself.- Other-Assisted Self-Regulation.- Concluding Remarks.- Continuities and Discontinuities in Development.- Habitats as Sources of Stimulation.- Ontogenetic Niche and Ontogenetic Adaptation.- References.- 2 The Inheritance of Niches: The Role of Ecological Legacies in Ontogeny.- Exogenetics: Seeing the Obvious.- The Semantic Conversion of Nature and Nurture.- A Place for Nature and Nurture.- Three Perspectives on Nature-Nurture-Niche.- The Acorn Woodpecker: The Role of the Family Tree.- The Scrub Jay: Territorial Heredity.- The Cowbird: Living Up to Its Genetic Potential.- Human Families: Confluent Inheritance.- Summary: Seeing the Obvious.- References.- 3 Cause and Function in the Development of Behavior Systems.- The Conception of a Behavior System.- Motor Mechanisms.- Perceptual Mechanisms.- Central Mechanisms.- Behavior Systems.- The Development of Behavior Systems.- The "Gustofacial Reflex": A Prefunctionally Developed System.- Development of Perceptual Mechanisms.- Development of Motor Mechanisms.- Development of Connections between Central and Motor Mechanisms.- Development of Connections between Perceptual and Central Mechanisms.- Development of Connections among Perceptual, Central, and Motor Mechanisms.- Development of Interactions among Behavior Systems.- Discussion.- Some Causal Aspects of Development.- Some Functional Aspects of Development.- Conclusions.- References.- 4 Precocity, Play, and the Ectotherm-Endotherm Transition: Profound Reorganization or Superficial Adaptation?.- Terrestrial Ectotherms and Endotherms Compared.- Terrestrial Vertebrate Diversity.- Parental Care.- Physiological Adaptations.- Reptiles and Theories of Development.- Specificity and Diversity in Neonate Reptile Behavior.- Food Selection.- Antipredator Behavior.- Social Organization.- Communication.- Reptiles, Precocity, and the Evolution of Play.- Overview of the Surplus Resource Model.- Comparative Evidence and Predictions.- Final Thoughts.- References.- 5 The Uterus as Environment: The Ecology of Fetal Behavior.- Evolutionary Roots of Fetal Development.- Features of the Prenatal Environment.- Life Support System of the Fetus.- The Fetus.- Techniques for Investigating Fetal Behavior.- Fetal Movements: Motility or Behavior?.- Organization of Fetal Behavior.- Fetal Responsiveness to Environmental Conditions.- Responsiveness to Sensory Stimuli.- Maternal Influences.- Fetal Hypoxia.- Fetal Restraint.- Intersibling Influence.- Uterine Position.- The Biological Function of Fetal Behavior.- Continuity.- Ontogenetic Adaptation.- Concluding Remarks.- References.- 6 Sexual Differentiation of Behavior in the Context of Developmental Psychobiology.- Sexual Differentiation of the Reproductive System.- Cellular Mechanisms Underlying Sexual Differentiation: Basic Issues.- Sexual Differentiation as a Mechanism for Producing Sex Differences in Behavior.- Behaviors Susceptible to Sexual Differentiation.- Different Behaviors Undergo Sexual Differentiation Independently.- Species, Strain, and Individual Differences Related to Sexual Differentiation.- When Are Behaviors Susceptible to Sexual Differentiation?.- The Role of T Metabolism in Sexual Differentiation of Behavior.- The Role of E2 in the Development of Feminine Phenotypes.- Which Neural Tissues Contribute to Sexual Differentiation of Behavior?.- What Properties of Neural Tissues Differentiate Sexually?.- How Do Hormones Establish Sex Differences in Neural Structure and Function?.- References.- 7 Learning in Infancy: A Mechanism for Behavioral Change during Development.- Recent Progress in Learning and Memory Research.- Ambient Sensory Influences on Learning.- Studies of Associative Learning in Infants.- Milk as Incentive for Associative Learning in Infant Rats.- Learning as a Mechanism of Behavioral Change in Development.- Associative Learning and the Development of Social, Sexual, and Ingestive Behavior.- Olfactory Controls of Ingestive Behavior: Classical Conditioning in the Neste.- Summary and Conclusions.- References.- 8 The Neurobiology of Early Olfactory Learning.- Early Olfactory Learning.- Olfactory System Organization.- Olfactory System Development.- Changes in Neural Activity with Olfactory Experience.- Mechanism of the Enhanced Neural Response.- Summary.- References.- 9 Opioids, Behavior, and Learning in Mammalian Development.- Development of the Opioid System.- Development of Opioid Peptides.- Development of Opioid Binding Sites.- Pharmacology of Opioids in the Developing Animal.- Effects of Opiates on the Fetus.- Response to Direct Opioid Administration.- Behavioral Functioning of Neonatal Opioid Systems.- Positive Reinforcement of Opioids in Neonates.- Negative Reinforcement of Opioids in Neonates.- General Discussion.- Responses to Exogenous Opiates.- Effective Endogeneous Opioid Release.- References.- 10 Exploiting the Nursing Niche: The Infant's Sucking and Feeding in the Context of the Mother-Infant Interaction.- Selective Review of Recent Research Developments and Controversy.- How Feeding Is Embedded within the Mother-Infant Interaction.- The Discovery of Different Sucking Patterns.- Two Motivational Systems.- Rhythmic Sucking and the Adjustment of Intake: The Individual's Responses during Milk Release.- The Relationship of Sleep to Feeding.- Sucking and Adjustment of Intake: Indirect Control by the Litter.- Adjustment of Sucking and Intake in Response to Environmental and Developmental Variation.- Long-Lasting Effects of Different Milk-Delivery Schedules.- The Importance of Taste.- How Sucking and Feeding Strategies Change during Development.- Feeding Competence and Long-Term Growth.- The Role of Conditioning.- Conclusion.- References.- 11 Kinship and the Development of Social Preferences.- Warren G. Holmes.- The Ultimate Basis of Social Preferences.- Inclusive Fitness and Kin Selection.- Optimal Mate Choice.- Assessing Social Preferences.- The Meaning of Social Preference.- Laboratory Studies.- Field Studies.- The Proximate Basis of Social Preferences.- Rearing Association and Familiarity.- Phenotype Matching.- Concluding Remarks.- Inclusive Fitness Theory and Working Hypotheses.- The Meaning of Genetic Recognition.- Summary.- References.- 12 Development of Instinctive Behavior: An Epigenetic and Ecological Approach.- David B. Miller.- What Is Epigenesis?.- What Is an Ecological Approach?.- Naturalistic Observation across Contexts.- Task Description.- Experimental Manipulation.- Imprinting: A Nonepigenetic, Nonecological Approach to Development.- Critical Periods: Do They Exist?.- Development of Alarm Call Responsivity in Mallard Ducklings.- Natural History and Task Description.- Acoustic Features of Alarm Calls.- Experimental Analysis of Alarm Call Responsivity.- Development and Evolution.- References.