Human instinctive behavior

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Lorenz, K.Z. (1981). The foundations of ethology. (Translated from German by K.Z. Lorenz and R.W. Kickert) New York: Springer-Verlag. Tinbergen, N. (1951). The study of instinct. New York: Oxford University Press. Tinbergen, N. (1953). The herring gull’s world. London: Collins. The term “releasing stimulus” seems to have been adopted as a result of the observation that even a weak sensory input may elicit a strong motor reaction, together with the theory that motor reactions were actively inhibited prior to their “release”. In general, a historically-minded neuroscientist will note that some of Lorenz and Tinbergen’s central concepts are merely a restatement of the concepts of Sherringtonian reflexology. Thus, the terms “eliciting stimulus” or “adequate stimulus” seem preferable to “releasing stimulus” since: (a) they have historical priority; and (b) do not refer to an unsupported theory. Further, the lack of dependence of rather complex behavior patterns on sensory feedback was first demonstrated by Sherrington [Sherrington, C.S. (1906). Observations on the scratch-reflex in the spinal dog. Journal of Physiology, 34: 1–50] who noted that rhythmical scratching movements in a spinal dog are not impaired by surgical section of the dorsal root (sensory) fibers supplying the active limb. This constitutes an early demonstration of a spinal pattern generator.Google Scholar

Although these ideas appear to be very plausible, it is not easy to demonstrate rigorously that they are correct. A review by U.M. Savalli (The evolution of bird coloration and plumage elaboration: A review of hypotheses, in: Power, D.M. (ed.) Current ornithology, 1995, 12: 141–190) discusses various theories offered to account for the varieties of color and appearance in different species of birds.Google Scholar

Beautifully illustrated introductions to the relations between behavior and various human anatomical specializations have been published by: Morris, D. (1977). Man watching: a field guide to human behavior, London: Jonathan Cape; and Morris, D. (1985). Body watching: a field guide to the human species, London: Jonathan Cape.Google Scholar

Lehrman, D.S. (1970). Semantic and conceptual issues in the nature-nurture problem. Pp. 17–52 in: L.R. Aronson, E. Tobach, D.S. Lehrman, and J. Rosenblatt (eds.) Development and evolution of behavior: Essays in memory of T.C. Schneirla, San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.Google Scholar

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Roberts, W.W. (1970). Hypothalamic mechanisms for motivational and species-typical behavior. In: Whalen, R.E., Thompson, R.F., Verzeano, M. and Weinberger, N. The neural control of behavior. New York: Academic Press, pp. 175–206.Google Scholar

Goodenough, F.L. (1932). Expression of the emotions in a blind-deaf child. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 27: 328–333. Thompson, J. (1941). Development of facial expression in blind and seeing children. Archives of Psychology, #264: 1–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Fulcher, J.S. (1942). “Voluntary” facial expression in blind and seeing children. Archives of Psychology, #272: 1–49.Google Scholar

The most comprehensive textbook on comparative neuroanatomy in English, though now badly out of date, is: Kappers, C.U., Huber, G.C., and Crosby, E.C. (1965). The comparative anatomy of the nervous system of vertebrates, including man, vols 1–3, New York: Hafner Publishing Co. (first published 1936). A more recent textbook is: Butler, A.B., and Hodos, W. (1996). Comparative vertebrate neuroanatomy: Evolution and adaptation, New York: Wiley-Liss. An excellent textbook focussed mainly on the human brain but containing some data on other species is: Brodal, A. (1981). Neurological anatomy in relation to clinical medicine, 3^rd ed., New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Diamond, M.C. (1988). Enriching heredity: the impact of the environment on the anatomy of the brain. New York: The Free Press. Kolb, B. (1995). Brain plasticity and behavior. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar

Anderson, S.R., and Lightfoot, D.W. (1999). The human language faculty as an organ. Annual Review of Physiology, 62: 697–722. Pinker, S. (1994). The language instinct. New York: William Morrow and Company.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Damasio, H. (1991). Neuroanatomical correlates of the aphasias. In: Sarno, M.T. (ed) Acquired aphasia, 2^nd ed. San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 45–71.Google Scholar

Myers, R.E. (1976). Comparative neurology of vocalization and speech: proof of a dichotomy. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 280: 745–757.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar

Penfield, W., and Roberts, L. (1966). Speech and brain mechanisms, New York: Atheneum.Google Scholar

Jurgens, U., and Ploog, D. (1970). Cerebral representation of vocalization in the squirrel monkey. Experimental Brain Research, 10: 532–554. Robinson, B.W. (1967). Vocalization evoked from forebrain in Macaca mulatta. Physiology and Behavior, 2: 345–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Jensen-Jazbutis, G.T. (1971). Clinical-anatomical study of microcephalia vera (a microcephalic brother and sister with atrophy of the left mammillary body) Zeitschrift für Hirnforschung, 12: 287–305. Ross, J.J., and Frias, J.L. (1977). Microcephaly. In: P.J. Vinken and G.W. Bruyn (eds) in collaboration with N.C. Myrianthopoulos, Congenital malformations of the brain and skull, Part I, volume 30, pp. 507–524, Handbook of clinical neurology, Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company. A classical description of the behavior of a microcephalic woman can be found in: Korsakov, S.S. (1956). On the psychology of microcephalics. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 62: 108–121 (first published 1894).Google Scholar

Skinner, B.F. (1974). About behaviorism, New York: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar

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Geist, V. (1982). Adaptive behavioral strategies. In: Thomas, J.W., and Toweil, D.E. (eds) Elk of North America: ecology and management, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books and the United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, pp. 219–277.Google Scholar

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It is interesting that although humans cannot generally be regarded as seasonal breeders there are seasonal variations in gonadal hormone levels and a statistical tendency for more births to occur in the spring than in other seasons in northern countries such as Sweden and Finland [Lam, D.A., and Miron, J.A. (1994). Global patterns of seasonal variation in human fertility, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 709: 9–28]. One may, perhaps, regard this as a vestigial piece of physiology and behavior dating back to a time when human primate ancestors gave birth in spring and the young matured sufficiently in a single summer to better withstand the trials of winter.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar

Sanford, C.B. (1999). The hunting apes: meat eating and the origins of human behavior. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Schaller, G.B., and Lowther, G.R. (1969). The relevance of carnivore behavior to the study of early hominids. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 25: 307–341.Google Scholar

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Darwin, C. (1998). The descent of man, New York: Prometheus Books (first published in New York in 1874). The quotation is taken from p. 100.Google Scholar

Swift, J. (1970). Gulliver’s travels, 2^nd ed. (first published in 1727). See Part IV: A voyage to the country of the Houyhnhnms.Google Scholar

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