Abstract
The concept of a “key stimulus” is traditionally identified with releasers of behavioral responses analogous to that involving a lock and key. If the key fits, then, when it is applied, it will “unlock” the mechanisms and a particular behavior will occur. In other words, the response is predictable and is either genetically determined or shaped by experience — namely innate compared to acquired releasing mechanisms. The “key stimulus” presumably activates a particular chain or population of sensory neurons which in turn somehow leads to the activation of an appropriate population of motorneurons, giving rise to the predicted, stereotyped behavioral output.
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© 1983 Plenum Press, New York
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Capranica, R.R. (1983). Sensory Processing of Key Stimuli. In: Ewert, JP., Capranica, R.R., Ingle, D.J. (eds) Advances in Vertebrate Neuroethology. NATO Advanced Science Institutes Series, vol 56. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4412-4_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4412-4_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
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Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-4412-4
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