Avoidance response

The Kellet's whelk does not display an avoidance response in the presence of the sea star Pisaster giganteus.[1] The sea star is eating the bivalve Chama pellucida while three Kelletia kelletii are attempting to get to the prey.

An avoidance response is a response that prevents an aversive stimulus from occurring. It is a kind of negative reinforcement. An avoidance response is a behavior based on the concept that animals will avoid performing behaviors that result in an aversive outcome. This can involve learning through operant conditioning when it is used as a training technique. It is a reaction to undesirable sensations or feedback that leads to avoiding the behavior that is followed by this unpleasant or fear-inducing stimulus.

Whether the aversive stimulus is brought on intentionally by another or is naturally occurring, it is adaptive to learn to avoid situations that have previously yielded negative outcomes.[2] A simple example of this is conditioned food aversion, or the aversion developed to food that has previously resulted in sickness. Food aversions can also be conditioned using classical conditioning, so that an animal learns to avoid a stimulus previously neutral that has been associated with a negative outcome.[3] This is displayed nearly universally in animals since it is a defense against potential poisoning.[4][5] A wide variety of species, even slugs,[6] have developed the ability to learn food aversions.

  1. ^ Rosenthal R. J. (1971). "Trophic interaction between the sea star Pisaster giganteus and the gastropod Kelletia kelletii". Fishery Bulletin, U.S. Department of Commerce, 69(3): 669-679.
  2. ^ Bernstein, I.L. (1999). "Taste aversion learning: A contemporary perspective". Nutrition. 15 (3): 229–234. doi:10.1016/s0899-9007(98)00192-0. PMID 10198919.
  3. ^ Garcia, J (1996). Relation of cue to consequence in avoidance learning. Foundations of animal behavior: Classic papers with commentaries. pp. 374–375.
  4. ^ Garcia, John; Frank R. Ervin; Robert A. Koelling (1966). "Learning with Prolonged Delay of Reinforcement". Psychonomic Science. 5 (3): 121–122. doi:10.3758/bf03328311.
  5. ^ Garcia, John; W.G. Hankins; K.W. Rusiniak (6 September 1974). "Behavioral regulation of the milieu interne in man and rat". Science. 185 (4154): 824–831. Bibcode:1974Sci...185..824G. doi:10.1126/science.185.4154.824. PMID 11785521. S2CID 46537706.
  6. ^ Sahley, C.L.; A. Gelperin; J. Rudy (1981). "One-trial associative learning modifies food odor preferences of a terrestrial mollusk". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 78 (1): 640–642. Bibcode:1981PNAS...78..640S. doi:10.1073/pnas.78.1.640. PMC 319110. PMID 16592960.