Re: neuroscience vs ethology - 未名空间MITBBS历史存档

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Re: neuroscience vs ethology

Re: neuroscience vs ethology# Biology - 生物学

n*e2000-07-04 07:07

1 楼

i am not familiar with these two. i think ethology is more direct, it is
behavioral study of animal in its natural environment. for example, you
might do some in-site observation to study how antelopes navigate in
central africa area and setup a pattern using statistical data. neoroscience
seems to be popular in recent years, and it would apply molecular and
genetic tools to study animal's behavior.for example, it will investigate
the development of some neuron sensor that is critical to control

f*g2000-07-04 07:07

2 楼

There is a whole tradition called Neuroethology. I guess it
is more defined by
the kind of questions they ask. They typically try to figure
out what kind of
purpose does a neural strucutre serve, what behavioral
consequences a neural structure has and what evolutionary
advantages does it confer. But it's really a loose
confederation of researchers.
I guess gems in this tradition that I know of include
Gibson's ethological theory of vision and recent researches
on how the visual system is optimal