LEARNING AND REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOR

拟议的研究是一个系统的计划， 研究性学习的基本机制， 行为系统 性行为一直是广泛关注的焦点 生物学家、心理学家和其他科学家的研究。 研究 学习机制也有着悠久而杰出的历史。 然而，这两种调查很少结合起来。 一个模型将被用来根据性行为发生在 对物种典型线索、本地线索和上下文线索的反应。 我们 以前的研究主要集中在确定物种的性质 性行为系统中的典型线索，以及 涉及物种典型和当地线索的学习。 拟议 研究将扩大调查的重点是作用， 遇到物种典型和当地线索的背景， 将语境线索的条件作用与更多的条件作用相比较， 在几个重要学习变量的框架中的焦点刺激 (the CS-US间期、阻断和US预暴露），通过探索 调节学习对性行为的影响，通过探索 性行为的功能意义，并通过 研究条件性行为的荷尔蒙基础 这项研究将提供有关学习的一般性的信息 过程，这对学习理论的发展至关重要 以及发现学习的生理基础的努力 使用简单的神经准备。 这项研究也将提供线索 关于学习可能有助于和塑造 通过自然选择，并开始提供有关 性学习、性动机和性行为之间的关系 条件性行为的表现。

The proposed research is a continuation of a systematic program of inquiry concerned with the basic mechanisms of learning in a sexual behavior system. Sexual behavior has been the focus of extensive research by biologists, psychologists, and other scientists. The study of learning mechanisms also has had a long and distinguished history. Rarely, however, have these two lines of investigation been integrated. A model will be used according to which sexual behavior occurs in response to species typical cues, local cues, and contextual cues. Our previous research has focused on identifying the nature of species typical cues in a sexual behavior system and on demonstrating forms of learning that involve species typical and local cues. The proposed research will broaden the investigation by focusing on the role of the context in which species typical and local cues are encountered, by comparing the conditioning of contextual cues to the conditioning of more focal stimuli in the framework of several important learning variables (the CS-US interval, blocking, and US preexposure), by exploring modulatory learning influences on sexual behavior, by exploring the functional significance of sexually conditioned behavior, and by investigating the hormonal bases of conditioned sexual behavior. The research will provide information about the generality of learning processes, which is critical for the development of theories of learning and for efforts to discover the physiological substrates of learning using simple neural preparations. The research will also provide clues about some of the ways in which learning may contribute to, and be shaped by, natural selection, and begin to provide information about the relationship between sexual learning, sexual motivation, and the performance of conditioned sexual behavior.