You work in a lab that studies bird brains and behavior. You and your labmate have both submitted brains to a colleague to be sectioned. Your species is a bird that is known for storing large numbers of nuts each autumn in a variety of hidden locations. Your labmate's species is a raptor known for remarkable predatory behavior. What do you anticipate will be different between the two brains?

Question

A.  Your nut-hiding species is likely to have a large hippocampus, while the raptor may have a large visual system.
B.  Your nut-hiding species is likely to have a large visual system, while the raptor may have an large hippocampus.
C.  Both species are likely to have a large nucleus accumbens.
D.  Your nut-hiding species is likely to have a large hypothalamus, while the raptor may have an large olfactory system.


Clarify question:
What is the key concept addressed by the question?

What type of thinking is required?

Gather Content:
What do you already know about brain characteristics associated with different behaviors? What other information is related to the question?

Choose Answer:
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?

Reflection on Process:
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?

Answer 1

A.  Your nut-hiding species is likely to have a large hippocampus, while the raptor may have a large visual system.


Clarify question:
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
You are trying to find the linkage between specific behaviors and the structure of the brain that produces those behaviors.

What type of thinking is required?
This is an evaluate question, you are being asked to make a judgement between all of the possible choices. You are trying to figure out what characteristics you would expect to find in the brains of birds that have completely different lifestyles. 

Gather Content:
What do you already know about brain characteristics associated with different behaviors? What other information is related to the question?
  This question comes from the section of the textbook that discuss learning preparedness. Different species of animals will be predisposed to learning certain types of behaviors. The main task in this question is to link the brain region with its function. The hippocampus is involved in spatial memory, the hypothalamus regulates circadian rhythms, the olfactory system is used to process odors and the visual system is linked to vision. A predatory birds needs very sharp eyesight to see prey from a distance and to be able to catch prey inflight. A bird that stores food for later retrieval must be able to remember where the food is located.

Choose Answer:
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
Long term food storage requires very good spatial memory, and hunting down prey while flying requires excellent vision. Thus a nut-hiding species would most likely possess a larger hippocampus and a predatory bird would most likely have more brain tissue devoted to visual processing.

Reflection on Process:
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
Did you choose the correct answer? The key to this evaluation question was to link the brain area with its associated function and then to determine which brain function would be most useful for the particular type of bird.