Nivedita Kamath Week #15: Innate Memory
Innate Memory
I often get caught up pondering over all the mysteries of the universe on an extremely broad scale, asking existential questions such as, “Where does the soul come from? How was the universe created? What happens after death? Etc.” As a human being, I have the privilege of perceiving the world from a more complex perspective than other animals and plants; however, recently I have been finding myself questioning the complexity of knowledge so common that you might have learned of them from cartoons.
For example: a spider knows how to make a web, a beaver knows how to build a dam, a baby turtle knows to swim to the ocean the moment it hatches, and a baby kangaroo knows to hop into its mother’s pouch after it is born. These are all seen as inherited instinctive behaviors yet still seem voluntary. Behaviors such as breathing, flinching, crying are also behaviors that can appear both voluntarily and involuntarily. Where is the line between voluntary and involuntary when it comes to evolved survival instincts?
It is difficult to tell how a spider knows to construct a web. It could be muscle memory ingrained in the DNA of the species. It could be a bodily function like breathing, excreting waste, and reproducing. Scientists at John Hopkins attempted to track the nerves in a spider’s miniscule brain and create a genetic map of the web-constructing behavior. Ultimately, the claim remains that the behavior is innate and used as a tool for survival, similar to a fight or flight response which can seem voluntary but is extremely difficult to prevent.
Like a warning signal sent through a telecom to a city under the threat of a tornado, such behaviors act as a coded piece of memory to aid with survival. Somehow animals similar to spiders with innate survival instincts have managed to pass down this signal through DNA to their offspring.
Swedish Biologist Lars Wilsson attempted to break down this signal present in beavers' instinct to build dams. He bred and raised beavers in different environments. The young bevers near running water immediately began constructing perfect dams, while the beavers near still-water made no attempt to build, deciding to bury themselves in the mud instead. However, once Wilsson played the sound of running water to the second group of beavers, their instincts kicked in and they began constructing a dam in the still water. Even on a clear and silent concrete floor, the beavers began building a dam over a speaker playing the sound of running water as if attempting to close up a leak. Furthermore, a leak in a dam releasing running water but making no sound would be ignored by the beavers. This behavior reveals that the algorithmic style of this behavior is based on sound rather than visual. The voluntary appearance of the behavior is caused by the beaver's response to their conditions while the behavior itself is an involuntary need to protect themselves and their shelter.
What other innate behaviors could stem from such algorithms within DNA and do modern humans exhibit such behaviors?
The concept of having these natural and survival instincts to certain scenarios is an interesting observation also because these instincts are different for most people. I do not remember the exact saying, but in desperate situations, people are divided in whether they choose to freeze, flee, or fight. I wonder what factors determine which natural response people are inclined to do, and whether there is some part of the DNA that shapes people to follow these responses.
ReplyDeleteHi Nivedita, I enjoyed reading another one of your philosophical deep blogs. I remember learning about innate behavior and learned behavior in my Living Earth class freshman year. In that class, Ms. Kagel taught us about a scientist named Pavlov who conducted an experiment where he rang a bell for a dog every time he fed it and in response, the dog salivated. After some time Pavlov rang the bell and the dog started getting excited and salivated. We also use this learned behavior to tie meaning to words. For example, whenever my friends mention naan and paneer I also start salivating involuntarily.
ReplyDeleteIn biology we learned about something called methylation patterns which is basically when certain parts of the DNA can be methylated to prevent their expression. This selective gene expression can allow for different behavioral tendencies that can be passed down as these methylation patterns are passed down to offspring. A study actually showed that a group of mice that had been trained to act a certain way when hearing a sound had passed down that trait to their offspring. It would be really interesting to see how this and the innate behaviors that you discussed is presented in humans.
ReplyDeleteHi Nivedita! Human and animal instinct is very interesting. We have possess so many innate behaviors, but also very flexible characteristics. I wonder how humans, along with other species, will continue to evolve centuries into the future.
ReplyDeleteHi Nivedita! Wow, I honestly did not know about a lot of these animals, and I found your blog incredibly interesting. The idea of innate behaviors is so interesting, and the research done with the beavers prove that it is not the environment that causes and influences these specific behaviors. Like you mention, breathing is an innate behavior, and it is so hard to consider it a “choice.” For example, a fish swimming is an innate behavior. What would happen if a fish just… stopped swimming? Thanks so much for your interesting blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Nivedita! Thanks for sharing, your blog was certainly very interesting and fun to read, especially because I love animals and I don’t know a lot about these animals, but I love to learn about them. It’s really cool to see the behaviors animals and humans possess, some the same and some different. The entirety of evolution is very interesting to learn about, learning about their behaviors, the reasons behind them etc. I know it’s definitely going to change so I definitely can’t wait to see how animals and humans evolve in the future!
ReplyDeleteHi Nivedita! I love how you always have such interesting topics in your blogs. It is quite fascinating how spiders know how to make webs even when there was no one there to teach them. It reminds me of some things babies do just as something that seems like an instinct. The rooting reflex is when babies will turn to any feeling of touch. The spiders' ability to spin webs, the beavers being nature's engineer, and baby turtles knowing to crawl to the sea may just be innate memories.
ReplyDeleteHi Nivedita, that beaver study is super interesting. That brings up a question: is that true for humans too? We evolved in outdoor conditions—hearing the wind, the rain, the insects, and everything else. These days, our ears are hearing music, white noise, industrial activity, cars, etc. It is deeply unnatural. Does that have a deep psychological impact on our mental health? There may already be answers to this, but it's really interesting to realize how artificial our lives have become.
ReplyDeleteHi Nivedita, it is really interesting to watch animals do certain tasks without actually learning it from a parent. Like beavers or spiders, as you mention. Their parents don’t need to teach them how to build a dam or how to make a web. They just do it. Innate abilities in nature are really fun to see. Birds know to fly south for the winter. I found your discussion of the beaver study really interesting as to how sound (specifically running water) may be affecting the instinct to build a dam. Can altruism in humans also be considered an innate quality?
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