Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
obvious shortcut, within the framework of existing theory, is to use selected
revealing behavior as a guide to an overall system. As a loose analogy, this is
akin to using the seating arrangement at a formal dinner as a guide to the social
role of the guests in contexts beyond the dinner. Naturally, such shortcuts
necessitate validation.
Behavioral Parameters
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THE BOUT
Even to a casual observer it is obvious that most behavior patterns occur in
bouts; that is, they do not occur randomly in time. Although the existence of
bouts may be obvious, how best to define them is not. A review of major text-
books and many papers reveals that many prefer to avoid this issue. The most
common usages define bouts as a repetitive occurrence of the same behavioral
act (states or events) or a short sequence of behavioral actions that occur in
some functional pattern (Lehner 1996). States usually have durations, and
states with extremely short durations are called events.
The difficulties of defining the hierarchy of bouts, states, and events is illus-
trated by allogrooming by a mouse (figure 10.1). This comprises a series of
actions (nibbles) of short duration; an uninterrupted string of these nibbling
actions might make up a bout of grooming.
However, a student of the detail of mouse grooming will see that these
strings of nibbles may sometimes transfer from one body region to another
(e.g., from head to neck to flanks or back), and for some purposes it may be
helpful to distinguish bouts at this finer scale (a bout of head grooming dis-
tinct from one of flank grooming). The problem is that the best definition of a
bout depends on the purpose of the analysis in which it will be used. There is
a hierarchy of bouts within bouts, as depicted in figure 10.1. Depending on
the scale of resolution required, even a short sequence of nibbles at one patch
on the flank might be distinguished from another bout of grooming at the
next patch of fur. Ultimately, each nibble could be defined as a state, punctu-
ated by another state (shifting the head a fraction to grasp the next tuft of fur).
At a given level of resolution it may be helpful to define states from which
bouts are built up, but often, under closer scrutiny, a state will emerge to have
a structure that could itself represent a bout (rather than one nibble, or one
sweep of the paws, while grooming). In some contexts this wracking down of
the microscope to reveal more and more detail may seem merely a quest to
