Learning and Foraging Behavior

Abstract

Arguments are presented for the integration of the psychological study of animal learning with the ecological study of foraging behavior. In the first section, several examples from the psychological literature (the matching law, taste-aversion learning, and learning set) are discussed in an attempt to demonstrate how these areas require a more ecological evolutionary approach. Second, current field and laboratory research on foraging behavior is reviewed. We conclude in this section that once ecological foraging research began to concentrate upon the behavior of individual animals, the learning abilities of these animals inevitably became a central issue. Specific methodological and conceptual advantages resulting from the integration of psychology and ecology are discussed in the final section. The chapter concludes with comments on real and perceived obstacles to the occurrence of such interdisciplinary integration in the near future.