STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF BEHAVIOR SYSTEMS

Behavior systems are particular organizations of cognitive structures that are called behavior mechanisms: perceptual, central, and motor. T hus, behavior systems are defined here in structural terms and not in terms of their functional characteristics. In young animals, behavior mechanisms often develop independently of functional experience, thoug h specific types of experience are usually necessary for integrated sy stems to develop. These concepts are illustrated here by the dust-bath ing, feeding, aggressive, and sexual systems of the fowl, which are co nsidered to be typical of behavior systems in other species. Aspects o f neural development are examined and found to facilitate our understa nding of a wide range of developmental phenomena, such as critical per iods and irreversibility. Finally, various examples of classical condi tioning and instrumental learning are analyzed in terms of the type of structures involved, and they are related to general developmental pr ocesses.