The development of animal behavior: From Lorenz to neural nets

In the study of behavioral development both causal and functional approache s have been used, and they often overlap. The concept of ontogenetic adapta tions suggests that each developmental phase involves unique adaptations to the environment of the developing animal. The functional concept of optima l outbreeding has led to further experimental evidence and theoretical mode ls concerning the role of sexual imprinting in the evolutionary process of sexual selection. From a causal perspective it has been proposed that behav ioral ontogeny involves the development of various kinds of perceptual, mot or, and central mechanisms and the formation of connections among them. Thi s framework has been tested for a number of complex behavior systems such a s hunger and dustbathing. Imprinting is often seen as a model system for be havioral development in general. Recent advances in imprinting research hav e been the result of an interdisciplinary effort involving ethology, neuros cience, and experimental psychology, with a continual interplay between the se approaches. The imprinting results are consistent with Lorenz' early int uitive suggestions and are also reflected in the architecture of recent neu ral net models.