You Are Maintaining a Small Population of Fruit Flies in the Laboratory

question 47

Multiple Choice

You are maintaining a small population of fruit flies in the laboratory by transferring the flies to a new culture bottle after each generation.After several generations,you notice the viability of the flies has decreased greatly.Recognizing that small population size is likely to be linked to decreased viability,the best way to reverse this trend is to

• A)cross your flies with flies from another lab.
• B)reduce the number of flies that you transfer at each generation.
• C)transfer only the largest flies.
• D)change the temperature at which you rear the flies.
• E)shock the flies with a brief treatment of heat or cold to make them more hardy.

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Definitions:

Discrimination Learning

The ability to differentiate between various stimuli or situations based on learned characteristics.

Generalization Gradient

The degree to which learned behavior is conducted in response to variations of the original conditioned stimulus, showing the relationship between similarity to the original stimulus and behavioral response.

Discrimination Training

A learning process in which an organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are not identical.

Inhibition Generalizes

A psychological phenomenon where the suppression of a response to a particular stimulus also suppresses responses to similar stimuli.