PSYCH 1XX3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Assistive Technology, Genetic Drift, Stabilizing Selection
21 Feb 2017
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Adaptations: biological traits that help an individual to survive and reproduce in its habitat; they are always for something, and they perform specific functions that make an organism better suited to its environment. Example: our eyes enable us to respond effectively to things around you by detecting and analyzing the reflected light; raccoon"s paws are so sensitive that they can easily discriminate between food and non- food items in total darkness. Higher mental processes (adaptive functions of mental activity) Cognitive psychologists find if helpful to break down large-scale cognitive processes into adaptive problems or tasks and to then look for adaptations that solve those problems. Adaptations emerge as a result of activation of relevant genes in interaction with relevant aspects of the environment. Natural selection helps adaptations arise, differentiate, and maintain their functionality. Natural selection: survival and reproduction of organisms as a result of heritable differences between them. Ns is one of the 4 basic mechanisms of evolution:
