Instinctual Drift

Definition:

Instinctual drift refers to the tendency of an animal’s learned behavior to gradually revert to innate or instinctive behavior patterns. This phenomenon typically occurs when animals are trained to perform certain behaviors that conflict with their natural instincts.

Explanation:

Instinctual drift is observed when animals, despite receiving extensive training, exhibit behavior that is more aligned with their built-in genetic predispositions. This drift is influenced by various factors such as genetics, conditioning, and the complexity of the task being taught.

Examples:

1. Animal trainers attempting to teach raccoons to deposit coins into a piggy bank faced instinctual drift. Instead of following the intended behavior, the raccoons would rub the coins together or engage in similar instinctual behaviors associated with foraging.

2. In a classical experiment, psychologists Karen Pryor and Marian Breland trained a pig to put a wooden coin in a box. The pig showed gradual instinctual drift as its natural rooting behavior overtook the learned behavior of placing the coin inside the box.