fixed action pattern

noun

Ethology.

a highly stereotyped pattern of behavior that is characteristic of a particular species.

Discover More

Said to be a translation of German Erbkoordination, term used by Konrad Lorenz

Discover More

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Yoon and Tennie say that contagious yawning could be due to the activation of a fixed action pattern.

Minimally, this evidence rejects the simplest explanation for contagious yawning: the fixed action pattern.

This is called a fixed action pattern.

It means that contagious yawning is NOT just the result of a fixed action pattern triggered when you see someone else yawn.

Browse