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Education
Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1969
Research Interests
The long term objective of my research is to develop a theory of purposive behavior
that combines an ecological emphasis on the basis of naturally occurring behavior with a focus on the role of learning and regulatory processes in controlling behavior. I am interested in ties to philosophy and computer science on one hand and to evolution and neuroscience on the other.
Empirically we are concerned with:
- Analyzing the temporal and stimulus control of sequential motivational states underlying foraging behavior, using the techniques of Pavlovian conditioning
- Clarifying the unique circadian control of anticipation of food
- Understanding the role of spatial cues and existing perceptual-motor organization in efficient locomotor search
Theoretically we have been concerned with:
- Simulating and modeling free and constrained feeding in rats, and generalizing our threshold approach to multiple behaviors
- Proposing a general conception of the organization of functional systems of behavior, particularly as applied to the perceptual, motor, and motivational structure underlying naturally occurring foraging behavior
- Developing a motivational "grammar" of purposive behavior.
Facilities
We have a large number of computer-controlled
experimental stations for recording and precisely
constraining the 24-hr behavior of rats. We also acquire
video data using cameras linked to computers, and, in some
cases, are able to program spatial-temporal contingencies
based on video input. Finally we have a variety of spatial
mazes suitable for studying search in rodents.
Representative Publications
Timberlake, W. (1994). Behavior systems, associationism, and Pavlovian conditioning.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 1, 405-420.
Timberlake, W. & Silva, K. M. (1995). Appetitive behavior in ethology, psychology, and behavior systems.
In N. Thompson (Ed.), Perspectives in Ethology, pp.
211-253. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
Widman, D. R. & Timberlake, W. (1995). Two possible determinants of the timing of daily episodes of behavior in rats.
Physiology & Behavior, 58, 1227-1236.
Silva, F. J., Timberlake, W. & Koehler, T. L. (1996). A behavior systems approach to bidirectional excitatory conditioning.
Learning and Motivation, 27, 130-150.
Timberlake, W. (1997). An animal-centered causal-system approach to the understanding and control of behavior.
Applied Animal Behaviour Science.
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