Peter Wrege

Living in the Finger Lakes region of New York, USA. A sometimes research biologist with interests in bird social behavior and ecology, soon to enter retirement if no grants are forthcoming. Interested in Wiki as a method of communication between biologists in a research network - currently with locations from Alaska-USA, to Tierra del Fuego-Argentina.

Ah, someone with ethology background! Maybe you can answer a question that's been plaguing me for years. The classic phrase "innate releasing mechanism" assumes that the pattern in question is waiting to be released, rather than waiting to be triggered. Is this significant? Or is that just a sort of random historical accident that that terminology is used?

Konrad Lorenz did not explain.

-- DougMerritt