How do “instincts” actually work, and what part of the brain is that located in?
In: Biology
In the field of animal behavior, we talk about *fixed action patterns* – complex behaviors that appear to be pure instinct. Like other commenters have said, this involves some hard-wiring. There are specific brain cells that are strongly connected to each other – when one is triggered, the rest of them fire as well.
My favorite example is the greylag goose. If a nesting goose sees an egg outside of its nest, the “I see egg” cell fires. This causes the “go to egg” and “roll egg to nest” cells to fire, and the goose retrieves the egg.
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