6 - Learning Biology & Brain Flashcards
Taste Aversion Learning
After becoming sick due to a food item, item becomes warning stimulus for sickness
Why may taste aversion not be a product of classical conditioning?
- only one trial
- Delayed conditioning
- Selectivity
Rescorla-Wagner Model
CC model, learning conceptualized in terms of associations between CS and US
3 fundamental ideas of evolution (Darwin)
- Individuals of a species varry (behv/phys)
- SOME variations are genetically inheritable
- Competition among members of species
Hindbrain structures
Medulla oblongata, pons, cerebellum
What do the hindbrain structures do
Control/coordinate & balance movement (voluntary/involuntary)
Midbrain structures
Tectum, tegmentum
What do the midbrain structures do (generally)
Orientation to sensory inputs, sleeping, movement/arousal
Structures of the forebrain
Diencephalon, tenecephalon, basal ganglia, limbic system
What does the forebrain do?
Advanced cognitive abilities and complex social interactions
4 basic forms of learning
Perceptual, stimulus-response, motor, relational
Perceptual learning
- Recognizing/locating things/environmental stimuli.
- Novelty and change detection
- Involves dorsal and ventral streams
Stimulus-response learning
Automatic response due to presentation of stimulus
Motor Learning
Behaviour involving movement. Requires environmental sensory guidance
Relational learning
Neuronal connections in systems that includes memories that can be verbally expressed and motor memory
Long-term potentiation LPT
Persistent strengthening of synapses due to 2 neurons firing simultaneously which leads to increased ability of postsynaptic to respond to presynaptic
Long-term depression (LTD)
Decreases synaptic connections
What did we learn from patient HM?
Hippocampus involved in converting short term memories to long term memories
Declarative memory (explicit)
Memory that can be expressed verbally
Nondeclaritive memory (implicit)
Formation doesn’t depend on hippocampal formation, perceptual, stimulus-response, and motor memory
Hebbian Learning
Neurons adapt and form stronger connections through repeated use
Instrumental learning
More likely to engage in behaviour if it’s pleasurable
