Lecture C1 (2024-09-12): Foundations of Learning and Memory

NOTE: UNFORTUNATELY, THE AUDIO CUTS OUT AROUND 36:45.

In this lecture, we provide foundations for discussing an important form of plasticity in animal behavior – learning. The response an animal has to its environment can be innate, or it can be modified by experience with its environment, resulting either in short-term changes (short-term learning) or long-term changes (long-term learning) with the possibility of very long-lasting changes (long-lasting learning). We discuss the different benefits and costs of these different forms of learning, which will also involve a brief description of the neural mechanisms underlying learning in animals. We then move to methods of measuring learning in behavioral experiments as well as categorizations for different forms of learning. This will allow us to introduce both non-associative learning (habituation and sensitization) and various forms of associative learning.

Topic highlights:

• the costs, benefits, and mechanisms underlying innate behavior, short-term learning, and long-term learning
  
  • protein recruitment vs protein synthesis in neurons
• "learning curve" and "forgetting curve"
• distinctions between learning, forgetting, and extinction
  • long-lasting memory, periodic reinforcement, and memory consolidation
• the basic models of learning:
  • imprinting (and critical periods)
  • non-associative learning: habituation (and repetition) and sensitization (and intensity)
    • the combination of the two as information filters
  • associative learning (conditioning)
    • operant conditioning
      • prepared, unprepared, contraprepared animals 
      • reinforcement and punishment
        • both positive and negative
    • classical conditioning
      • unconditioned/conditioned stimulus/response

Important terms: learning, forgetting, extinction, learning/forgetting/extinction curve, innate behaviors, short-term/working memory, long-term memory, long-lasting memory, periodic reinforcement, memory consolidation, stimulus, response, imprinting, habituation, sensory adaptation, sensitization, conditioning/associative learning, operant conditioning, prepared/unprepared/contraprepared, reinforcement (positive and negative), punishment (positive and negative), classical conditioning, unconditioned/conditioned stimulus/response