Learning:Reading (note this reading has elements of development and learning in it)What is imprinting? What is the evidence obtained from cross-fostering the closely related blue tits and great tits that imprinting occurs?Imprinting: a young animal/s early social interactions lead to its learning such things as what constitutes an appropriate sexual partner.Male great tits that have been raised by blue tits try to pair with blue tit females. How did experimenters test the memory of Clark's nutcrackers? How does this correspond to the ecology of these birds?The clark’s nutcrackers were allowed to bury their seeds in a large aviary, then the seeds were dug up and all signs removed that they had ever been buried. When the bird returnedit was able to remember up to 80% of its hiding locations. Must have good spatial memory as a storing animal.According to your author, under what sorts of conditions might you expect the ability to learn evolve? How does the comparison of the spatial learning of Clark’s nutcrackers, Mexican jays, and pinyon jays fit into this hypothesis? How about sex differences in spatial learning of different species of vole?Can rats be conditioned in the lab to perform any behavior? Explain.LectureWhat are differences between innate and learned behaviors?Innate1. Correct responses to stimuli are assured2. Response rigid; may not be appropriate if situation changes3. Response coded in genes4. Behavioral repertoire is limited by amount that can be coded in genes5. Modification of behavior is slow (generations) but permanentLearned1. Correct responses achieved by trial and error2. Response can be altered with changing conditions3. Ability to learn is coded by genes, but not the learned information4. Behavioral repertoire is more flexible5. Modification of behavior is quick (individual lifetime), but impermanentDefine associative conditioning and give an example, identifying CS, US, CR, and UR.an animal learns to associate a stimulus that has biological meaning for it with one that is more neutral.Classical conditioning: (Pavlovian conditioning)Unconditioned stimulus: US-food unconditioned response: UR -salivationconditioned stimulus: CS-bellconditioned response: CR- salivationWhat is the difference between operant and associative conditioning?What we might think of as training: a spontaneous behavior is rewarded or punished to shape behavior: animal must ‘operate’ on environment to get reward or avoid punishment: animal’s action is ‘instrumental’ in outcome. Ex: cat in the box.Define habituation. List 4 characteristics of habituation and use an example for each.responses to the same stimulus grow weaker with subsequent presentations. -recovers over time-happens faster in subsequent sessions-may be short- or long-term-presentation of another type of strong stimulus may cause immediate dishabituationDefine sensitization. List 3 characteristics of sensitization and use an example for each.responses to the same stimulus grow stronger with subsequent presentations. Ex: horror movie-increases over time-happens faster in subsequent sessions-is stronger with strong stimuli-may be short- or long- termAre there limitations to what can be learned by association? Give some examples.For example, rats that are made temporarily ill by sweetened water with an emetic in it will learn to avoid any water that tastes sweet, but if the emetic is coupled with a sound, they will not avoid the sound.Conversely, rats will associate a shock with a sound, but not with a taste.getting a raccoon to put pennies in a piggy bank is difficult -it is rewarded with food, but a natural raccoon response to food is to ‘wash’ it- rub it together, which it will do with the pennies associated with foodWhere within the sensory-to-motor neural network in Aplysia does the change that occursduring sensitization take place? What induces that change and how does it occur?In response to a touch, Aplysia will protectively withdraw its gill and siphon (a sensible response to a potential predator).The gill and siphon withdrawl will sensitize: i.e., the response will get larger with anoxious stimulus like a shock to another region like the tail.SensitizationThe sensory neuron from the gill and siphon connects with other neurons (interneurons) in the abdominal ganglion. These in turn connect to the motor neuron controlling gill withdrawl. A shock causes release of serotonin onto the sensory neuron from a facilitating neuron.2. Serotonin triggers a biochemical cascade inside the sensory neuron that causes it to release more neurotransmitter for a while.3. This extra neurotransmitter will cause the responses of the interneuron and motor neuron to be stronger (more spikes), eventually sending a stronger signal to the gill and siphon muscles to withdraw.List all the types of learning we discussed in class and give an example of each.Insight learning: sudden linking of previously unrelated behaviors to solve a problem.Example: pigeons trained to both: 1) push a block around and 2) Peck toy banana for food, can sometimes connect the two to get to toy placed out of reach.Social learning: learning by observing othersScientists observing these macaques gave them sweet potatoes, which one young macaque named Imo would wash off in the nearby ocean. Other macaques soon began copying herWhat are some anatomical changes in the nervous system that occur with learning?During long-term habituation and sensitization, changes in sensory neurons occur that change the actual structure of the sensory neuron synapse.Is learning adaptive? Give some examples of specific studies that show this. Predators eat them once, become ill, and learn to associate the appearance of the animal with the taste.Predators can learn to associate appearance with bad taste better for brightly colored prey than cryptic prey.Golden lion tamarins diets rely more on insect, fruits, flowers, seeds. These are distributed over a wide area.Wied’s marmosets diets rely more on tree gums, which replenish quickly in a small area.As expected, tamarins can remember spatial locations for longer than marmosetsWhat is the significance of the hippocampus in learning? How have scientists used comparative experiments to prove it?The hippocampus is a vertebrate brain structure associated with spatial memory.When spatial learning occurs, neurons in the hippocampus develop more branches (spines), which are associated with these neurons receiving more inputsIn marsh