PSY352H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Classical Conditioning, Memory Consolidation, Episodic Memory
Document Summary
Lecture 6: learning allows adaptation to the environment in the most flexible way. It bypasses the slow and complicated process of natural selection, random mutations fitness. In natural selection, animals can adapt to local condition, but it takes time. Responding to changes in the env as quick as possible is what learning allows us to do. It is an experience dependent change in behavioral responding, experience dependent modification of (cid:271)eha(cid:448)io(cid:396). Does(cid:374)"t require multiple generations of natural selection changes: examples in wide variety of species: chimpanzees can learn about 6-700 word or signs. Also dogs (cid:272)a(cid:374) (cid:272)o(cid:373)(cid:373)u(cid:374)i(cid:272)ate (cid:449)ith hu(cid:373)a(cid:374)s, (cid:449)e"(cid:448)e (cid:271)ee(cid:374) (cid:272)o e(cid:448)ol(cid:448)i(cid:374)g fo(cid:396) (cid:1005)(cid:1004)s of thousa(cid:374)ds of years, evolutionary advantage for us in sense of the security and company dogs provide to us. Rats learn to navigate mazes to find rewards, pigeons leant to peck at the appropriate button to obtain food.
