Neural Circuits Lecture 9

Neural Circuits NC9

Non-Associative learning

Definition of Learning and memory
 Learning
 The process of acquisition of information on consistent spatial and
temporal relationships between events in the internal and external
environment
 This process leads to a change in behavioural performance as a
result of previous experience
 Memory
 Storage of the knowledge acquired by learning
 The persistence of change in behavioural performance after
learning has been completed

There are 2 major types of memory:
 Explicit
 Declarative, conscious, facts
 Implicit
 Non-declarative, Unconscious, habituation

Non-associative learning uses reflex pathways

Non-associative learning:
 Learning that does not require linking or associating stimuli together
 It is considered the simplest type of learning and therefore a topic which
can help us gain fundamental insight into how learning occurs in neural
circuits

Types of non-associative learning
 Habituation
 A decrease in behaviour due to repeated exposure to innocuous
stimuli
 Sensitization
 An increase in behaviour due to exposure to a noxious stimulus

Habituation
 There are several well-defined behavioural examples of habituation and
sensitization, but to examine the underlying learning circuits is very
difficult in complex mammalian systems.
 Invertebrates provide an excellent opportunity to study basic forms of
cellular activity such as the Tritonia CPG, you have already heard about.
 The very first organism where simple learning paradigms were studied
on the circuit level was the Aplysia model system.