Chapter 14

Behaviorists envisioned the brain as a switchboard (connecting stimuli with responses).
Lashley's 2 main findings: (1) mass action, & (2) equipotentiality.
Restricted environments vs. enriched environments (greater sensory diversity builds up more numerous and complex neural networks/connections).
Hebb's conception of neurons: (1) cell assemblies, & (2) phase sequences.
Learning process in childhood consists of the formation of cell assemblies and phase sequences.
Learning process in adulthood consists of making new connections between already existing cell assemblies and phase sequences.
Arousal theory (reticular activating system, RAS). According to Hebb, each neural impulse has two functions: (1) a cue function of the stimulus (information value), and (2) an arousal function of the stimulus (spreading activation to the RAS causing arousal).
Optimal level of arousal - for an individual to get the most out of the cue function of a stimulus there is an optimal level of arousal.
This optimal level of arousal, however, can differ for different kinds of tasks (easy vs. difficult).
Sensory deprivation research - what happens to adults who are sensory deprived? This situation eventually becomes very aversive, and the individual may experience hallucinations. So it seems that sensory stimulation is necessary for normal neurophysiological functioning.
Fear in chimpanzees - develops around four months; most fear is associated with familiar objects that were shown in unfamiliar ways (how is this related to cell assemblies?).
Reverberating neural activity is the basis for short term memory, and it is necessary for the consolidation of memories into long-term memory.
Duncan's experiment testing the effect of electroconvulsive shock (ECS) on the consolidation process in rats after learning to avoid an electric shock. Later, after ECS he found that the rats given ECS closer in time to the learning trial had more difficulty in remembering/learning the avoidance response; ECS prevented material from moving from STM (short term memory) to LTM (long term memory).
Retrograde amnesia vs. anterograde amnesia (e.g., H.M.).
Reinforcement centers of the brain (so called pleasure center) are located in the nucleus accumbens (part of the limbic system) and the transmitter dopamine is associated with this area.
Unique characteristics of reinforcement by direct brain stimulation (reinforcement centers): (1) no deprivation is needed, (2) satiation does not occur, (3) it takes priority over other drives, (4) there is rapid extinction, and (5) most schedules of reinforcement to not work.
These characteristics make some researchers believe that the nucleus accumbens is more an anticipation of pleasure center, rather than a pleasure center per se.
Sperry and split-brain research with animals, later the technique with humans. What were the results from these two different areas of research on split-brain.
Neglect syndrome (increased likelihood in those with right-brain damage).
Dichotic listening techniques find that verbal information (syllables and/or digits) played to the right ear (left brain) is accurately reported, whereas melodies and environmental noises are more readily perceived if played into the left ear (right brain).
However, dichotomania is usually an oversimplification of how the brain actually works every day in normal people.
Anatomical structure of the neuron: dendrites, soma, axon, terminal buttons, neurotransmitters, & synapse.
The resting potential of the neuron is slightly negative, when threshold is reached and the neuron fires its action potential, then the gates on the membrane of the axon open letting the positively charged sodium ions (Na+) rush into the axon creating a positive charge. This flows down the length of the axon to the terminal button where it triggers the release of the neurotransmitters that flow across the synaptic gap (synapse).
What is the experimental procedure for long-term potentiation (LTP)?
What is long-term depression (LTD)?
Hebb on education.
Skip the Hebb Rule & the Delta Rule.

Chapter 15

Classical conditioning enables an organism to learn which stimuli signal events conducive to survival, whereas operant conditioning enables an organism to learn appropriate responses to stimuli in order to acquire things that are conducive to survival.
Ethology
Evolutionary psychologists
Evolutionary theory
Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection has some requirements/characteristics: (1) natural variability within a species must exist, (2) only some individual differences are heritable, & (3) natural selection only takes place when there is an interaction between the inborn attributes of organisms and the environment in which they live.
Survival of the fittest refers to those who fit the environment; there is no evolving to perfection.
Adaptation
Exaptation
Spandrel
Inclusive fitness (kin selection theory)
Bolles' learning theory: learning is the formation of expectancies, classical conditioning is the formation of S-S expectancies, operant conditioning is the development of R-S expectancies. However, Bolles also emphasized innate S-S expectancies and innate R-S expectancies.
Bolles was reacting to the behaviorist notion of the empirical principle of equipotentiality.
According to Bolles, to really be able to understand the learning process, one needs to (1) know the motivational state of the organism, and (2) know how the organism naturally acted in that motivational state.
The "niche" argument or notion that an organism evolves to a particular environment and so would have a preparedness continuum (some actions/behaviors are easy for an organism to learn while other behaviors are difficult for an organism to learn).
Examples of how the preparedness continuum influences learning are found in Petrinovich & Bolles (1954) - the T-mazes using either food or water as reinforcers and having the reinforcement in one location or alternating back-and-forth.
Conditioned taste aversion (the Garcia effect): (1) bright & noisy water paired with electric shock led to an aversion of the bright & noisy water, however, bright & noisy water paired with nausea did not lead to an aversion to the bright & noisy water. Why?; (2) saccharin sweetened water paired with nausea led to an aversion of the sweet water, however, sweet water paired with electric shock did not lead to an aversion of sweet water? Why?
What did Wilcoxon et al. (1971) find while presenting rats and quail with blue & salty water followed by illness? Subsequently, what did the rats avoid and what did the quail avoid? Why?
Timberlake's notion of overdetermined.
Bolles' notion of biogrammar.
Avoid nothing butism and the naturalistic fallacy.
Evolutionary influences on:
(1) the development of phobias - snake & spider phobias are acquired more easily & are more resistant to extinction. Some propose the existence of a neuronal "fear module" that influences behavior without our conscious awareness. Xenophobia - natural tendency towards prejudice. Why? - evolutionary reason (ultimate explanation)?
(2) mate selection - both M & F look for kindness/understanding & intelligence in a potential mate, however, males value youth & good looks more, and females value industriousness & good earning capacity more. Why? Evolutionary reason, ultimate explanation?
(3) parenting - kin selection theory (Hamilton's rule: if rB > C, then altruism will occur). Sex differences in parenting - women have more responsibility because: (a) women have more invested in offspring (9 months of pregnancy & only one kid at a time), & (b) women know the child is their child (male paternity is less certain). Family violence: more likely to be violent with non-relatives (those we do not share genes with), so more violence occurs towards spouses (as compared to biological relatives). In addition, nonbiological parents are more likely to murder children, as compared to the biological parents of the children.
What is reciprocal altruism and why would it evolve?
Skip language section
Know ultimate explanations vs. proximate explanations.