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What is learning?
A relatively permanent change in behaviour and knowledge that occurs as a result of experience
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What are 3 behaviours not dependent on learning?
- Reflex Actions
- Fixed action patterns
- Behaviour dependent on maturation
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What are reflex actions? Provide an example
- Reflex actions innate, automatic and involuntary reactions to environmental stimuli, which
- do not require prior experience and conscious processing by the brain.
- They involve a simple, rapid response to a specific stimulus and
- are adaptive for survival.
- eg. Blinking in response to having air blown into your eyes
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What are fixed action patterns? Provide an example
- Fixed action patterns are inborn, predispositions to behave in a certain way when appropriately stimulated. They are complex, sequential behavioural responses that are unique to a particular species where every member of the species inherits the behaviour
- eg. A funnel web spider creates its characteristic tubular web
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What are behaviours dependent on maturation? Provide an example
- Behaviours dependent on maturation are behaviours that are genetically predetermined to occur at certain stages of an organism’s lifespan; they require the organism to be sufficiently mentally and/or physically developed before the action can be undertaken
- eg. Humans cannot walk until they are sufficiently developed mentally and physically
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What are neural pathways?
- An interconnected group of neurons organised as a network that is active during the learning process
- When learning, a new neural pathway is either created or existing ones are strengthened
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What is a synapse?
The junction where the axon terminals of the presynaptic neuron comes into close proximity with the dendrites of post synaptic neurons
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What is synaptogenesis?
The formation of new synapses and change in neural pathways, particularly during the early brain development
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What are neurotransmitters? Provide examples
- Chemical substances that carry information between neurons
- Glutamate: An excitatory neurotransmitters that strengthens connections of synapses. It makes pre-synaptic neurons more likely to fire
- Dopamine: Prompts the growth of dendritic spines in the post synaptic neuron
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What does plasticity of the brain refer to?
Refers to the way the brain changes is response to stimulation form the environment. Occurs at the synaptic connections in the brain
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What is developmental plasticity?
Refers to the brain's ability to modify synaptic connections as a result of learning and experiences during the growth or development of its neural structure.
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What are the 5 stages of plasticity?
- 1. Proliferation: where unborn baby cells become neurons and divide and multiply
- 2. Migration: newly formed neurons move to their destined location
- 3. Circuit formation: the axons of the new neurons form synapses with target cells
- 4. Circuit pruning: Where neurons who have not made a connection die and connections are either strengthened or weakened based n whether the neurons fire together
- 5. Myelination: Where the axons of the neurons become covered in myelin. It protects axons from interference and speeds up the transmission. Begins from occipital lobes to frontal lobes
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What is adaptive plasticity and reorganisation?
- Refers to changes in the neural stucture of the brain to enable adjustments to experiences and to compensate and/or maximise remaining functions in the event of brain damage
- Reorganisation: a shift in neural connections that alter the function of a particular area of the brain
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What are sensitive periods?
A specific time in development when an organism is more responsive to learning than any other time of development
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What is experience expectant and dependent learning?
- Experience expectant learning: Occurs during sensitive periods and refers to experiences necessary for learning to occur. eg. Learning to speak the native tongue as a child
- Experience dependent learning: A form of learning that can occur at anytime eg, learning to read or write in one's native tongue
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What are critical periods?
- A very narrow period of time in an animal's development in which the animal is preprogrammed for learning to occur
- eg. Young birds imprinting to the first moving object they see after they hatch from an egg
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Brain development during adolescence
- Cerebellum: increase in the number of neurons and synapses in the cerebellum.
- Amygdala: becomes
- more active during adolescence.
- Corpus callosum: thickens and there is an increase in the number of connections between the two
- hemispheres.
- Frontal lobe (prefrontal cortex): motor
- movement and higher order thinking.
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What is rerouting and sprouting to compensate for loss of function due to brain damage
- Rerouting: when an undamaged neuron that has lost connection with an active neuron due to damage, it seeks a new active
- neuron to connect with instead.
- Sprouting: growth of new, bushier connections on a neuron’s dendrites.
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What is LTP?
- The long-lasting strengthening of synaptic connections between neurons, resulting in enhanced/more effective neural functioning.
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- Functional and structural changes include:
- Increased levels of neurotransmitters produced and released (pre synaptic)
- Increase in dendrites – formation of new synaptic connections
- Increase in sensitivity of receptor sites – new
- receptor sites form(post synaptic)
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