Neuronal Basis of Learning.
Abstract
Our studies on the relatively simple nervous systems of the molluscs Pleurobranchaea and Aplysia have inquired into the neuronal basis of integrated behavior, the effect of learning on such integration, identification of neurons involved in the learned behavior, and small network modeling of learning. Significant findings are: (1) Neurocircuits establishing whole-animal behavior functionally emerge or self-organize within pools of coactive neurons; i.e., functional neurocircuits arise moreso from nonlinear dynamical properties than from static (switchboard) anatomical ones. 2) Pharmacologic antagonists of cholinergic muscarinic receptors enhance one-trial Pavlovian conditioning. The specificity of this effect on associative processes provides an important inroad for experiments aiming to identify neurons involved in learning, and also to understand how learning biases self-organization. 3) In support of a goal-seeking theory of learning, conditioning of small nerve networks shows that cellular changes relating to an analog of learning involve postsynaptic processes in addition to presynaptic ones. These findings have broad implications in neurosciences and artificial intelligence. Keywords: Associative learning, Parallel processing, Self-organization, Pavlovian conditioning, Muscarinic receptors, Cholinergic; Identified neurons, Distributed function, Nerve nets.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 03, 1986
- Accession Number
- ADA167079
Entities
People
- George J. Moitsos
Organizations
- Oregon State University