Elicited or Unconditioned Behavior

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Elicited or Unconditioned Behavior

• Occurs without past experience
• Modifiable with experience (examples habituation
  and sensitization

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Some Types of Elicited Behaviour

• An eliciting or unconditioned stimulus elicits a
  response without any prior learning
• Types of Elicited Behaviour
• Simple Reflex
• Orienting Reflex
• Taxis (taxes)
• Kinesis (kineses)
• Fixed/Modal Action Patterns

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FAPs/MAPs

• Sequence of behaviors directed at the eliciting
  (sign or releasing) stimulus
• Sometimes requires underlying drive (hydraulic
  model)
• Vigor of response depends on how closely the sign
  stimulus corresponds to the ideal stimulus (e.g.,
  cute baby)
• Small (non-ideal), Normal (ideal), Supernormal
  (exaggerated ideal)

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Releasing Stimulus
Back
5
Back
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Supernormal stimulus
An accurate 3-dimensional model of a herring
gull's head (a), and a 'supernormal' bill (b).
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Supernormal stimulus
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Habituation

• a simple type of learning which is shown by a
  change in elicited behaviour over trials
• defined as a reduction in responsiveness
  (frequency, magnitude) over successive trials
• sometimes short-lasting and sometimes long
  lasting

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Habituation-One Type of Modifiability
Eric Kandel and Aplysia
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Kandels Experiments
Touch Siphon
Gill Withdrawal
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Habituation
gill withdrawal
touch
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Forms of Habituation

• Short-Term
• lasts only a few minutes
• best if stimulus applied at short intervals (2-s)
• Long-Term
• lasts weeks
• best if stimulus applied at longer intervals
  (30-s)

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Simplified Circuit
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Whats the Mechanism of Short-term?
decreases in synaptic transmission
loss of skin sensitivity
decrease in motor synapse
fatigue
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Not Muscle Fatigue
Spontaneous
Evoked
Pinsker et al., (1970) Science 1671740
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Whats the Mechanism of Short-term?
decreases in synaptic transmission
loss of skin sensitivity
decrease in motor synapse
fatigue
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Not Motor Synapse
Before
skin
SN
After
electrical
MN
record
gill
Kupfermann et al., (1970) Science 1671743
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Whats the Mechanism of Short-term?
decreases in synaptic transmission
loss of skin sensitivity
decrease in motor synapse
fatigue
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Skin Sensitivity?
Stage 1
Kupfermann et al., (1970) Science 1671743
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Not Skin Sensitivity
Kupfermann et al., (1970) Science 1671743
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Whats the Mechanism of Short-term?
decreases in synaptic transmission
loss of skin sensitivity
decrease in motor synapse
fatigue
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Mechanism of Short-term Habituation
Decrease in neurotransmitter released at the
synapse with both the motor neuron and
the interneuron!
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Mechanism of Long-Term Habituation
Change in the number of synapses!
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Some Properties of Habituated Responses

1. Spontaneous Recovery
2. Dishabituation
3. Generalization

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Spontaneous Recovery
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Dishabituation
Hi
Response
Habituation Dishabituation
Lo
Number of Presentations
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Generalization
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Sensitization- Another Type of Modifiability

• enhanced response to a benign stimulus after
  exposure to a noxious one (most common)
• for example, startle
• enhanced response after repeated presentations of
  a not so benign stimulus (less common)
• for example, kindling

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Rat Startle
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Human Startle
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Kindling

• repeated stimulation of hippocampal cells
  increases responsiveness
• after being sensitized, very little stimulation
  is required to produce the seizures
• related to epilepsy

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Dual Process Theory
Competition between two separate processes
1. S-R System Habituation
2. State System Sensitization
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Examples
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Conditions Favouring Habituation

1. Calm organism
2. Shorter interstimulus intervals
3. Less variable interstimulus intervals
4. Low intensity
5. Less complexity
6. More trials

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Interstimulus Interval
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Complexity
Looking Time
Trials
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Imagine
Kendra is an overly anxious person. She
worries about the smallest things. Some examples
of the unpleasant symptoms she experiences
include excessive sweating, heart palpitations,
and a fitful sleep. Her anxiety places her at
risk for depression, heart disease, and diabetes.
A genetic test reveals Kendra has a vulnerability
in the promoter region of her serotonin
transporter gene. Her doctor tells her that if
her mother had been more loving and attentive
when Kendra was younger, she might have been
calmer. The doctor maintains experience can
program calmness, and calmness acquired by
experience is inheritable.
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Epigenetics and Early Experience

• Genes affect bodily processes, including
  emotional regulation
• Two copies of the short version of a promoter
  for the serotonin transporter gene is a risk
  factor

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Maternal Behavior
licking and grooming (LG) and arched-back
nursing (ABN)
Low LG-ABN mothers
High LG-ABN mothers
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Attentive Mothering

• Licking and arched-back nursing by mother
• an immediate calming effect on baby rats in the
  first week after birth
• a long-term reduction in stress responsiveness
• the promoter for the short version of serotonin
  transporter gene is switched on by attentive
  mothering
• so, a vulnerable pup with two short copies of the
  promoter for the serotonin transporter gene is
  cured by its mothers licking (short gene works
  better)
• this environmental effect is passed along to the
  pups own offspring

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Brain of Vulnerable Baby Rat
high LG-ABN mother
short gene expressed
less anxiety
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Cross-fostering Studies
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Imagine
Kendras doctor gives her a prescription for
a pill that will promote the activity of the
malfunctioning gene. No other therapy is
necessary. Kendras children inherit the faulty
gene, but its function is enhanced.