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Course Description

Summary

For more than 60 years, modern experimental psychology has focused on characterizing the intimately linked processes of learning and memory. At the same time, neuroscientists have worked doggedly since the birth of their field to unravel the neural mechanisms underlying these fundamental processes. How does an animal acquire information about its world and access and recall this information over hours, days, months, or even an entire lifetime? In particular, what anatomical and physiological changes occurring in the brain can account for the processes of learning and memory? Is animal memory a form of static information storage, akin to that of a digital computer, or something else entirely? In this course, we will survey the properties of learning and memory across diverse animals, from marine snails to insects to birds and non-human mammals to humans. We will explore the neuroanatomical and physiological underpinnings of these processes. We will also review traditional views of learning and memory, as well as evaluate the most current findings and the theories they support.