PSYCH 3FA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Karl Lashley, Edward Thorndike, Puzzle Box
Document Summary
Pre-1960s period: william james 1890, principles of psychology. Memory + other aspects of behavior are based on physiological properties of the brain. Puzzle box for cats: had to escape the box by pulling on the lever of fish. More trials = learning: law of effect any behavior followed by a reward is likely to be repeated, vice versa, pavlov, the turn of 19 century, classical conditioning. Salivation could be evoked by neutral stimulus after being paired with an effective stimulus: search for the engram (engram = memory trace that is present in the brain after learning) Specific engrams localized in areas of the brain or interwoven throughout the entire brain: karl lashley (1929) failed attempt and pessimistic view. Tried to show that specific cortical connections are formed during conditioning procedures. Found no evidence that destruction/removal of any specific area of the cerebral cortex could either erase the engram or cause learning to be prevented.