PSY 2301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Habituation, Synaptic Plasticity, Cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 2301
• Professor: Andree- Anne Ledoux

Document Summary

Learning and memory ii (missed first few slides) A"s efficiency, as one of the cells firing b, is increased. Role of synapses in learning and memory: sea snail aplysia, has about 20,000 neurons. The siphon is a spout above the gill. Tactile or electrical stimulation of the siphon causes withdrawl of the gill and siphon: to try and get habituation, we want to try and see a decrease in the defensive response to the snail. If you squirt water at the gill, the first time they will withdraw their siphon. However over time, there will be no withdrawl: using electrical stimulus, you can create the sensitization effect. The skin of the siphon is attached to the sensory neuron. With habituation, calcium channels are slower to open. You can still have an action potential possible. If you are letting out less calcium, you are letting out less neurotransmitters, thus you cannot create epsps and the gill does not retract.