PSYC 2330 Study Guide - Fixed Action Pattern, Classical Conditioning, Motor Neuron

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2330
• Professor: Francesco Leri

Document Summary

Learning: biological processes that facilitate adaptation to one"s environment. Something that makes you respond (always a stimulus, whether you know it or not), and something that has value (motivational value - individual differences and dependent on context, must motivate you to behave). We have motivational value because we have previous encounters with the stimuli and have memory for it - memories are a product of learning! This occurs because we have a nervous system that responds to stimuli by looking back into past experience with the stimuli, taking into account how valuable the stimuli is at that moment, and behaving accordingly. Rene descartes introduced the concept that your brain is involved in making you behave. In a sense he was a dualist meaning he believed that the mind and the physical world influence behaviour. Involuntary behaviour occurs by taking stimuli in through the senses, transmitting this to the brain, which then decides how the muscles should respond.