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SUMMARY:Predisposition\, early learning and memory: An analysis of neural 
 mechanisms - Prof Sir Gabriel Horn\, Sub-department of Animal Behaviour\, 
 Department of Zoology
DTSTART:20080418T153000Z
DTEND:20080418T163000Z
UID:TALK11694@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Hannah Critchlow
DESCRIPTION:The notion that memory consists of a trace left in the brain b
 y a past\, learned experience goes back several hundred years\, yet the ef
 fort to characterise properties of the putative trace continues. I shall r
 eview some of the progress that has been made in this effort through a stu
 dy of visual imprinting in the domestic chick. The young chick learns to r
 ecognise and form a filial attachment to its mother or to a surrogate moth
 er\, which may be a conspicuous artificial object. An advantage of studyin
 g imprinting is that a visually inexperienced animal may learn the feature
 s of the first object to which it is exposed\; so the putative trace is in
 scribed in a nervous system in which there are no previous inscriptions of
  learned visual experiences. Evidence will be presented that a localised a
 rea (the ‘IMM”) of the cerebral hemispheres stores information acquire
 d through imprinting. The IMM is a polysensory region receiving inputs fro
 m the hippocampus and the avian equivalent of the mammalian amygdala. I sh
 all describe some of the cellular and molecular changes that occur in the 
 region after imprinting\, focussing on the neurophysiological changes\, an
 d the role of sleep in stabilizing them. Some of these changes were quite 
 surprising. \nChicks have a predisposition to approach objects resembling 
 conspecifics. This predisposition may guide them to one individual conspec
 ific\, usually their mother\, whose features they learn. The IMM is necess
 ary for this learning to occur\, but not for the predisposition\, which ca
 n be manipulated experimentally.
LOCATION:Physiology Lecture Theatre
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