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SUMMARY:A molecular basis of innate and learned behavior - Professor Seth 
 Grant\, Professor of Molecular  Neuroscience\, Centre for Clinical Brain S
 ciences and Centre for Neuroregeneration\, University of Edinburgh
DTSTART:20121123T163000Z
DTEND:20121123T180000Z
UID:TALK38930@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Louise White
DESCRIPTION:The pioneering ethological research of Lorenz and Tinbergen sh
 owed\nthat animals produce characteristic behavioural responses when expos
 ed to\ndifferent environments or changing circumstances. They identified t
 he\nimportance of innate patterns of behavior\, or instincts\, for animal\
 nsurvival\nand speculated that the mechanisms for the instinctive response
 s were\nŒstored¹\nin the genome. The number and types of instinctive res
 ponses that an\nanimal can\nproduce determines their capacity to occupy a 
 diverse range of\nenvironments. It\nis therefore of great importance to id
 entify the mechanisms of individual\ninstinctive responses as well as the 
 repertoire or overall set of\nresponses.\nThe molecular mechanisms underly
 ing the repertoire of innate responses is\nUnknown.\n\n\nPavlov also ident
 ified the importance of instinctive responses\n(referred to as uncondition
 al responses) and demonstrated that they could\nbe\nmodified (conditioned)
  by repeated exposure to the stimulus or association\nwith\nanother stimul
 us. To what extent instinct and learning are related\nprocesses\nremains a
  major question. Over 50 years ago\, Lorenz suggested that the\nresolution
  of this question would require knowledge of the underlying\nmechanisms of
  both to be described. Although our understanding of the\nmolecular\nand g
 enetic basis of learning has advanced considerably in the last 20\nyears\,
 \nthe absence of a clear model for instinctive responses to the environmen
 t\nleaves this fundamental psychological question unanswered. We hypothesi
 zed\nthat\nthere could be a general molecular mechanism that unified insti
 nctive and\nlearned responses that also explained how a broad repertoire o
 f instinctive\nresponses was generated. Data testing this hypothesis will 
 be presented.\n
LOCATION:Ground Floor Lecture Theatre\, Department of Psychology
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