Learning and memory

Also known as innate behaviour.

This is a large collection of responses which are usually seen in every member of a particular species.

• It is a genetically determined response to a particular stimulus, and it occurs as specific nerve pathways are laid down in the embryo from the instructions of the DNA.
• The stimulus for a piece of innate behaviour will always elicit the same response, which has been selected over generations for its survival value.
• Nature is completely dominant in the development of these pathways in the brain.

• This is an adaptive change in the behaviour of an individual which occurs as the result of experience.
• Nurture is important in the way the brain develops and learning takes place in repsonse to the environment.

• Habituation
• Conditioned reflexes
• Trial-and-error (operant) learning
• Imprinting
• Exploratory (latent) learning
• Insight learning