TEMPERATURE REGULATION, Homeostasis
THIRST, AND HUNGER ● Deviation in human core Temperature
Instinct Theory
- All organisms are born with innate
biological tendencies that help them
survive. This theory suggests that instincts
drive all behaviors.
Drive Theory
- People are motivated to take certain
actions in order to reduce the internal
tension that is caused by unmet needs.
Arousal Theory
- Suggests that people take certain actions
to either decrease or increase levels of
arousal.
Homeostasis
● Homeospoint
● : Physiological Equilibrium
● Motivation: Activating and directing
behavior
● Regulation of Body temperature
- Setpoint
- The mechanism for detecting
deviation
- Internal and behavioral elements
to regain to set point
● Adaptation to Temperature
- Homeothermic(mammals and
birds)
- Poikilothermic (reptiles,
amphibians, and fish)
2 Types of Classification of Living things:
1. Endothermic (warm-blooded)
- Greek word: “within”
- Birds and mammals
- Brown adipose
2. Ectothermic (cold-blooded)
- Greek word: “outside temperature”
- Reptiles and amphibians
Homeostasis
● Behavioral Response to Heat and Cold
● Ectotherms more dependent on
behavioral devices
- Changes in position, weight,
color, and composition
● Endothermic Response to Heat and Cold
- Automatic internal response to
deviation in temperature
● Response to a lower temperature
- Shiver
Raynaud Disease
- Fingers become white due to lack of blood
flow, then blue as vessels dilate to keep
blood in tissues, and finally red as blood
flow returns.
- Fever, heat stroke (hyperthermia)
- Hypothermia
● Temperature Regulation in Infancy
- Relatively helpless in adapting to
temperature.
Hypothalamus - controls temperature regulation
1. THIRST
- occurs due to osmotic (drops in the
intracellular fluid volume) and
hypovolemic (drops in blood
volume) thirst.
➔ Mechanism of osmotic thirst
- Osmoreceptors located in the brain
- Organum vasculosum of the
lamina terminalis.
➔ Mechanism of hypo oleic thirst
- Baroreceptors measure blood
pressure
- Receptors in the heart and kidney
2. HUNGER
● The influence of culture on food choices
- learned food preferences begin in
early life
● The process of digestion
- foods are broken down into usable
chemicals by the digestive tract
- During digestion fats, proteins, and
carbohydrates are absorbed into
the blood supply and circulated by
waiting tissues.
- The brain uses glucose for energy.
➔ The Pancreatic Hormones
- Glucagon converts stored
glycogen back into glucose
- Insulin helps store glucose as
glycogen and assists in moving
glucose from the blood supply into
Body cells
- Type 1 diabetes mellitus
- Type 2 diabetes mellitus
HUNGER
● Receptors and Hunger
- glucoreceptor in the nucleus of the
solitary tract
● Brain Mechanism for hunger
- Lateral hypothalamus
● Neurochemicals and hunger
- letting communicates with neurons
in the arcuate nucleus of the
hypothalamus
- Ghrelin
- orexins
Satiety
➔ Brain Mechanism for satiety
- Ventromedial hypothalamus
- Paraventricular nucleus
➔ Neurochemicals and satiety
- Leptin is found in the blood when
Body fats levels high
Obesity and eating Disorders
● Defining normal weight
- body mass index
- body fat measurement
● Obesity
- Stress and a high diet increase the
release of neuropeptides and
appetite
- Defending the obese weight
- Intervention for Obesity
● Anorexia Nervosa
- Maintain 85% or less of normal
weight
● Bulimia Nervosa
- The cyclical pattern of binge eating
and purging
● Causes for anorexia and bulimia
- media images
- biological factor -Addictive process
● Treatment for eating Disorder
- antidepressants, cognitive
behavioral therapy
EMOTIONS AND SEXUAL
BEHAVIOR EMOTIONAL
BEHAVIOR
EMOTIONS
• The word emotions means “to move”
- An emotion is a mental and physiological
state associated with a wide variety of
feelings, thoughts, and behavior.
FOUR COMPONENTS OF EMOTION
1. FEELINGS
2. COGNITIVE PROCESS
3. BODILY AROUSAL
4. BEHAVIOR
CATEGORIES OF EMOTIONS
Primary Emotions
- Primary human emotion types are the
ones triggered in response to an event.
- Love, joy, anger, sadness, surprise, fear.
Secondary Emotions
- If we experience fear, the secondary
emotions would be feeling threatened or
feeling anger, depending on the situation
we are experiencing.
- Passion, optimism, irritation, disgust,
shame, nervousness.
VARIETY OF EMOTIONS
● Positive human emotions that lead one
to feel good about one’s self will lead to an
emotionally happy and satisfying result
● Negative human emotions and negative
emotions sap your energy and undermine
your effectiveness. In the negative
emotional state, you find a lack of desire
to do anything.
THEORIES OF EMOTIONS
CANNON-BARD THEORY OF EMOTION
- The Cannon-Bard theory states that the
lower part of the brain controls your
experience of emotion. At the same time, the
higher part of the brain controls the expression
of emotion. It is believed that these two parts
of the brain react simultaneously.
JAMES-LANGE THEORY OF EMOTION
- proposed that bodily changes come first
and form the basis of an emotional
experience. Thus, emotions are caused by
bodily sensations
FACTORS THAT AFFECT EMOTIONS
➢ PERSONALITY
➢ CULTURE
➢ STRESS
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
- is the ability to understand, use, and
manage your emotions positively to relieve
stress, communicate effectively,
empathize with others, overcome
challenges and defuse conflict.
FOUR BRANCHES (Salovey and Mayer) Sex Hormones
1. Perceiving Emotions - Estrogen and testosterone are actually
2. Reasoning with Emotions steroid hormones that also work by
3. Understanding Emotions expressing cells' genes
4. Managing Emotions
• Testosterone is referred to as androgens for
male hormones
Sexual Behavior
• Oestrogen like estradiol are known as female
● It can be defined as the quality or state of
hormones Both types of hormones are found in
being sexual.
female and male
● A broad spectrum of behaviors in
which humans display their sexuality.
2 Effects of Hormones
Paul Maclean - who revised papez ideas and
1. Organizing Effect
gave forebrain structures the name of the limbic
- Influence the development of the body
system.
from conception to sexual maturity
2. Activating Effect
Limbic System - controls primitive functions that
- Influence adult behavior for a short time
all mammals have in common — Things like
-
aggression, avoidance of danger, and sexual
EARLY PRENATAL
behavior.
DEVELOPMENT IN
MAMMALS
MAJOR GLANDS
• In early prenatal development in mammals the
• Pituitary Gland
• Hypothalamus reproductive organs of a male and female are
• Thymus identical
• Thyroid • A male fetus has a Y chromosome that causes
• Liver the development of testes
• Adrenal Gland • A female fetus does not develop testes
• Kidney • The gonads into ovaries and other female
• Pancreas
reproductive organs
• Testes
• Ovaries and Placenta
Male Hormones
PITUITARY GLAND ● Hormones also have effects throughout
- Releases hormones that influence the life not just during a sensitive prenatal
other endocrine glands and are period.
sometimes called the Master ● In men, sexual excitement is highest at the
Endocrine Gland.
ages of 15 and 25.
Two Pituitary Gland ● The hormone oxytocin is also released in
1. Anterior Pituitary Gland large amounts during orgasm.
2. Posterior Pituitary Gland ● When a man’s testicles are removed, In
other words, he is castrated.

HORMONES
Female Hormones
- Designed to affect a number of different
organs and body parts to achieve an ● In women, The hypothalamus is a pituitary
overall effect. gland that interacts to produce a cyclical
release of hormones on an approximately
2 Types of Hormones monthly basis known as the menstrual
1. Protein Hormones cycle.
- Like insulin, alter the metabolism of cells ● These changes in behavior tend to occur
or allow certain substances to enter cells.
around the moment just before ovulation
2. Steroid Hormones or around the middle of the menstrual
- Like cortisol determine the expression of cycle.
genes in cells ● This is known as the peri-ovulatory period
and is the time of maximum fertility for a
woman and is accompanied by high levels
of estrogen.
Sexual Orientation
- It established that sexual orientation runs
in families with genetic and environmental
links to homosexuality
Identical Twins/Monozygotic - Share 100% of
genes Non-Identical Twins/ Dizygotic - Share
50% of genes.
Dizygotic Monozygotic
First Twin - 80% First Twin - 50%
Second Twin - 20% SEcond Tein - 50%
These Findings have Two
Important Limitations
1. They are based on small numbers of twins
2. They also show that sexual orientation
cannot be wholly genetically determined
since only 50% of cases are identical
twins both homosexual
SLEEP AND RYTHM
SLEEP
- a 24-HOUR cycle (sleep-wake cycle)
Circadian Rhythm
- the physiological clock that regulates
when we sleep and wake up in a 24-
hour cycle.
EEG or Electroencephalograph
- It records the electrical activity of the
brain.
Different Brain Waves
● BETA WAVES
➢ are the waves that occur during
our most conscious, waking states.
➢ alert, attentive, and engaged in
problem-solving, decision-making,
and focused mental activity.
● ALPHA WAVES
➢ when the brain is in an idle state
without concentrating on anything.
➢ induce feelings of calm, increase
creativity, and enhance your ability
to absorb new information.
STAGES OF SLEEP
● occur in approximately 90 minutes cycle
NREM or Non-rapid eye movement
N1 Stage
- stage between wakefulness and sleep.
- lightest stage of sleep
- Theta waves–occur when you’re drifting
off to sleep or suspended in that light
phase of sleep, just before you wake up.
- last 1 to 7 minutes (2% to 5% of sleep)
Hypnagogic hallucinations
- hearing voices or seeing moving patterns
and shapes, or vivid images of faces,
animals, or scenes.
Myoclonus
- rapid involuntary movement like twitching
or jerking of a muscle or group of muscles.
One common example is hypnic jerks.
N2 Stage
➢ Stage where people are harder to awaken
➢ a complex stage of sleep with many
functions, from memory consolidation to
protection of the sleep state. This is
where the brain is able to process
external information as well as
information passing between neurons.
➢ lasts approximately 10 to 25 minutes (45%
to 55% of sleep)
Sleep Spindles - a sudden burst of rapid
rhythmic brain activity.
Sensory gating - a neurological process by
which the brain selectively filters out information.
K-complexes – these are waves that are induced
by external stimulation (e.g., a sound) or occur
spontaneously during sleep.
N3 Stage
➢ Slow-wave sleep or deep-sleep stage.
➢ It is very difficult to wake up during this
stage.
➢ last few minutes (3% to 8% of sleep)
DELTA WAVES ➢ the slowest recorded brain
waves in human beings.
REM or Rapid-eye movement sleep
➢ The last stage of the sleep cycle.
➢ also called paradoxical sleep where
dreaming is associated with this stage.
➢ Presence of desynchronized (low-voltage,
mixed-frequency) brain wave activity,
 muscle atonia, and bursts of rapid eye
movements.
➢ lasts approximately 20 to 40 minutes in
the first cycle (25% of sleep)
PGO or Pons genicular occipital – these are
the sudden spikes that show the visual centers of
our brain are also active.
● SLEEP CYCLE (sometimes called an
ultradian-sleep cycle)
● NREM stages constitute about 70 to 80
percent of sleep.
● REM stage constitutes about 20 to 25
percent of sleep.
Hormones that regulate sleep
1. Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)
➢ an amino acid that reduces the activity of
brain cells.
2. Adenosine
➢ A neurotransmitter that gradually
accumulates in the brain during the day,
and at high concentrations makes us
sleepy at night.
3. Melatonin
➢ a hormone released by the brain when it’s
dark.
➢ Cortisol–the body’s main stress hormone.
4. Serotonin
➢ a neurotransmitter associated with both
sleep and being awake.
Narcolepsy
● a disorder that disrupts sleep-wake
processes.
● its primary symptom is excessive daytime
sleepiness (EDS), which occurs because
the brain is unable to regulate
wakefulness and sleep properly.
Symptoms:
➢ Excessive daytime sleepiness
➢ Automatic behaviors
➢ Disrupted nighttime sleep
➢ Sleep paralysis
➢ Sleep-related hallucinations
Cataplexy
- Sudden loss of muscle tone while a
person is awake.
Maria Mikhailovna Manasseina
- Conducted the first documented animal
studies
- She used 10 puppies 2-4 months old, fed
by their mother, and kept with every care
except they were forced to total insomnia
(by keeping them constantly active). The
total sleep deprivation was fatal after 4-5
days and the puppies could not be
rescued
Other experiments conducted on sleep
deprivation:
● Disk-over-water method
● Flower pot method
Sleep Deprivation also known as sleep
insufficiency or sleeplessness, is the condition of
not having adequate duration and/or quality of
sleep.
Insomnia is when you’re unable to sleep when
you try. Sleep deprivation is what happens when
you don’t give yourself enough time to sleep,
don't get enough sleep, or both.
● Acute Sleep Deprivation no sleep or a
reduction in the usual total sleep time,
usually lasting one or two days.
● Chronic Sleep Deficiency is when an
individual routinely sleeps less than the
amount required for optimal functioning.
The average daily amount of sleep needed, by
age, is
- Newborns (up to 3 months old): 14 to 17
hours.
- Infants (4 to 12 months old): 12 to
16 hours, including naptime.
- Young children (1 to 5 years old): 10 to
14 hours, including naptime.
- School-aged children (6 to 12 years old): 9
to 12 hours.
- Teenagers (13 to 18 years old): 8 to
10 hours.
- Adults (18 years and up): 7 to 9 hours.
Sleep Deprivation Common Symptoms:
1. Daytime sleepiness
2. Fatigue
3. Irritability
4. Trouble thinking, focusing, and remembering
5. Headaches
6. Slowed reaction times
Severe Symptoms:
1. Microsleep
2. Uncontrollable eye movements
3. Trouble speaking clearly
4. Drooping eyelids
5. Hand Tremors
6. Visual and Tactile hallucinations.
7. Impaired judgment
8. Impulsive (or even) reckless behaviors
Medical Conditions that Interfere with Sleep
1. Restless leg syndrome (Willis-Ekbom
disease) is a common condition of the
nervous system that causes an
overwhelming irresistible urge to move the
legs.
2. Insomnia is the most common sleep
disorder that is defined as the inability
to sleep or stay asleep.
Short-term insomnia is Insomnia caused by
stress or traumatic events
Chronic or Long-term insomnia is a long-term
pattern of difficulty sleeping for more than three
nights a week for three months.
RANDY GARDNER
- stayed awake for 264.4 hours, or 11
whole days for a science project
- Had 2 of his friends to keep him awake
(Bruce McAllister and Joe Marciano)
- Clinical condition monitored by:
- Dr. William Dement Lt. Cmdr. John Ross
FATAL FAMILIAL INSOMNIA
- a very rare sleep disorder that runs in
families and affects the thalamus.
- FFI is caused by a mutation of the PRNP
gene. This mutation causes an attack on
the thalamus, which controls your sleep
cycles and allows different parts of your
brain to communicate with each other.
- Ages 32 to 62
Possible symptoms of early stage:
● trouble falling asleep
● muscle twitching and spasms
● muscle stiffness
● loss of appetite
● rapidly progressing dementia
FUNCTIONS OF SLEEP
Restoration Theory (Oswald)
● Dr. Ian Oswald, a sleep researcher, and
psychiatrist who studied restoration in
individuals, noticed that energy needs
were not being met due to environmental
factors.
Oswald's Restoration Theory states that you need
to rest to recover energy lost throughout the day
so that you can be productive and healthy.
Newborn Babies
- They show 50% more REM sleep than
adults.
- It is theorized that because the brain
grows at such a rate during this stage,
REM sleep is required for growth.
It was suggested that;
● REM SLEEP – the brain restores itself.
● SLOW WAVE SLEEP (stages 3 and 4) –
the body restores itself.
Restoration Theory (Horne)
He suggested that in humans, both slow-wave
and REM sleep is used for brain repair.
● Horne labeled SLOW WAVE SLEEP
(SWS) and REM as ‘CORE SLEEP.’
- during this stage, the brain repairs
for vital functioning.
● Horne labeled NREM sleep as
‘OPTIONAL SLEEP’.
- the restoration that takes place
during optional sleep can occur
just as readily in WAKEFUL REST.
Ecological/Adaptive Hypothesis
➢ This theory considers that sleep serves a
universal function, one in which an animal’s
ecological niche shapes its sleep behavior.
Ex. Carnivores tend to sleep for the longest time.
Herbivores sleep for a much shorter amount of
time
Different animal species will have different
functions of sleep
- ex. The bottlenose dolphin sleeps one
brain hemisphere at a time to prevent
itself from drowning. This is called
unihemispheric sleep.
BIOLOGICAL RHYTHMS
Sleep and wakefulness alternate in an
approximately 24-hour cycle, this is only one of
many biological rhythms. Biological Rhythms are
a series of bodily functions regulated by the
internal clock. They control cycles like the
sleep-wake cycle, body temperature, hormone
secretion, and more.
FOUR TYPES OF BIOLOGICAL RHYTHMS
1. Diurnal Rhythm - synchronized with the
day/night cycle.
2. Circadian Rhythm - the 24-hour cycle
includes physiological and behavioral
rhythms like sleeping.
3. Ultradian Rhythm - a shorter period and
higher frequency than circadian rhythm.
4. Infradian Rhythm - lasts more than 24
hours, a 28-day cycle such as a menstrual
cycle.
CIRCADIAN RHYTHM OF TEENS
● From 3 am to 7 am
- we hit our deepest stage of sleep
at 2 am. This explains why our
energy is at its lowest at this time.
● From 10 am to 1 pm
- researchers have found out that
we tend to be our cognitive best in
the late morning, as our body
temperature rise, we feel more
alert, and sharpness increase.
● From 2 pm to 5 pm
- best coordination time starts at
2:30 pm while the fastest reaction
time is at about 3:30 pm.
● From 9 pm
- the sleep hormone melatonin
starts to elevate.
TWO CATEGORIES OF BIOLOGICAL RHYTHM
1. ENDOGENOUS
➢ Endo - inside, genous - producing
Internal biological clock regulating the biological
rhythm. It naturally occurs within the body and is
not dependent on environmental cues like sleep.
CIRCANNUAL RHYTHM ➢ A one-year cycle.
Animals anticipate changes in the environment
before they happen. ex. Migration of Birds
EXOGENOUS ZEITGEBER
➢ The German word for time giver. These
are the environmental/external cues such
as sunlight, temperature, physical noises,
and more.
BIOLOGICAL CLOCKS
Organisms’ natural timing devices regulate
the cycle of the circadian rhythm. Nearly every
tissue and organ contain biological clocks.
Works with the Master Clock.
MASTER CLOCK OF THE BODY
The Master Clock in the brain coordinates
all the biological clocks in a living thing, keeping
the clocks in sync. It's a group of about 20,000
nerve cells (neurons) that form a structure called
the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus or the SCN.
THE RETINA AND RETINAL GANGLION CELLS
The retina detects the light, and the retinal
ganglion cells located in the retina absorb the
information and will follow the pathway
RHT (retinohypothalamic tract) which is
connected to the SCN. The SCN relays the
information that light is detected to the pineal
gland, which will then suppress the production of
melatonin.
FACTORS THAT CAN DISRUPT THE
BIOLOGICAL RHYTHM
● Jet lag- crossing of different time zones
● Work shifts
● Overworking
Disrupted biological rhythm can lead to serious
health conditions such as heart disease, obesity,
depression, changes in mood, and many other
health consequences
MEMORY AND LEARNING
Learning - the process of acquiring new
understanding that makes an individual come into
the ability to alter behavior on the basis of
experience
MEMORY - the faculty of encoding, storing, and
retrieving information.
2 KINDS OF MEMORY
● DECLARATIVE: facts and events
● NON-DECLARATIVE: procedure, skeletal
musculature, emotional responses.
 THREE TYPES OF CONDITIONING something. Memory has been the mainstay of
ACCORDING TO LEARNING psychological research for many years but this
THEORY: chapter will focus on the biological processes that
allow learning and recall.
1. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
2. OPERANT CONDITION What does learning do to an individual neuron to
3. SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY create a memory? Once the neurons are
changed, how does the nervous system as a
Classical Conditioning: whole produce the correct behavior?
➔ also called Pavlovian conditioning and 1. Biochemistry of memory
involves learning by association. A 2. The circuitry of the Nervous System
‘natural’ behavior, that is normally
triggered by one event, is associated with One of the earliest ideas regarding the circuitry of
an external stimulus so that eventually the the nervous system was that learning
stimulus alone causes the behavior. It strengthened the connection between two areas
tends to occur in behaviors that you don’t of the brain. This idea was influenced by
have much control over like salivating or
classical conditioning.
blinking. emotional responses are also
said to be classically conditioned.
Karl Lashley
- set out to test Pavlov's idea by searching
➔ Pavlov thought that conditioning
for the physical representation of
represented the strengthening of a
conditioning - what he called the Engram
physical connection between two areas of
- Lashley argued that a cut somewhere in
the brain. This idea begins with the
the brain would break the connection
concept that there is a particular area of
between the two areas of the brain
the brain that represents the detection of
connected by the conditioning and so
the presence of food.
prevent the learned behavior from
happening,
OPERANT CONDITION:
- This type of conditioning involves learning
“engram” – the localized trace of the memory for
by consequences. Behavior that an animal
a maze in a trained rat’s brain.
has conscious control over is repeated if
the consequences of that behavior have
Equipotential - whereby all parts of the cortex
positive benefits for the animal.
are involved in the control of complex behavior
Conversely, behaviors that have negative
and any damaged part can be replaced by any
consequences will not be repeated. This
other.
type of conditioning is associated with B.
Principle of Mass Action - here he was
F. Skinner who developed ‘skinner’ boxes
suggesting that the cortex works as a whole
where animals had to learn to press levers
rather than different tasks being carried out by
to obtain a food reward.
different parts of the cortex.
THOMPSON & COLLEAGUES
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY:
- This type of learning is associated with
EYELID BLINKING IN RABBITS
Albert Bandura who suggested that in
- This involves blowing air into the rabbit's
addition to learning by association and
eye at the same time that a tone is
consequences, we also learn by copying
sounded so that eventually the rabbit
others. We will copy behaviors that we
blinks at the sound of the tone alone
see others obtaining rewards for and stop
those behaviors we see others being
This research found that damage to a specific
punished for.\
area of the Cerebellum NOT the cortex stopped
the blinking conditioning of the rabbits. This area
The connection between learning and memory is
is called the LATERAL INTERPOSITUS
not straightforward. Learning is demonstrated by
NUCLEUS of the cerebellum -The interposed
many different animals. Even single-celled
nucleus is part of the deep cerebellar complex
organisms can be shown to have ‘learned’
and is composed of the globose nucleus and the
emboliform nucleus. It is located in the roof
(dorsal aspect) of the fourth ventricle, lateral to
the fastigial nucleus.
● An early suggestion about the structure of
memory was made by the ancient Greek
philosopher Plato, who suggested that
memory was rather like a large bird cage -
an aviary
● Plato's Aviary analogy treats the structure
of memory like a container where different
memories are stored like objects. This is
known as a spatial metaphor of memory
and fits in with most people's ideas of
memory.
THREE-STORE MODEL OF MEMORY
1. SENSORY MEMORY
- Sensory memory takes the information
provided by the senses and retains it
accurately but very briefly. Sensory
memory lasts such a short time (from a
few hundred milliseconds to one or two
seconds) that it is often considered part of
the process of perception.
2. SHORT-TERM MEMORY
- Short-term memory temporarily records
the succession of events in our lives. It
may register a face that we see in the
street, or a telephone number that we
overhear someone giving out, but this
information will quickly disappear forever
unless we make a conscious effort to
retain it. Short-term memory has a storage
capacity of only about seven items and
lasts only a few dozen seconds.
3. LONG-TERM MEMORY
- Long-term memory not only stores all
the significant events that mark our lives,
it lets us retain the meanings of words
and the physical skills that we have
learned. Unlimited capacity.
➔ Activity in Amygdala also increases as a
result of emotional events.
➔ Some memories appear to be stored here
and this activity also strengthens stored
elsewhere in the brain One of the most
famous case studies in psychology is one
of the men known only as HM
➔ Case studies of amnesiacs like HM show
that not all aspects of memory are lost.
This implies that there are several distinct
types of memory that are independent of
each other and are likely to have a
different biological bases.
➔ The hippocampus seems to be involved in
developing spatial maps. For this reason,
one of the suggestions for the function of
the hippocampus has been as the storage
for Cognitive Maps.
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE BIOCHEMISTRY OF
NEURONS?
- The nucleus of cells, including nerve cells,
contains genetics in the form of
chromosomes.
- DNA contains the set of instructions for
another molecule - RNA - to alter a cell's
metabolism, Usually by making other
proteins.
The Sea Hare or Aplysia Californica. This is a
marine invertebrate that is related to the garden
snail.
● If Aplysia's gills are stimulated by a jet of
water, it will initially withdraw the gills as a
protective reflex. However, if this is done
repeatedly with no consequences, the gills
stop withdrawing. This is the simplest form
of conditioning called HABITUATION.
● The study of Aplysia is that its nervous
system only consists of 18,000 neurons.
This research has found that learning is
based on the release of the
neurotransmitter serotonin at a crucial
synapse between specific sensory and
motor neurons.
● It is a great leap that what happens to
Aplysia also happens to humans.