Animal Learning (NATO Conference Series: III, Human Factors)

Bitterman, M.E.;Lolordo, Overmeir

ISBN 10: 0306400618 / ISBN 13: 9780306400612

Published by Springer, 1979

Good condition. Good dust jacket. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains. Seller Inventory # C12A-02276

Synopsis:

For ten days, a number of neuroscientists met at Reisensburg to attend a series of lectures and discussions, an Institute, on animal learning. The students were drawn from a wide variety of disciplines, including anatomy, biochemistry, pharmacology, physiol­ ogy and zoology. It is probably true to say that many of them had at best a sketchy knowledge about the learning behavior of animals, about the conditions which are necessary for learning to take place and about the theories that psychologists have constructed about the learning processes. Was the Institute of any benefit to those neuro­ scientists whose interests lay in studying the functioning of the nervous system by manipulating it or probing it in some direct way? Some twenty years ago the answer to this question would probably have been "No"; and there is a very good reason why this view might have been held, especially by students of the mammalian nervous system. At that time most investigators used anaesthetised animals, or animals immobilized in some other way such as by surgically isolating the brain from the spinal cord, by dividing the brain at various levels or through the use of paralyzing agents. These con­ ditions achieved two things. On the one hand, they allowed sub­ stantial advances to be made, particularly in the analysis of sensory processing and in the analysis of the neuronal mechanisms of relatively simple reflex action. On the other hand, the experi­ mental conditions virtually eliminated complex behavior.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Animal Learning (NATO Conference Series: III...
Publisher: Springer
Publication Date: 1979
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included