Invited Address

Synapses, circuits, and the ontogeny of learning

  1. Pamela S. Hunt1,*,
  2. Michael S. Fanselow2,
  3. Rick Richardson3,
  4. Michael D. Mauk4,
  5. John H. Freeman Jr.5,
  6. Mark E. Stanton6

Article first published online: 17 OCT 2007

DOI: 10.1002/dev.20250

Issue

Developmental Psychobiology

Developmental Psychobiology

Volume 49, Issue 7, pages 649–663, November 2007

Additional Information

How to Cite

Hunt, P. S., Fanselow, M. S., Richardson, R., Mauk, M. D., Freeman, J. H. and Stanton, M. E. (2007), Synapses, circuits, and the ontogeny of learning. Dev. Psychobiol., 49: 649–663. doi: 10.1002/dev.20250

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Psychology, College of William & Mary, P.O. Box 8795, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795

  2. 2

    Department of Psychology and Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA

  3. 3

    School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

  4. 4

    Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX

  5. 5

    Department of Psychology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

  6. 6

    Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, DE

*Department of Psychology, College of William & Mary, P.O. Box 8795, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 17 OCT 2007
  2. Article first published online: 17 OCT 2007
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 1 JUN 2007
  4. Manuscript Received: 22 MAY 2007

Funded by

  • National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Grant Number: R13 H044631
  • National Institute of Mental Health. Grant Number: MH62122
  • Australian Research Council. Grant Number: DP0666953
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Grant Number: NS038890
  • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Grant Number: AA015343

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Keywords:

  • associative learning;
  • conditioning;
  • learning;
  • plasticity;
  • rodent

Abstract

This article summarizes the proceedings of a symposium organized by Mark Stanton and Pamela Hunt and presented at the annual meeting of the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology. The purpose of the symposium was to review recent advances in neurobiological and developmental studies of fear and eyeblink conditioning with the hope of discovering how neural circuitry might inform the ontogenetic analyses of learning and memory, and vice versa. The presentations were: (1) Multiple Brain Regions Contribute to the Acquisition of Pavlovian Fear by Michael S. Fanselow; (2) Expression of Learned Fear: Appropriate to Age of Training or Age of Testing by Rick Richardson; (3) Trying to Understand the Cerebellum Well Enough to Build One by Michael D. Mauk; and (4) The Ontogeny of Eyeblink Conditioning: Neural Mechanisms by John H. Freeman. Taken together, these presentations converge on the conclusions that (1) seemingly simple forms of associative learning are governed by multiple “engrams” and by temporally dynamic interactions among these engrams and other circuit elements and (2) developmental changes in these interactions determine when and how learning emerges during ontogeny. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 49: 649–663, 2007.

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