Learning is a core focus of biopsychology because it demonstrates how experience changes behaviour, physiology, and neural structure. It reflects one of the major ways the brain influences the body.

What Is Learning?

Learning is a relatively permanent change in knowledge or behaviour due to experience.

Learning is inferred through measurable changes in:

• Behavioural responses (observable actions)
• Physiological responses (autonomic, hormonal, etc.)
• Neural responses (synaptic changes, firing patterns)

Types of Learning

Type	Description	Examples	Notes
Behavioural learning	Changes in observable actions	Lever pressing, avoidance, approach behaviours	Directly measurable; used in most animal tasks
Physiological learning	Changes in bodily systems	Heart-rate conditioning, hormonal shifts	Often measured with autonomic markers
Neural learning	Synaptic growth or functional neural change	LTP, new dendritic spines	Substrate of all long-term learning

Why Learning Matters

Learning enables flexible adaptation to environmental changes.
It increases an organism’s chances of survival by allowing prediction, avoidance, and optimisation of behaviour.

Major categories:

• Non-associative learning: change in response to a stimulus (habituation, sensitisation)
• Associative learning: forming relationships between events or behaviours (classical and operant conditioning)

Factors Influencing Learning in Anima

Factor	Explanation	Examples
Biological predispositions	Species-specific tendencies influence what can be learned	Birds learn song patterns; rats rapidly learn taste aversion
Approach–avoidance biases	Some species approach reward more readily; others avoid threat strongly	Foraging vs predator avoidance
Survival relevance	Faster learning for outcomes tied to survival	Fear conditioning, taste aversion
Value of outcomes	High-value reinforcers accelerate learning	Food vs water vs social reward

Historical Foundations of Learning

Aristotle — Early Associationism

• Ideas become linked to form memories.
• Three principles of association: contiguity, similarity, contrast.

Descartes — Dualism and Reflexes

• Mind and body are separate.
• Proposed “animal spirits” as mechanical drivers of behaviour.
• Introduced the concept of the reflex arc.

John Locke — Tabula Rasa

• Humans are born as blank slates.
• All knowledge comes from experience.
• Complex ideas are built from simple ones.

Experimental Psychology and Behaviourism

Ivan Pavlov — Classical Conditioning

Learning through associations between stimuli.
Key terms: UCS, UCR, CS, CR.

Edward Thorndike — Law of Effect

Behaviours followed by satisfying outcomes are strengthened; unsatisfying outcomes weaken them.

John Watson — Behaviourism

Psychology should study only observable behaviour.
Learning is explained through conditioning.

B.F. Skinner — Operant Conditioning

Behaviour is shaped by reinforcement and punishment.
Developed the operant chamber (Skinner Box) and reinforcement schedules.

Edward Tolman — Purposive Behaviourism

Learning is goal-directed.
Organisms can form cognitive maps and act based on internal representations.

Cognitive Approach

Researcher	Contribution
George Miller	Working memory capacity (7 ± 2 items); information-processing perspective
Herbert Simon	Symbol-manipulation models; problem-solving frameworks
David Rumelhart	Connectionist models; early artificial neural networks

Neuroscience Foundations

Camillo Golgi

Developed the Golgi stain, allowing individual neurons to be visualised.

Santiago Ramón y Cajal — Neuron Doctrine

• Neurons are discrete cells.
• Neurons are the basic functional units of the brain.

Charles Sherrington — Synaptic Theory

• Proposed communication via synapses (chemical).
• Demonstrated spinal reflexes independent of the brain.

Research Methods in Biopsychology

Animal Learning Paradigms

Task	Description	What It Tests	Relevant Brain Regions
Skinner Box (Operant Chamber)	Controlled environment with levers and reinforcers	Operant conditioning; reinforcement learning	Striatum, prefrontal cortex
Morris Water Maze	Rat swims to hidden platform	Spatial learning and memory	Hippocampus
T-Maze / Y-Maze	Choice between two arms for reward	Decision-making; working memory	Hippocampus; prefrontal cortex
Radial Arm Maze	Multiple arms with reward sites	Spatial working memory	Hippocampus
Rapid trial–error learning	High-frequency attempts until solution found	Cognitive flexibility; problem-solving	Frontal regions
Multi-Armed Bandit	Options with uncertain reward probabilities	Learning under uncertainty; exploration vs exploitation	Dopamine reward pathways

Biopsychology Research Methods

Category	Methods	Measures
Brain damage	Lesions, ablation, gene knockout	Causal roles of brain regions
Brain stimulation	Electrical stimulation, TMS, optogenetics	Direct influence of activity on behaviour
Brain activity	EEG, MEG, fMRI, calcium imaging, single-unit recording	Neural firing, oscillations, activation patterns
Brain anatomy	MRI, CT, DTI	Structural features and connectivity