Book contents
- Evolution of Learning and Memory Mechanisms
- Evolution of Learning and Memory Mechanisms
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Evolution of Learning Processes
- Part II Evolution of Memory Processes
- 16 The Evolution of Memory as an Immediate Perceptual Identification Mechanism
- 17 Episodic Memory in Animals
- 18 Evolutionary Origins of Complex Cognition
- 19 Evolution of Memory Systems in Animals
- 20 What Laboratory and Field Approaches Bring to Bear for Understanding the Evolution of Ursid Cognition
- 21 Distinguishing Mechanisms of Behavioral Inhibition and Self-control
- 22 Metacognitive Monitoring and Control in Monkeys
- 23 Adaptive Memory
- 24 Remembering Cheaters
- 25 Development of Memory Circuits under Epigenetic Regulation
- 26 Constraints on Learning and Memory
- Index
- References
16 - The Evolution of Memory as an Immediate Perceptual Identification Mechanism
from Part II - Evolution of Memory Processes
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 May 2022
Book contents
- Evolution of Learning and Memory Mechanisms
- Evolution of Learning and Memory Mechanisms
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Evolution of Learning Processes
- Part II Evolution of Memory Processes
- 16 The Evolution of Memory as an Immediate Perceptual Identification Mechanism
- 17 Episodic Memory in Animals
- 18 Evolutionary Origins of Complex Cognition
- 19 Evolution of Memory Systems in Animals
- 20 What Laboratory and Field Approaches Bring to Bear for Understanding the Evolution of Ursid Cognition
- 21 Distinguishing Mechanisms of Behavioral Inhibition and Self-control
- 22 Metacognitive Monitoring and Control in Monkeys
- 23 Adaptive Memory
- 24 Remembering Cheaters
- 25 Development of Memory Circuits under Epigenetic Regulation
- 26 Constraints on Learning and Memory
- Index
- References
Summary
In this chapter, I focus on the origins of memory, posing the question of what were the very initial forces that led to the evolution of learning. Although the common answer is that the function of memory is to allow future behavior to benefit from past experiences, I argue that future benefit is too small to overcome the large energetic costs associated with the neural mechanisms that support memory formation. Instead, I advance the hypothesis that memory evolved to solve an immediate problem, the identification of novel biologically significant objects. Although such identification is often attributed to innate recognition, reliance on genetic encoding would require enormous genomic space and would be unreliable when phylogenetically novel but important objects were encountered. Some often-unappreciated features of Pavlovian conditioning make it an ideal mechanism for immediate perceptual identification of biologically important objects. Although episodic memory is most clearly identified with this recognition process, immediate perceptual identification may be a general function of several memory systems.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Evolution of Learning and Memory Mechanisms , pp. 285 - 301Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022
References
Bier, D. M. (1999). Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Military Nutrition Research. The Role of Protein and Amino Acids in Sustaining and Enhancing Performance. Washington, D): National Academies Press (US). The Energy Costs of Protein Metabolism: Lean and Mean on Uncle Sam’s Team. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK224633/Google Scholar
Blanchard, R. J., & Blanchard, D. C. (1972). Effects of hippocampal lesions on the rat’s reaction to a cat. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 78, 77–82. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0032176Google Scholar
Blanchard, R. J., Fukunaga, K. K., & Blanchard, D. C. (1976). Environmental control of defensive reactions to a cat. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 8, 179–181. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335118CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blanchard, R. J., Mast, M., & Blanchard, D. C. (1975). Stimulus control of defensive reactions in the albino rat. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 88, 81–88. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0076213CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bolles, R. C. (1993). The Story of psychology: A thematic history. Brooks/Cole Publishing.Google Scholar
Bronstein, P. M., & Hirsch, S. M. (1976). Ontogeny of defensive reactions in Norway rats. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 90, 620–629. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0077224Google Scholar
Choi, J.-S., & Kim, J. J. (2010). Amygdala regulates risk of predation in rats foraging in a dynamic fear environment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107, 21773–21777. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1010079108Google Scholar
Dezfouli, A., & Balleine, B. W. (2012). Habits, action sequences and reinforcement learning. European Journal of Neuroscience, 35, 1036–1051. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-9568.2012.08050.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Domjan, M. (2005). Pavlovian conditioning: A functional perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 179–206. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141409CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eldridge, L. L., Knowlton, B. J., Furmanski, C. S., Bookheimer, S. Y., & Engel, S. A. (2000). Remembering episodes: A selective role for the hippocampus during retrieval. Nature Neuroscience, 3, 1149–1152. https://doi.org/10.1038/80671CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fanselow, M. S. (1980). Conditional and unconditional components of post-shock freezing in rats. Pavlovian Journal of Biological Sciences, 15, 177–182. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03001163Google Scholar
Fanselow, M. S. (1986). Associative vs. topographical accounts of the immediate shock freezing deficit in rats: Implications for the response selection rules governing species specific defensive reactions. Learning & Motivation, 17, 16–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/0023-9690(86)90018-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fanselow, M. S. (1990). Factors governing one trial contextual conditioning. Animal Learning & Behavior, 18, 264–270. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205285CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fanselow, M. S. (2000). Contextual fear, gestalt memories, and the hippocampus. Behavioural Brain Research, 110, 73–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0166-4328(99)00186-2Google Scholar
Fanselow, M. S. (2018). The role of learning in threat imminence and defensive behaviors. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 24, 44–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2018.03.003Google Scholar
Fanselow, M. S., Landeira-Fernandez, J., DeCola, J. P., & Kim, J. J. (1994). The immediate shock deficit and postshock analgesia: Implications for the relationship between the analgesic CR and UR. Animal Learning & Behavior, 22, 72–76. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199957CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gale, G. D., Anagnostaras, S. G., Godsil, B. P., Mitchell, S., Nozawa, T., Sage, J. R., Wiltgen, B., & Fanselow, M. S. (2004). Role of the basolateral amygdala in the storage of fear memories across the adult lifetime of rats. Journal of Neuroscience, 24, 3810–3815. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4100-03.2004Google Scholar
Garcia, J., & Koelling, R. A. (1966). Relation of cue to consequence in avoidance learning. Psychonomic Science, 4, 123–124. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03342209CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gould, S. J., & Vrba, E. S. (1982). Exaptation – A missing term in the science of form. Paleobiology,8, 4–15. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0094837300004310CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herculano-Houzel, S. (2011). Scaling of brain metabolism with a fixed energy budget per neuron: Implications for neuronal activity, plasticity and evolution. PLoS ONE, 6, e17514. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017514CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ingvar, D. H. (1985). Memory of the future: An essay on the temporal organization of conscious awareness. Human Neurobiology, 4, 127–136.Google ScholarPubMed
Kiernan, M. J., Westbrook, R. F., & Cranney, J. (1995). Immediate shock, passive avoidance, and potentiated startle: Implications for the unconditioned response to shock. Animal Learning & Behavior, 23, 22–30. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03198012Google Scholar
Kim, J. J., Choi, J.-S., & Lee, H. J. (2016). Foraging in the face of fear: Novel strategies for evaluating amygdala functions in rats. In Amaral, D. G. & Adolphs, R. (Eds.), Living without an amygdala (pp. 129–148). The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Kim, J. J., & Fanselow, M. S. (1992). Modality-specific retrograde amnesia of fear following hippocampal lesions. Science, 256, 675–677. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1585183Google Scholar
Krasne, F. B., Cushman, J. D., & Fanselow, M. S. (2015). A Bayesian context fear learning algorithm/automaton. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 9, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00112CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krasne, F. B., Zinn, R., Vissel, B., & Fanselow, M. S. (2021). Extinction and discrimination in a Bayesian model of context fear conditioning (BaconX). Hippocampus, 31, 790–814. https://doi.org/10.1002/hipo.23298Google Scholar
Landeira-Fernandez, J., Decola, J. P., Kim, J. J., & Fanselow, M. S. (2006). Immediate shock deficit in fear conditioning: Effects of shock manipulations. Behavioral Neuroscience, 120, 873–879. https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7044.120.4.873CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mery, F., & Kawecki, T. J. (2005). A cost of long-term memory in Drosophila. Science, 308, 1148. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1111331Google Scholar
Plaçais, P.-Y., & Preat, T. (2013). To favor survival under food shortage, the brain disables costly memory. Science, 339, 440–442. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1226018CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Plaçais, P.-Y., de Tredern, É., Scheunemann, L., Trannoy, S., Goguel, V., Han, K.-A., Isabel, G., & Prea, T. (2017). Upregulated energy metabolism in the Drosophila mushroom body is the trigger for long-term memory. Nature Communications, 8, 11510. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15510CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rescorla, R. A. (1988). Pavlovian conditioning: It’s not what you think it is. American Psychologist, 43, 151–160. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.43.3.151Google Scholar
Rudy, J. W., & Teyler, T .J. (2010). Episodic memory and the hippocampus. In Weiner, I. B. & Craighead, W. E. (Eds.), Corsini encyclopedia of psychology. John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470479216.corpsy0316Google Scholar
Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R., Hassabis, D., Martin, V. C., Spreng, R. N., & Szpunar, K. K. (2012). The future of memory: Remembering, imagining, and the brain. Neuron, 76, 677–694. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2012.11.001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sherry, D. F., & Schacter, D. L. (1987). The evolution of multiple memory systems. Psychological Review, 94, 439–454. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.94.4.439Google Scholar
Squire, L. R. (2004). Memory systems of the brain: A brief history and current perspective. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 82, 171–177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2004.06.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Squire, L. R., & Zola, S. M. (1996). Structure and function of declarative and nondeclarative memory systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 93, 13515–13522. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.93.24.13515Google Scholar
Thompson, R. F., & Steinmetz, J. E. (2009). The role of the cerebellum in classical conditioning of discrete behavioral responses. Neuroscience, 162, 732–755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2009.01.041CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tulving, E. (2002). Episodic memory: From mind to brain. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135114Google Scholar
Voet, D., Voet, V. G., & Pratt, C. W. (2016). Fundamentals of biochemistry: Life at the molecular level. John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Watson, J. B. (1913). Psychology as the behaviorist views it. Psychological Review, 20, 158–177. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0074428Google Scholar
Yokoyama, O. T. (in press). Pavlov on the conditional reflex: Papers, 1903–1936. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Zinn, R., Leake, J., Krasne, F. B., Corbit, L. H., Fanselow, M. F. & Vissel, B. (2020) Maladaptive properties of context-impoverished memories. Current Biology, 30, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.04.040Google Scholar