- Email: [email protected]
Introduction to special issue of neurobiology of learning and memory on habituation
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 92 (2009) 125–126
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ynlme
Introduction to special issue of neurobiology of learning and memory on habituation Catharine H. Rankin Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6H 1B3
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 20 September 2008 Revised 22 September 2008 Accepted 22 September 2008 Available online 12 November 2008
Ó 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Habituation Review Workshop
This special issue of Neurobiology of Learning and Memory is focused on studies of Habituation. Habituation is a non-associative form of learning that is defined as a decrease in responding following repeated stimulation, and is often considered the simplest and most basic form of learning. A recent search of Pubmed for the term ‘habituation’ produced over 15,000 articles; these publications are from a huge range of disciplines and studies, including behavioural neuroscience, developmental psychology, medicine, drug abuse, behaviour disorders, ethology, psychiatry, neuroimaging and cognitive psychology. Habituation is such a fundamental process for survival that it has been found in every organism studied, from single-celled protozoa, to insects, fish, rats, and people. Not surprisingly, the behavioral rules for habituation are the same in all organisms. Despite being the cornerstone for all other forms of learning, remarkably little is known about the cellular processes that underlie habituation. The most cited papers in the habituation field are by Thompson and Spencer (1966) and Groves and Thompson (1970). Those papers set forth the rules/characteristics of habituation gleaned from the research that had been done up until then. There has not been a comprehensive update of this topic that brings together the work done since 1970. I believe that one of the reasons we know so little about habituation is that researchers who study this process come from many different areas and may not ever talk to one another. For many years I have wanted to put on a workshop on habituation to bring together people from a range of disciplines that all use or study habituation as part of their work. By bringing together people who use habituation in different ways and from different perspectives it was my hope that we would develop new insights into what habituation is, how it works and how to study it more effectively. The papers in this issue are based on talks and workshops that occurred in
E-mail address: [email protected] 1074-7427/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2008.09.010
a special meeting on habituation that I organized in August of 2007. At that meeting, fifteen researchers who study habituation in a wide range of species and paradigms came together at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver Canada to share their studies on habituation and to revisit the characteristics of habituation so eloquently described in Thompson and Spencer (1966) and to refine them based on the 40 years of research since then. Fourteen of those researchers have contributed review articles to this issue as well as two researchers who were invited but were unable to attend the workshop. In addition the attendees have written a joint review that updated the behavioral characteristics of habituation as we see them today (Rankin et al., 2009). When you read over the table of contents of this special issue you can see the range of topics that we covered. What we discovered/rediscovered at the meeting is how extensive the effects of habituation are, and how much we can learn by looking at habituation across a broad range of organisms, approaches and issues. Those attending the meeting found it stimulating and exciting. We were aided greatly in our task by the presence of Richard F. Thompson, a true gentleman and scholar, who facilitated our review of his original work, who clarified the meaning and intention of the original points and who participated enthusiastically in our discussions. As you read the articles in this special issue I hope you get a flavor of the richness of the breadth and depth of the habituation field. We invite you to join us in trying to understand the complexities of habituation, ‘‘the simplest form of learning and memory”. Acknowledgments This workshop occurred August 15–18, 2007 at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies (PWIAS) at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, BC, Canada. Funding was provided by a PWIAS Exploratory Workshop Grant to CHR with additional
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C.H. Rankin / Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 92 (2009) 125–126
funding contributed by the UBC Brain Research Centre, the UBC Institute for Mental Health and the UBC Department of Psychology. References Groves, P. M., & Thompson, R. F. (1970). Habituation: A dual-process theory. Psychological Review, 77, 419–450.
Rankin, C. H., Abrams, T., Barry, R. J., Bhatnagar, S., Clayton, D., Colombo, J., et al. (2009). Habituation revisited: An update and revised description of the behavioral characteristics of habituation. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 91. Thompson, R. F., & Spencer, W. A. (1966). Habituation: A model phenomenon for the study of neuronal substrates of behavior. Psychology Review, 73, 16–43.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ynlme
Introduction to special issue of neurobiology of learning and memory on habituation Catharine H. Rankin Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6H 1B3
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 20 September 2008 Revised 22 September 2008 Accepted 22 September 2008 Available online 12 November 2008
Ó 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Habituation Review Workshop
This special issue of Neurobiology of Learning and Memory is focused on studies of Habituation. Habituation is a non-associative form of learning that is defined as a decrease in responding following repeated stimulation, and is often considered the simplest and most basic form of learning. A recent search of Pubmed for the term ‘habituation’ produced over 15,000 articles; these publications are from a huge range of disciplines and studies, including behavioural neuroscience, developmental psychology, medicine, drug abuse, behaviour disorders, ethology, psychiatry, neuroimaging and cognitive psychology. Habituation is such a fundamental process for survival that it has been found in every organism studied, from single-celled protozoa, to insects, fish, rats, and people. Not surprisingly, the behavioral rules for habituation are the same in all organisms. Despite being the cornerstone for all other forms of learning, remarkably little is known about the cellular processes that underlie habituation. The most cited papers in the habituation field are by Thompson and Spencer (1966) and Groves and Thompson (1970). Those papers set forth the rules/characteristics of habituation gleaned from the research that had been done up until then. There has not been a comprehensive update of this topic that brings together the work done since 1970. I believe that one of the reasons we know so little about habituation is that researchers who study this process come from many different areas and may not ever talk to one another. For many years I have wanted to put on a workshop on habituation to bring together people from a range of disciplines that all use or study habituation as part of their work. By bringing together people who use habituation in different ways and from different perspectives it was my hope that we would develop new insights into what habituation is, how it works and how to study it more effectively. The papers in this issue are based on talks and workshops that occurred in
E-mail address: [email protected] 1074-7427/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2008.09.010
a special meeting on habituation that I organized in August of 2007. At that meeting, fifteen researchers who study habituation in a wide range of species and paradigms came together at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver Canada to share their studies on habituation and to revisit the characteristics of habituation so eloquently described in Thompson and Spencer (1966) and to refine them based on the 40 years of research since then. Fourteen of those researchers have contributed review articles to this issue as well as two researchers who were invited but were unable to attend the workshop. In addition the attendees have written a joint review that updated the behavioral characteristics of habituation as we see them today (Rankin et al., 2009). When you read over the table of contents of this special issue you can see the range of topics that we covered. What we discovered/rediscovered at the meeting is how extensive the effects of habituation are, and how much we can learn by looking at habituation across a broad range of organisms, approaches and issues. Those attending the meeting found it stimulating and exciting. We were aided greatly in our task by the presence of Richard F. Thompson, a true gentleman and scholar, who facilitated our review of his original work, who clarified the meaning and intention of the original points and who participated enthusiastically in our discussions. As you read the articles in this special issue I hope you get a flavor of the richness of the breadth and depth of the habituation field. We invite you to join us in trying to understand the complexities of habituation, ‘‘the simplest form of learning and memory”. Acknowledgments This workshop occurred August 15–18, 2007 at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies (PWIAS) at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, BC, Canada. Funding was provided by a PWIAS Exploratory Workshop Grant to CHR with additional
126
C.H. Rankin / Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 92 (2009) 125–126
funding contributed by the UBC Brain Research Centre, the UBC Institute for Mental Health and the UBC Department of Psychology. References Groves, P. M., & Thompson, R. F. (1970). Habituation: A dual-process theory. Psychological Review, 77, 419–450.
Rankin, C. H., Abrams, T., Barry, R. J., Bhatnagar, S., Clayton, D., Colombo, J., et al. (2009). Habituation revisited: An update and revised description of the behavioral characteristics of habituation. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 91. Thompson, R. F., & Spencer, W. A. (1966). Habituation: A model phenomenon for the study of neuronal substrates of behavior. Psychology Review, 73, 16–43.