Aplysia, Conditioning, Adaptive

Salam n good day to all,

During my intellectual frontier, i have been facing many exciting things, and new knowledge. For example, one of the subjects i have been studying this semester is the Dynamics of Behavior. This subject aims to model the dynamic aspects in our biological, societal, and cognitive systems, mostly using mathematical and computer science perspectives. Pretty mind twitching, but it is indeed interesting. A couple of weeks back, i did some experiments regarding learning and neurons modeling using the Aplysia, a marine snail (scientific name -Aplysia Californica) or the sea hare (it is not harmful experiments, you can trust me - ;-) ). This sea creature indeed is one of the simplest creatures on earth, but it performs a very dynamic styles of learning. Yes, learning. not only human, but the other creatures are also doing the same - to adapt and to survive.

Aplysia : Cantik tak i?
Pakcik: errrr cantik ka?...... geli la tgk awak.
Aplysia: Pakcik kalau nak tahu, i ni ratu cantik Aplysia selautan Pasifik tau tak?
Pakcik: huk elehhhhh .....sempat riak tu. ;-)

What is so special about this primitive creature ? Why should one study this animal for learning and memory? First,they are particularly valuable because they have a relatively simple nervous system. Second, they have a 'brain' with extremely large nerve cells which can be individually mapped. Having this means the cell body of one neuron can measure up to 1-mm in diameter, which makes it relatively easy to study the physiology of these cells to find out how they accomplish learning. Errrrrr..... did i say this aplysia learns? ....

A simple experiment was conducted, to measure how this simple (yet majestic) creature reacts towards its environment. First, to measure how the reaction is (through the contraction of its body). There are two ways to do this, first either using just a tail shock (which immediately responds to the touch, and this animal will contract) or second, introducing multiple shocks to the siphon and follows by a tail shock (because the aplysia will only respond to this test using this combination of multiple shocks). The most interesting part is - in the beginning - the aplysia will only react towards tail shock (not the siphon shock). But, after several multiple shocks to the siphon and tail shock, in the end the aplysia will respond even only by introducing a simple touch to its siphon. It means, in general - aplysia can also react upon "danger" - by lowering its sensitivity towards the touch at the siphon (rather relying solely only on the sensitivity of its tail). This learning behavior is called an adaptive or a conditioning behavior. Lesson learned! at least by aplysia.



Yes, indeed it is too trivial to relate this simple mechanism from this simple creature into a complex and marvelous organism like us, human. As a form of the survival method, we - like aplysia, learns from our personal and social encounters, interactions, and experiences - with others and life/ environment. The ability to learn is a hallmark of our so called intelligent species. Humans rapidly and reliably learn many kinds of regularities and generalizations. Normally, (and almost all the time) we will relate our unknown encounters with our past experiences - projecting thought to think and conclude. It be might right, or might be wrong, or probably worth trying (or worth avoiding). As we can see each of those particular concepts came to play an important role in our mental processing and learning system and in our ultimate conclusions - to achieve the ends. Something that difficult to live with, but impossible to live without. And like this humble creature aplysia, we learn to live, reason, and survive. But, we have lines to follow, and lines to avoid. That makes us - at least intelligently separable by others God's creatures.

Pakcik said: I reckon being grateful means recognizing what you have for what it is. Thanking God for small triumphs. Adoring our infinite efforts it takes simply to be a humble God's servant. Maybe we're thankful for the simple and daily chores we know or yet maybe we're damn thankful for the things we'll never ever to know. Truly, the fact that we have that thick wall of courage and faith to ourself to still be standing proud will be a good reason to celebrate.