Learning reward-based

The tests generally involve some form of maze but the simplest is the passive avoidance test. In this the animal learns that in a certain environment it will be punished with an electric shock for some particular action, like stepping onto a special part of the floor of the test chamber. The test of memory is how long the rat avoids (remains passive to) making the movement that will initiate the shock. Of course, drugs that reduce the animal s anxiety also modify the response. Using a maze in its simplest T shape, the animal is placed at the base of the vertical arm and a food reward at the end of one of the horizontal arms. Clearly the animal has to learn which arm contains the reward. Memory is assessed by the time taken for a food-deprived animal to reach the reward and the number of false arm entries. This simple system can be made more complex by introducing many more arms and branches but the principle is the same. 

Advanced Higher Chemistry is a challenging, but rewarding, course, it has been devised to allow you to develop the ability to think analytically, creatively and Independently, and to make reasoned evaluations. The course emphasises practical and experiential learning opportunities with a strong skills-based approach. 

Unpredictability also is a central feature in the concept of learned helplessness. This concept, using uncontrollable shock, was introduced by Overmier and Seligman (1967) and is based on the observation that animals exposed to an invariable stressor such as electric foot shock, which, due to the experimental set-up, is uncontrollable in nature, developed behavioral deficits. As first shown by Weiss (1968), rats exposed to uncontrollable shock showed significant weight loss due to decreased food and water intake. Moreover, these animals spent more time immobile in the forced swim test, and they revealed altered sleep patterns as well as a weakened response to previously rewarding brain stimulation, i.e., anhedonia (Henn et al. 1985 Weiss 1991). Importantly, these changes are not seen in animals that receive the same shocks but can exert control over their duration. 

After an enjoyable and rewarding three years at The Fry the, I decided that I needed a change of direction. I went to the University of Southern California to learn about kinetics from Arthur Adamson. I believe, perhaps wrongly, that Joseph did not much like kinetics, indeed that he was uneasy with conclusions based on rate data. At the end of the year at USC, and mainly as a result of a chat between Joseph and Professor R. D. Howarth, chemistry department head at the University of Sheffield, I was encouraged to apply for a vacant lectureship there and was appointed, sight unseen (imagine that nowadays) ... 

One of the great rewards of studying chemistry is to become a good problem solver. Being able to solve complex problems is a talent that will serve you well in all walks of life. It is our purpose in this text to help you learn to solve problems in a flexible, creative way based on understanding the fundamental ideas of chemistry. We call this approach conceptual problem solving. 

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