13 Learning And Memory Flashcards
Stimulus-response learning
Learning to automatically make a particular response in the presence of a particular stimulus; includes classical instrumental conditioning.
Perceptual learning
To recognize a particular stimulus.
Classical conditioning
Learning procedure; when a stimulus that initially produces no particular response is followed several times by an unconditional stimulus (US) that produces a defensive or at appetitive response (the unconditional response – UR) the first stimulus (now called a conditional stimulus - CS) itself evokes the response (now called a conditioned response – CR).
Hebb rule
Hypothesis proposed by Donald Hebb that the cellular basis of learning involves strengthening of a synapse that is repeatedly active when the postsynaptic neuron fires.
Instrumental conditioning
Learning procedure whereby the effects of a particular behavior in a particular situation increase (reinforce) or decrease (punish) sees the probability of the behavior; also called operant conditioning.
Reinforcing stimulus
Appetite of stimulus that follows a particular behavior and thus makes the behavior become more frequent.
Punishing stimulus
Aversive stimulus that follows a particular behavior and thus makes the behavior become less frequent.
Motor learning
Learning to make a new response.
Long-term potentiation (LPT)
Long-term increase in the excitability of a neuron to a particular synaptic input caused by repeated high-frequency activity of that input.
Hippocampal formation
Forebrain structure of the temporal lobe, constituting an important part of the limbic system; includes the hippocampus proper (Ammon’s horn), dentate gyrus, and subiculum.
Population EPSP
Evoked potential that represents the EPSPs of a population of neurons.
Associative long-term potentiation
Long-term potentiation in which concurrent stimulation of weak and strong synapses to a given neuron strengthens the weak one.
NMDA receptor
Specialized ionotropic glutamate receptor that controls the calcium channel that is normally blocked by Mg2 ions; involved in long-term potentiation.
AP5
2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoate, a drug that blocks and NMDA receptors.
Dendritic spike
Action potential that occurs in the dendrite of some types of pyramidal cells.
AMPA receptor
Ionotropic glutamate receptor that controls a sodium channel; when open, it produces EPSPs.
CaM-KII
Type II calcium-calmodulin kinase, enzyme that must be activated by calcium; may play a role in the establishment of long-term potentiation.
Nitric oxide synthase
Enzyme responsible for the production of nitric oxide.
Long-term depression (LTD)
Long-term decrease in the excitability of a neuron to a particular synaptic input caused by stimulation of the terminal button while the postsynaptic membrane is hyperpolarized or only slightly depolarized.
Short-term memory
Memory for a stimulus or an event that last for short while.
Delayed matching-to-sample task
Task that requires the subject to indicate which of several stimuli has just been perceived.
Ventral tegmental area (VTA)
Group of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral midbrain whose axons form the mesolimbic and mesocortical systems; plays a critical role in reinforcement.
Nucleus accumbens (NAC)
Nucleus of the basal forebrain near the septum; receives dopamine-secreting terminal buttons from neurons of the ventral tegmental area and is thought to be involved in reinforcement and attention.
Medial forebrain bundle (MFB)
Fiber bundle their runs in a rostral-caudal direction through the basal forebrain and lateral hypothalamus; electrical stimulation of these axons is reinforcing.
Anterograde amnesia
Amnesia for events that occur after some disturbance to the brain, such as head injury or certain degenerative brain diseases.
Retrograde amnesia
Amnesia for events that preceded some disturbance to the brain, such as a head injury or electroconvulsive shock.
Korsakoff’s syndrome
Permanent anterograde amnesia caused by brain damage resulting from chronic alcoholism or malnutrition.
Consolidation
The process by which short-term memories are converted into long-term memories.
Declarative memory
Memory that can be verbally expressed, such as memory for events in a person’s past.
Nondeclarative memory
Memory whose formation does not depend on the hippocampal formation; a collective term for perceptual, stimulus-response, and motor memory.
Perirhinal cortex
Region of limbic cortex adjacent to the hippocampal formation that, along with the parahippocampal cortex, relays information between the entorrhinal cortex and other regions of the brain.
Parahippocampal cortex
Region of limbic cortex adjacent to the hippocampal formation that, along with the perirhinal cortex, relays information between the entorhino cortex and other regions of the brain.
Episodic memory
Memory of a collection of perceptions of events organized in time and identified by particular context.
Semantic memory
Memory of facts and general information.
Semantic dementia
Loss of semantic memories caused by progressive degeneration of the new cortex of the lateral temporal lobes.
Place cell
Neuron that becomes active when the animal is in a particular location in the environment; most typically found in the hippocampal formation.
Sharp-wave-ripple complex (SWRs)
Period of intense, high-frequency oscillation’s that originate in hippocampal fields CA1 and CA3 and propagate to the cerebral cortex; involved in replay of information from periods of waking during slow-wave sleep.
Reconsolidation
Process of consolidation of a memory that occurs subsequent to the original consolidation that can be triggered by a reminder of the original stimulus; thought to provide the means for modifying existing memories.
