29 - Memory + Amnesia Flashcards
Learning
process by means of acquiring new knowledge or skills
Memory
Process to maintain learning across time
Processes needed to learn and remember information
Input
Hold
Output
Cause of forgetting
Temporal decay
Interference from learning of other information
What is responsible for acquiring new memories
Hippocampus
Declarative Memory
Episodic memory
Semantic memory
Episodic memory
Personal episodes in time and space
Hippocampus/medial temporal lobe
Semantic memory
facts, meanings, concepts and knowledge of the world
lateral and anterior temporal cortex
prefrontal cortex
Non declarative memory
Procedural - Striatum, cerebellum
Priming and perceptual learning - Neocortex
Simple classical conditioning - Amygdala conditioning
Non-associative learning - Reflex
What is the working memory model
Model of the STM
Phonological loop
Temporary store for verbal information
Visuospatial Sketchpad
Store for visual and spatial information
Anterograde amnesia
New events not transferred to long-term memory
Reterograde amnesia
Unable to recall events before onset of amnesia
Dissociative amnesia
Blocking out of critical personal information - usually trauma, stress
Cause of amnesia
Brain injury - trauma, infection, drug/alcohol abuse, reduced blood flow
Mechanisms Underlying Memory and Learning
Plasticity which leads to changes or something has to grow/new cells form/new connection between neurones
What is a Long Term Potential
Persistent increase in synaptic strength (ESPS) following high frequency stimulation of chemical synapses
AP5
NMDA receptor antagonist
can no longer form new memories when given -> Suggests nmda receptors have a role in memory
Long Term Depression
Low frequency stimulation decreases ESPS
What blocks NDMA receptors
Mg2+
How many agonists are needed to open NDMA receptors
2(have different subunits)
How is magnesium removed from NDMA receptor
Depolarisation via repeatedly activated synapse
Memantine
Blocks NMDA receptors
Prevents opening and influx of Ca which causes cell death
