30 Memory and Hippocampus

Question 1

Name the three different types of memory.

Answer 1

procedural, declarative and working memory

Question 2

Describe the nature of procedural memory

Answer 2

aquired memories are embedded in procedures or occurs as changes in how pre-existing cognitive operations are carried out (usually spared by amnesia)

Question 3

Describe the nature of declarative memory.

Answer 3

storage of explicit information, can be brought to the mind as a proposition or image- this includes facts, lists and data of convential memory, usually impared with amnesia

Question 4

Describe the nature of working memory

Answer 4

process by which task-relevant information is kept on-line, appropriately updated in order to optimize performance (mental chalkboard)

Question 5

What brain region is thought to mediate working memory?

Answer 5

prefrontal cortex

Question 6

Name two types of learning.

Answer 6

associative learning and non-associative learning

Question 7

Describe the process of associative learning

Answer 7

the process of forming associations among stimuli and responses and is often further divided into classical and operant learning

Question 8

Describe the process of non-associative learning.

Answer 8

refers to simpler types of learning in which behavioral repsonse to a give n stimulus changes with repeated presentations of the stimulus (ie. Habituation and sensitization)

Question 9

What type of learning is classical conditioning (Pavlovian)

Answer 9

classical conditioning is a type of associative learning

Question 10

How is one classically conditioned?

Answer 10

through a process whereby a previously neutral stimulus, upon temporal association with a reflex-eleciting stimulus, gains the ability to elicit the reflex repsonse

Question 11

What type of learning is operant conditioning?

Answer 11

operant conditioning is a type of associative learning

Question 12

How does one undergo operant conditioning?

Answer 12

through a process where a consequence is made contingent upon a specific behavior

Question 13

Describe 3 different types of consequences in operant conditioning.

Answer 13

consequences that serve to increase the probability of the behavior (reinforcement) consequence that serves to reduce the probability of the behavior (punishment) and consequence of behavior is the removal of an unpleasant stimulus (negative reinforcement)

Question 14

What is plasticity and how does it differ from memory?

Answer 14

in the context of this class, plasticity refers to experience induced changes in molecular processes and network organization of the brain, as induced by exposure to salient stimuli, stimulus-stimulus associations or action-outcome contingencies

Question 15

The hippocampus is particularly important in the formation of what types of memory?

Answer 15

required for laying down declaritive memory as well as processing for remembering spatial locations

Question 16

The amydgala is particularly important for what type of memory?

Answer 16

mediates memory attained by classical conditioning, especially fear conditioning or biologically significant events

Question 17

What is the dorsal striatum important in?

Answer 17

dorsal striatum mediates the formation of reinforced stimulus-response associations

Question 18

Describe the overal organization of hippocampal tracks. (logitudinally, traverse running, corical connections???)

Answer 18

hippocampal structures are organized in a transectional as well as a tranverse pattern which is thought assist in forming associative connections

Question 19

Which area of the hippocampus serves as the interface between brain and hippocampus?

Answer 19

entrorhinal cortex

Question 20

Where do information tracts head from the entrorhinal cortex?

Answer 20

information tracts run directly to the dentate gyrus (perforant pathway) or also directly to CA fields

Question 21

How does information travel from the CA fields of the hippocampus back to other cortical regions?

Answer 21

CA 3 send information to CA1 along schaffer collateral pathwyays and CA1 projects to the subiculum which projects to deep layers of the entrorhinal cortex (CA3 > CA1 > Sub > EC deep)

Question 22

Where is the entrorhnial cortex located?

Answer 22

hippocampal fomation is embedded within the temporal lobe, immediately adjacent to a specialized part of the cortex termed the entorhinal cortex

Question 23

Which fibers come together to form the fornix as information exits the subiculum?

Answer 23

fibers from the subiculum gather into the alveus, which collects increasingly thicker fibers into the fimbria and the fibers of fimbria are collected within the fornix

Question 24

Generally speaking where does the fornix run?

Answer 24

from the hippocampus to the basal forebrain (mammillary bodies)

Question 25

What are the two branches of the fornix and what do they carry

Answer 25

precommisural branch which innervates septal nuclei and post commisural branche which splits to innervate the hypothalamus and the thalamus

Question 26

The extensive processing and integration throughout the entire hippocampal formation is throught to be the basis of what?

Answer 26

formation of complex declarative memory representations

Question 27

Coritical interconnections with the hippocampus are usually with what type of cortex?

Answer 27

connections primarily with high level association cortex

Question 28

What is the significance of “place cells”?

Answer 28

firing of cells at distinct places withing the hippocampus is thought to be invovled in spatial memory and navigation

Question 29

Describe the Two Stage Model Memory Theory

Answer 29

in order to precent interface with preexisting long-term memories, newly encoded memories are initially stored in an intermediate buffer from where these memories are gradually transferred to long-term store in an off-line process

Question 30

Experiments displaying hippocampal sharpwaves preceeding prefrontal spikes during slow wave sleep are significant how?

Answer 30

they suggest the connetion between SWS and memory consolidation

Question 31

What is Hebbian Synapse?

Answer 31

idea that relative efficacy of particular synapse would be increased if that particular synapse was persistantly active in firing its target (cells that fire together wire together)

Question 32

Pathways that develop demonstrate plasicity are highly conserved across species, what is the general basis of plasicity?

Answer 32

certain connections between neurons have become stronger due to upregulated processes in those cells

Question 33

What upregulated processes/molcules are important to develop memories that can outlive cell turnover?

Answer 33

upregulation of molecules common in species including : MAPK, CREB-1, CRE (ERK pathway), PI-3K, CaMKII etc.