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Term 5: Neuro > 6/8- Neuroplasticity I > Flashcards

6/8- Neuroplasticity I Flashcards

1
Q

Why do we have memory?

A
  • Simpler and more flexible way of learning than hard-wiring at birth; allows neurons to self-modify based on their experience
  • Memory is the best way to upgrade prediction
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2
Q

T/F: There is a dedicated region for memory

A

False. There is no such thing as a dedicated memory organ; memory is distributed!

(Lashley experiment trained rats on a maze and lesioned brain to see where memory was stored)

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3
Q

What disorder/symptoms did HM have?

Treatment?

A

First grand mal seizure at 16, becoming more frequent until ~11 fits/week.

Treated with bilateral removal of medial temporal lobe (hippocampus and associated structures)

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4
Q

Effect of bilateral medial temporal lobectomy (esp on HM)?

A
  • Seizures dramatically reduced
  • Short term memory was fine
  • Long term memory was fine
  • But couldn’t form new long term memories
    (e. g. Memento, pianist with herpes)

Thus, short and long term memory are separate and the medial temporal lobe is somehow involved

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5
Q

Anterograde amnesia (def)?

A

Forward-acting

  • Unable to form new memories
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6
Q

Retrograde amnesia (def)?

A

Backward-acting

  • Unable to remember the past
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7
Q

What is explicit memory? Implicit?

What did we learn about them from HM?

A

Explicit- conscious memory

Implicit- unconscious memory; habitual

HM’s case revealed that explicit and implicit memories are separate as well

(Could improve drawing in a mirror although could not remember practicing)

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8
Q

How do explicit and implicit memories fit within long and short term memories?

A

Explicit and implicit memories are long term memory

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9
Q

Short term memory is held where?

A

Held in neuronal firing

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10
Q

Long term memory is held where?

A

Cemented into brain structure; physical changes in structure of brain that remain there for an extended amount of time; memories undergo consolidation through time

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11
Q

What is a concussion (def)?

A

Concussion- a temporary disturbance of consciousness from a non-penetrating blow to the head

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12
Q

How can a concussion affect memory?

A

Concussions may cause retrograde amnesia for a period (loss of memory held in neuronal firing before it can be cemented) before the blow and a period of anterograde amnesia after (lasting about the same length of time as the person was unconscious)

Concussions disrupt consolidation (storage) of recent memories

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13
Q

What kind of amnesia is seen in comas?

A

Same kind of amnesias as concussions; severity of amnesia correlates with duration of brain coma

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14
Q

Why/how is the hippocampus necessary for short term memory being converted to long term structural changes?

How long does this take?

A

The hippocampus runs the cortex through practice routines (of the specific neuronal pattern/network representing a certain experience/memory)

Takes ~ 15 minutes

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15
Q

What structural changes occur for long term memory?

A

Long term strengthening and weakening of synapses (cells that fire together wire together); results in associative neural network

  • LTP- long term potentiation
  • LTD- long term depression
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16
Q

What is a major NT in brain plasticity?

A

Acetylcholine (ACh)

17
Q

What are the memory components/symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)?

A
  • Progressive brain deterioration
  • Begins with slight loss of memory and progresses to dementia
  • Major anterograde and retrograde amnesia
  • Also deficits in short term memory
18
Q

What is the underlying mechanism for amnesia in Alzheimer’s?

A

Alzheimer’s amnesia is partially related to acetylcholine depletion

19
Q

Treatment for Alzheimer’s?

A

Drugs that boost acetylcholine transmission by preventing breakdown (4 on the market)

  • Provide modest relief in mild cases
  • Little use in advanced cases

Also Memantine (Namenda) to prevent neuron loss from excess glutamate/excitotoxicity by decreasing neuronal sensitivity to glutamate

20
Q

What is Scopolamine’s mechanism?

Affect on memory?

Uses?

A

Scopolamine has antiocholinergic effects; may disrupt memory (higher doses)

Treatment of:

  • Nausea and motion sickness
  • Intestinal cramping
  • Ophthalmic purposes

Also used as a date rape drug/aid for rubbery because it induces anterograde amnesia (50% of ER admissions for poisonings in Bogota)

21
Q

How come some adults have Alzheimer’s but no one can tell?

A

Cognitive reserve in adult plasticity

  • Education and intelligence may permit cognitive tasks to be accomplished in new ways
  • Even as brain degenerated, could find/establish new ways from point a to point b
  • Ex) nuns who had many tasks and much social interaction each day
  • Important to maintain cognitive fitness in old age!
22
Q

What is Ribot’s law?

A

Older memories are more stable; recent memories are more like to be lost (first in-last out)

  • Through time, memories get more cemented into structure (memories get stronger with time)
23
Q

What is re-consolidation? Effects?

A

When memory is retrieved from long term memory, it is temporarily held in short term

  • Recalling a memory makes it susceptible to erasure (e.g. posttraumatic amnesia) until reconsolidation
  • Unfortunately, doesn’t work in traumatic memories…these are stored in a secondary system in the amygdala
24
Q

What is anisomycin?

How does it effect memory?

A

A protein synthesis inhibitor

  • Can prevent reconsolidation of memory
25
Q

Where are memories stored?

A

Each memory is stored diffusely throughout the brain structures that were involved in its formation

26
Q

Damage to ____ results in memory deficits?

A

Damage to a variety of structures results in memory deficits. However, certain structures are more involved in certain memory types…

27
Q

What sort of memory is stored in the hippocampus?

A

Spatial location

28
Q

What sort of memory is stored in the inferotemporal cortex?

A

Object recognition

29
Q

What sort of memory is stored in the amygdala?

A

Emotional memories

30
Q

What sort of memory is stored in the prefrontal cortex?

A

Temporal ordering of events, tasks involving a series of steps

31
Q

What sort of memory is stored in the cerebellum?

A

Sensorimotor tasks (remembering how to ride a bike)

32
Q

What are the (3) ways that the brain stores changes related to memory?

A
  • Changes in neuronal connection (synapses)
  • Growth of new neurons (neurogenesis)
  • Changes in gene expression (epigenetics- experience can change gene expression permanently, as in rat pups licked by their mothers)
33
Q

What is the problem of eyewitness testimony?

A

Memory is constructed

34
Q

What are two different methods underlying extraordinary memories?

A
  • Synesthesia
  • Larger cortical area devoted to one task (savantism)
35
Q

What is synesthesia?

A

Information hooking into other things

  • Ex) people who see numbers with color
  • Ex) easier to memorize poetry to music (song lyrics)
36
Q

What does retrograde amnesia prove about the consolidation of memory?

A

Retrograde amnesia shows that memories are consolidated over time

Term 5: Neuro (24 decks)

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