B12- Learning and Memory Flashcards
Perceptual learning
Learning to recognize a particular stimulus
Stimulus-response learning
Learning to automatically make a particular response in the presence of a particular stimulus; includes classical and instrumental conditioning
Classical conditioning
A learning procedure; when a stimulus that initially produces no particular response is followed several times by an UNCONDITIONAL STIMULUS that produces a defensive or appetitive response (the UNCONDITIONAL RESPONSE) the first stimulus (now called a CONDITIONAL STIMULUS) itself evokes the response (now called a CONDITIONAL RESPONSE).
Hebb rule
The 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
A learning procedure whereby the effects of a particular behavior in a particular situation increase (reinforce) or decrease (punish) the probability of the behavior; also called operant conditioning.
Reinforcing stimulus
An appetitive stimulus that follows a particular behavior and thus makes the behavior become more frequent.
Punishing stimulus
An aversive stimulus that follows a particular behavior and thus makes the behavior become less frequent.
Motor learning
Learning to make a new response.
Relational learning
Learning the relationships among individual stimuli.
Long-term potentiation (LTP)
A 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
A 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
An evoked potential that represents the EPSP’s of a population of neurons.
Associative long-term potentiation
A long-term potentiation in which concurrent stimulation of weak and strong synapses to a given neuron strengthens the weak ones.
NMDA receptor
A specialized ionotropic glutamate receptor that controls a calcium channel that is normally blocked by Mg2+ ions; involved in long-term potentiation.
AMPA receptor
An ionotropic glutamate receptor that controls a sodium channel; when open, it produces EPSP’s.
CaM-KII
Type II calcium-calmodulin kinase, an enzyme that must be activated by calcium; may play a role in the establishment of long-term potentiation.
Nitric oxide synthase
An enzyme responsible for the production of nitric oxide.
Long-term depression (LTD)
A 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.
Ventral tegmental area (VTA)
A group of dopaminergic neutrons in the ventral midbrain whose axons form the mesolimbic and mesocortical systems; plays a critical role in reinforcement.
Nucleus accumbens (NAC)
A 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)
A fiber bundle that contains axons that connect the VTA and the NAC; 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, usually resulting from chronic alcoholism.
