B12- Learning and Memory

Question 1

Perceptual learning

Answer 1

Learning to recognize a particular stimulus

Question 2

Stimulus-response learning

Answer 2

Learning to automatically make a particular response in the presence of a particular stimulus; includes classical and instrumental conditioning

Question 3

Classical conditioning

Answer 3

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).

Question 4

Hebb rule

Answer 4

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.

Question 5

Instrumental conditioning

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

Reinforcing stimulus

Answer 6

An appetitive stimulus that follows a particular behavior and thus makes the behavior become more frequent.

Question 7

Punishing stimulus

Answer 7

An aversive stimulus that follows a particular behavior and thus makes the behavior become less frequent.

Question 8

Motor learning

Answer 8

Learning to make a new response.

Question 9

Relational learning

Answer 9

Learning the relationships among individual stimuli.

Question 10

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

Answer 10

A long-term increase in the excitability of a neuron to a particular synaptic input caused by repeated high-frequency activity of that input.

Question 11

hippocampal formation

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Population EPSP

Answer 12

An evoked potential that represents the EPSP’s of a population of neurons.

Question 13

Associative long-term potentiation

Answer 13

A long-term potentiation in which concurrent stimulation of weak and strong synapses to a given neuron strengthens the weak ones.

Question 14

NMDA receptor

Answer 14

A specialized ionotropic glutamate receptor that controls a calcium channel that is normally blocked by Mg2+ ions; involved in long-term potentiation.

Question 15

AMPA receptor

Answer 15

An ionotropic glutamate receptor that controls a sodium channel; when open, it produces EPSP’s.

Question 16

CaM-KII

Answer 16

Type II calcium-calmodulin kinase, an enzyme that must be activated by calcium; may play a role in the establishment of long-term potentiation.

Question 17

Nitric oxide synthase

Answer 17

An enzyme responsible for the production of nitric oxide.

Question 18

Long-term depression (LTD)

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

Ventral tegmental area (VTA)

Answer 19

A group of dopaminergic neutrons in the ventral midbrain whose axons form the mesolimbic and mesocortical systems; plays a critical role in reinforcement.

Question 20

Nucleus accumbens (NAC)

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

Medial forebrain bundle (MFB)

Answer 21

A fiber bundle that contains axons that connect the VTA and the NAC; electrical stimulation of these axons is reinforcing.

Question 22

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 22

Amnesia for events that occur after some disturbance to the brain, such as head injury or certain degenerative brain diseases.

Question 23

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 23

Amnesia for events that preceded some disturbance to the brain, such as a head injury or electroconvulsive shock.

Question 24

Korsakoff’s syndrome

Answer 24

Permanent anterograde amnesia caused by brain damage, usually resulting from chronic alcoholism.

Question 25

Confabulation

Answer 25

The reporting of memories of events that did not take place without the intention to deceive; seen in people with Korsakoff’s syndrome.

Question 26

Consolidation

Answer 26

The process by which short-term memories are converted into long-term memories.

Question 27

Declarative memory

Answer 27

Memory that can be verbally expressed, such as memory for events in a person’s past.

Question 28

Nondeclarative memory

Answer 28

Memory whose formation does not depend on the hippocampal formation; a collective term for perceptual, stimulus-response, and motor memory.

Question 29

Perirhinal cortex

Answer 29

A region of limbic cortex adjacent to the hippocampal formation that, along with the parahippocampal cortex, relays information between the entorhinal cortex and other regions of the brain.

Question 30

Parahippocampal cortex

Answer 30

A region of limbic cortex adjacent to the hippocampal formation that, along with the perirhinal cortex, relays information between the entorhinal cortex and other regions of the brain.

Question 31

Episodic memory

Answer 31

Memory of a collection of perceptions of events organized in time and identified by a particular context.

Question 32

Semantic memory

Answer 32

A memory of facts and general information.

Question 33

Place cell

Answer 33

A neuron that becomes active when the animal is in a particular location in the environment; most typically found in the hippocampal formation.

Question 34

Sharp-wave-ripple complexes (SWRs)

Answer 34

Periods of intense, high-frequency oscillations that originate in hippocampal fields CA1 and CA3 and propagate to the cerebal cortex; involved in replay of recently acquired information.

Question 35

Reconsolidation

Answer 35

A 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.