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.
Confabulation
The reporting of memories of events that did not take place without the intention to deceive; seen in people with Korsakoff’s syndrome.
Consolidation
The process by which short-term memories are converted into long-term memories.
Declarative memory
Memory that can be verbally expressed, such as memory for events in a person’s past.
Nondeclarative memory
Memory whose formation does not depend on the hippocampal formation; a collective term for perceptual, stimulus-response, and motor memory.
Perirhinal cortex
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.
Parahippocampal cortex
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.
Episodic memory
Memory of a collection of perceptions of events organized in time and identified by a particular context.
Semantic memory
A memory of facts and general information.
Place cell
A neuron that becomes active when the animal is in a particular location in the environment; most typically found in the hippocampal formation.
Sharp-wave-ripple complexes (SWRs)
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.
Reconsolidation
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.
