Ch 12 Definitions: Learning and Memory

Question 1

reflex

Answer 1

an involuntary response to a stimulus

Question 2

fixed action pattern

Answer 2

(also known as instinct)

a stereotyped pattern of behavior elicited by particular environmental stimuli

Question 3

learning

Answer 3

a relatively permanent change in behavior or the capacity for behavior due to experience

Question 4

nonassociative learning

Answer 4

a type of learning that involves a change in the magnitude of responses to stimuli rather than the formation of connections between elements or events

Question 5

habituation

Answer 5

a type of learning in which the response to a repeated, harmless stimulus becomes progressively weaker

Question 6

sensitization

Answer 6

a type of learning in which the experience of one stimulus heightens response to subsequent stimuli

Question 7

classic conditioning

Answer 7

a type of associative learning in which neutral stimulus acquires the ability to signal the occurrence of a second, biologically significant event

Question 8

conditioned stimulus (CS)

Answer 8

in classical conditioning, an initially neutral event that takes on the ability to signal other biologically significant events

Question 9

unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

Answer 9

in classical conditioning, an event that elicits a response without prior experience

Question 10

conditioned response (CR)

Answer 10

in classical conditioning, a learned reaction to the conditioned stimulus

Question 11

unconditioned response (UCR)

Answer 11

in classical conditioning, a spontaneous unlearned reaction to a stimulus without prior experience

Question 12

operant conditioning

Answer 12

learning that links behavior with its consequences, producing change in the subsequent frequency of the behavior

Question 13

information processing models

Answer 13

theories of memory that seek to explain the management of information by the brain, from detection to storage to retrieval

Question 14

sensory memory

Answer 14

an initial stage in memory formation in which large amounts of data can be held for very short periods of time

Question 15

short-term memory

Answer 15

an intermediate memory store in which limited amounts of data can be held for a limited amount of time;
without further processing, such information is permanently lost

Question 16

long-term memory

Answer 16

a memory store in which apparently unlimited amounts of data can be held for an unlimited amount of time

Question 17

declarative memory

Answer 17

an explicit memory for semantic or episodic information that can easily be verbalized, or “declared”

Question 18

nondeclarative memory

Answer 18

an implicit memory that is only accessed unconsciously and automatically

Question 19

semantic memory

Answer 19

a type of declarative, explicit memory for facts and verbal information

Question 20

episodic memory

Answer 20

a type of declarative, explicit memorial for personal experience

Question 21

procedural memory

Answer 21

a type of implicit memory for performing learned skills and tasks

Question 22

anterograde amnesia

Answer 22

memory loss for information processed following damage to the brain

Question 23

Aplysia californica

Answer 23

an invertebrate sea slug frequently used as a subject of experiments on learning and memory

Question 24

gill-withdrawal reflex

Answer 24

in Aplysia, a protective reflex in which the gill is retracted in response to touch

Question 25

parahippocampal cortex

Answer 25

an area of cortex ventral to the hippocampus

Question 26

rhinal cortex

Answer 26

an area of cortex ventral to the hippocampus

Question 27

entorhinal cortex

Answer 27

a subdivision of the rhinal cortex

Question 28

perirhinal cortex

Answer 28

a subdivision of the rhinal cortex

Question 29

fornix

Answer 29

a pathway carrying information from the hippocampus to the hypothalamus

Question 30

Ammon’s horn

Answer 30

one of two major layers of neurons found in the hippocampus

Question 31

dentate gyrus

Answer 31

one of two major layers of neurons found in the hippocampus

Question 32

perforant pathway

Answer 32

a pathway made up of axons originating in the rhinal cortex that form synapses in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus

Question 33

mossy fiber (hippocampus)

Answer 33

an axon from the dentate gyrus that synapses on cells found in CA3 of Ammon’s horn

Question 34

Schaffer collateral pathway

Answer 34

a pathway connecting CA3 to CA1 in Ammon’s horn

Question 35

long-term potentiation (LTP)

Answer 35

a type of synaptic plasticity in which the application of a rapid series of electrical shocks to an input pathway increases the postsynaptic potentials recorded in target neurons

Question 36

associativity

Answer 36

a condition believed necessary for learning in which the pre- and postsynaptic neurons are nearly simultaneously active

Question 37

cooperativity

Answer 37

a condition for the formation of LTP in which several synapses onto the target postsynaptic neuron must be simultaneously active

Question 38

protein kinase M zeta

Answer 38

an enzyme believed to support maintenance of a memory trace

Question 39

Consolidation

Answer 39

the process of making memory traces more stable

Question 40

Transcription

Answer 40

the process of making an RNA version out of a segment of DNA

Question 41

Translation

Answer 41

the process of synthesizing a protein based on the information carried by a molecule of RNA

Question 42

transcription factor

Answer 42

a chemical that controls gene expression

Question 43

CREB

Answer 43

a protein that activates genes that might be responsible for structural changes associated with long-term memory

Question 44

C/EBPbeta

Answer 44

a substance activated by CREB that in turn activates genes related to synaptic growth

Question 45

engram

Answer 45

a physical memory trace in the brain

Question 46

nictitating membrane

Answer 46

an additional, movable inner eyelid found in some birds, fish, and mammals but not in humans

Question 47

interpositus nucleus

Answer 47

a cerebellar nucleus thought to be essential to classical conditioning in vertebrates

Question 48

Purkinje cell

Answer 48

a cell in the cerebellum that influences the structure’s activity by forming inhibitory synapses with the output cells in the deep cerebellar nuclei

Question 49

climbing fiber

Answer 49

a fiber originating in the inferior olive of the brainstem that forms synapses on the large Perkinje cells of the cerebellar cortex

Question 50

parallel fiber

Answer 50

a fiber originating in the granule cells of the cerebellum that synapses on the Perkinje cells

Question 51

granule cell

Answer 51

a cell within the cerebellum that is the source of parallel fibers

Question 52

mossy fiber (cerebellum)

Answer 52

a fiber connecting a neuron in the pons to the granule cells of the cerebellum

Question 53

long-term depression

Answer 53

a type of synaptic plasticity in which postsynaptic potentials in target cells is reduced

Question 54

extinction

Answer 54

in classical conditioning, the reduction in conditioned responding that follows exposure to the conditioned stimulus alone, without unconditioned stimulus

Question 55

delayed nonmatching to sample (DNMS) task

Answer 55

a standard test of memory in which the subject must identify the novel member of a stimulus pair following a delay