Chapter 10: Procedural Memory Systems

Question 1

What are the structures involved in procedural memory?

Answer 1

motor cortical regions (MC and PMA) project to motor units AND to striatum + cerebellum

latter structures modulate motor output directly or indirectly; loop back to MC and PMA

Question 2

What processes of procedural memory are involved with the striatum?

Answer 2

goal directed behavior

rewards for behavior

Question 3

What processes of procedural memory are involved with the cerebellum?

Answer 3

sensory motor reflex “adjuster”

helps to modify online head movements, eye movements

Question 4

What was the visual discrimination task used to test memory for habits in the striatum?

Answer 4

two platforms in Morris water maze that the animal can see

task: swim to one in place of the other

one platform is floating, will fall when rat gets on it, one is fixed and black, need to understand to swim to the black platform

striatum lesion rats can’t form the association for the right response

Question 5

What was the spatial discrimination task used to test memory for habits in the striatum?

Answer 5

position the fixed platform in a specific location

not dependent on color cue, needs to swim to the place (location based)

fornix lesion rats cannot learn particular place is associated with outcome

Question 6

What kind of learning do striatal lesions disrupt?

Answer 6

cue versus place learning in Morris water maze

Question 7

What kind of learning do HPC lesions disrupt?

Answer 7

place versus cue learning in Morris water maze

Question 8

What are egocentric spatial tasks?

Answer 8

example: directions based on a GPS

gives you a cue based on your position

striatal lesions impair performance on these tasks

Question 9

What are allocentric spatial tasks?

Answer 9

ability of hippocampus

creates a map in the head to navigate from point A to point B, faster than the GPS method

HPC lesions impair performance on these tasks

Question 10

How does striatal damage impair the weather prediction task in humans?

Answer 10

can’t remember what the cues means to predict the weather

Question 11

How does striatal damage impair the rotary pursuit task in humans?

Answer 11

take a pen and place it over a cue and follow it

can’t perform this task

Question 12

How does striatal damage impair the 12 item serial sequence task in humans?

Answer 12

cue displayed on computer screen (letter), type letter when you see it, letters appear in a sequence

normal: learn there is a sequence and predict it

lesion: cannot predict what the items are, don’t get better at the test

Question 13

What was the measure of memory activity in the striatum using monkeys?

Answer 13

sit and fixate gaze on a point, light appear L, R, and above fixation point

sequence of lights, once fixation point disappears, monkey then must tap squares in same sequence

recording of single unit activity in monkeys performing a cued eye movement task

particular stimulus only activates striatal cell after it acquires some significance as a cue to reward

Question 14

What are human imaging studies of memory activity in the striatum?

Answer 14

skill learning: finger movement sequences

probabilistic learning: weather prediction

both tasks activated the striatum

Question 15

What is the memory role of the striatum exhibited through?

Answer 15

habits, skills, learning of response sequence to specific stimuli

cue significances for behavior

motor sequences

probabilistic learning

goal-directed motor learning

Question 16

What does the cerebellum actually do for memory?

Answer 16

its connections suggest that it is perfectly poised for modifying essential reflexive motoric responses

vestibulo-ocular reflex: don’t think about it, cerebellum detects head movement to maintain focus in the eye, need something to detect how much you need to compensate for changes in visual acuity

Question 17

What was the conditioned eye blink response task used to test the reflexive memory of the cerebellum?

Answer 17

UCS: puff of air to eye

CS: auditory tone

delay conditioning protocol

Question 18

What happens to the conditioned eye blink response when the cerebellum is temporarily frozen?

Answer 18

during training: animals fail to respond to CS

temporary inactivator: local freezer, fail to respond to CS

despite that the red nucleus was inactive in training, when brought back after freezing, they behave like the control

Question 19

What do the results of the conditioned eye blink response tell us about the function of the cerebellum?

Answer 19

output via red nucleus is important in exhibition of performed behavior

inactivation of cerebellar structures show no learning after back online

sight of learning is association between CS and inputs from UCS to the same system

cerebellum learns from LTD

Question 20

What is the memory role of the cerebellum exhibited through?

Answer 20

reflexive modifications

S-R and motor conditioning

motor sequence learning and efficiency

higher order sensory and verbal discrimination?