Chapter 11 Flashcards
Learning
how experience changes the brain
Memory
deals with how these changes are stored and subsequently reactivated
bilateral medial temporal lobectomy
the removal of the medial portions of both temporal lobes including most of the hippocammpus,amygdala, and adjacent cortex
Lobectomy
an operation in which a lobe, or a major part of one, is removed from the brain
lobotomy
an operation in which lobe, or a major part of one, is separated from the rest of the brain by a large cut but is not removed
retrograde amnesia
backward-acting… those on the latter tests lead to a diagnosis
anterograde amnesia
forward acting…. difficulty in storing short-term memory and long-term memory
Short-term memory
Storage of new information for brief periods of time while a person attends to it
Long-term memory
storage of new information once the person stops attending to it
Digit span
the classic test of short-term memory, six digits
Digit Span + 1 Test
Formal Assessment; a classic test of verbal long-term memory
Global amnesia
amnesia for information presented in all sensory modalities
Mirror-drawing test
the participants can not look at his arm and must look at a mirror and trace the object… the person is suppose to improve after every try
Incomplete-Pictures Test
a nonsensorimotor test of memory that employs five sets of fragmented drawings - each set contains drawing of the same object
Pavlovian Conditioning
Being condition to a stimulus by repetitive traininh
Remote Memory
memory for experiences in the distant past -
Memory consolidation
the translation of short-term memories into long-term memories
explicit memories (Declarative memories)
conscious long-term memories
Implicit Memories
long-term memories demonstrated by improved test performance without conscious awareness
Medial temporal amnesia
neuropsychological patients with a profile of mnemonic deficits, but with preserved intellectual functioning, and with evidence of medial temporal lobe damage
Repetition priming test
test that asses implicit memory
Semantic memories
explicit memories for general facts or information
Episodic memories
explicit memories for the particular events (i.e., episodes) of one’s life
Global cerebral Ischemia
experienced an interruption of blood supply to their entire brain
Transient global amnesia
sudden onset severe anterograde amnesia and moderate retrograde amnesia for explicit episodic memories that is transient–typically lasting only between 4 to 6 hours
Korsakoff’s syndrome
is a disorder of memory common in people who have consumed large amounts of alcohol; the disorder is largely attributed to the brain damage associated with thiamine deficiency
medial diencephalon
medial thalamus and the medial hypothalamus
mediodorsal nuclei
A pair of medial diencephalic nuclei in the thalamus, damage to which is thought to be responsible for many of the memory deficits associated with Korsakoff’s syndrome
medial diencephalic amnesia
amnesia associated with damage to the medial diencephalon
Alzheimer Disease
the major cause of dementia in old age, characterized by neurofibrillary tangles, amyloid plaques, and neuron loss
Dementia
a group of thinking and social symptoms that interfere with daily functioning
basal forebrain
midline area located just above the hypothalamus
posttraumatic amnesia PTA
Amnesia following a nonpenetrating blow to the head
concussion
temporary disturbance of consciousness produced by a nonpenetrating head injury
coma
pathological state of unconsciousness
Hebb’s Theory
classical theory memory reconsolidation – argued that memories of experiences are stored in the short term by neural activity reverberating in closed circuits
reverberating
circulating
electroconvulsive shock (ECS)
intense, brief, diffuse, seizure-inducing current that is administered to the brain through large electrodes attached to the scalp
Standard Consolidation Theory
memories are temporarily stored in the hippocampus until they can be transferred to a more stable cortical storage system
reconsolidation
each time memory is retrieved from long-term storage, it is temporarily held in labile (changeable or unstable)
engram
change in the brain that stores a memory
anisomycin
protein-synthesis inhibitor
delayed nonmatching-to-sample test
A test in which the subject is presented with an unfamiliar sample object and then, after a delay, is presented with a choice between the sample object and a unfamiliar object, where the correct choice is the unfamiliar object
medial temporal cortex
Cortex in the medial temporal lobe that lies adjacent to the hippocampus and amygdala
aspiration
suction of large portions of the rhinal cortex in addition to the hippocampus… A lesion technique in which tissue is drawn off by suction through the fine tip of a glass pipette.
Mumby box
An apparatus that is used in a rat version of the delayed nonmatching-to-sample test
Morris water maze test
intact rats are placed at various locations in a circular pool of murky water rapidly learn to swim to a stationary platform hidden just below the surface
radial arm maze test
several arms radiate out from a central starting chamber, and the same few arms are baited with food each day
reference memory
memory for the general principle and skills that are required to perform a task
working memory
memory for the general principle and skills that are required to perform a task
place cells
neurons that develop place fields– that is, that respond only when the subject is in a particular place in a familiar test environment
entorhinal cortex
an area of the medial temporal cortex that is a major source of neural signals to the hippocampus
Grid cells
are entorhinal neurons that each have an extensive array of evenly spaced place fields, producing a pattern reminiscent of graph paper
Jennifer Aniston neurons
other medial temporal lobes neuron that respond to other individuals known to the patients or to known objects
concept cells
Aniston Neuron repond to ideasor concepts rather than to particular
inferetemporal cortex
cortex on the inferior temporal cortex, which has complex visual functions
Prefrontal Cortex
the area of frontal cortex anterior to motor cortex
cerebellum
thought to participate in the storage of memories of learned sensorimotor skills through its various neuroplastic mechanism
striatum
thought to store memories for consistent relationships between stimuli and responses–the type of memories that develop incrementally over many trials
habit formation
what is refer to striatum-based form of learning
Long-term potential
Bliss and Lomo show that there is a facilitation of synaptic transmission following high-frequency electrical stimulation applied to presynaptic neurons
Hebb’s postulate for learning
the co-occurrence of firing in presynaptic and postsynaptic cells is now recognized as the critical factor in LTP - assumption that co-occcurence is a physiological necessity for learning and memory
induction, maintenance and expression
processes by which high frequency stimulation induce LTP(learning), the changes responsible for storing LTP(memory) and the changes that allow it to be expressed during the test (recall)
NMDA receptor
is a receptor for glutamate
Glutamate
the main excitatory neurotransmitter of the brain
dendritic spine
Tiny nodules of various shapes that are located on the surface of many dendrites and are the sites of most excitatory synapses in the mature mammalian brain
transcription factors
intracellular proteins that bind to DNA and influence the operation of particular genes
Nitric Oxide
A soluble-gas neurotransmitter
Infantile amnesia
not remembering anything of the events of our infancy
Nootropics or Smart drugs
substances that are though to improve memory
