Chapter 11 Learning and Memory Flashcards

1
Q

Define Amnesia

A

Loss of memory, usually as a result of brain injury

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2
Q

What are two types of Amnesia?

A
  1. Retrograde Amnesia

2. Anterograde Amnesia

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3
Q

What is Retrograde Amnesia?

A

“backwards acting”

  • cannot remember events prior to brain damage
  • loss of past memories
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4
Q

What is Anterograde Amnesia?

A

“Forwards Acting”
Cannot remember events that occur after brain damage
-inability to create new memories

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5
Q

What surgery did HM undergo?

A

Bilateral temporal Lobe Resection

complete removal of rhinal cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus

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6
Q

What were the results of HM’s surgery?

A

Some retrograde amnesia
Severe anterograde amnesia
-his problem was with consolidatin

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7
Q

What was thought to be the initial learning process?

A
  1. Sensory Information went into
  2. Short term memory which was consolidated into
  3. Long-term memory
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8
Q

What is Short-term memory?

A

immediate memory, limited capacity

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9
Q

What is Long-term memory?

A

Memory for past events; unlimited capacity

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10
Q

What is Consolidation?

A

Process of converting short term memories into long term memories

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11
Q

What were three conclusions based on HM?

A
  1. Hippocampus is not the location of long-term memories
  2. hippocampus is not the location of short-term memories
  3. hippocampus is involved in converting short-term memories into long-term memories (consolidation)
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12
Q

Brenda Milner disrupted the previous model of learning and replaced it with her “Multiple Memory System”: what was this?

A

Sensory memory -> short-term memory (working memory) -> Long-term memory

there are two categories of long-term memory, each of which have two subcategories

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13
Q

What are the two categories of long-term memory?

A

Explicit Memory: Conscious and Voluntary

Implicit Memory: Procedural/Motor = unconscious

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14
Q

What are the two types of explicit memory?

A

Semantic Memory: explicit for factual info

Episodic Memory: explicit for specific events of ones life

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15
Q

What are the two types of Implicit Memory?

A

Procedural: learn from doing = difficult to give verbal instructions (eg riding a bike)
Perceptual Memory: unintentional = dejavu

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16
Q

What happened to KC?

A

Damage to Medial temporal lobes left him with severe amnesia for personal experiences (autobiographical memory)

17
Q

What is Korsakoffs syndrome?

A

anterograde amnesia due to alcholism

18
Q

Those with Korsakoff’s often are nutritionally deficient, what are the effects of this?

A

Vitamin B deficiency destroys the mammillary bodies and mediodorsal thalamus

19
Q

What kind of amnesia is common with concussions?

A

amnesia for events immediately preceding and following the concussion

20
Q

What is Hebb’s Theory?

A

Concussions disrupt consolidation
Memories are stored in the short term by neural activity - implies consolidation is rather brief (but is in fact a long process)

21
Q

What is a controlled method of studying memory consolidation?

A

Electroconvulsive Shock (ECS) - intense, brief, diffuse seizure inducing current that is administered to the brain and disrupts consolidation

22
Q

What is the hippocampus’s role in memory storage?

A

Spatial Location

23
Q

What is the Perirhinal Cortex’s role in memory storage?

A

Object recognition

24
Q

What is the mediodorsal nucleus’s role in memory storage?

A

Korsakoff’s symptoms

25
Q

What is the basal forebrain’s role in memory storage?

A

Alzheimer’s symptoms

26
Q

What is Hebb’s Rule?

A

If a synapse becomes active repeatedly at the same time that the post-synaptic neuron fires, the synapse will be strengthened

27
Q

Define long term potentiation (LTP)

A

Repeated high strength stimulation strengthen the response of the dentate gyrus so that it will later respond to weaker stimuli

28
Q

What is Long-Term Depression (LTD)?

A

Create weaker synapse = never learn

29
Q

What is Associative LTP?

A

When a strong stimulus is paired with a weak one their connection becomes strengthened

30
Q

What two events does LTP require?

A
  1. Activation of presynaptic neuron

2. Depolarization of the postsynaptic neuron

31
Q

NMDA receptors require a two step process because a magnesium ion blocks the Ca2+ channel. What are these steps?

A

Calcium ion channel is blocked by magnesium - needs to be ejected before Ca2+ can enter

  1. Depolarization of the membrane evicts the Mg2+ ion and unblocks the channel
  2. Ca2+ rushes in
32
Q

What two conditions are required for NMDA receptors to be active?

A
  1. Glutamate must be present

2. Postsynaptic membrane must be depolarized

33
Q

Are NMDA receptors neurotransmitter or voltage dependent?

A

Both

34
Q

What is important to note about NMDA receptors with AP5 (amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid)?

A
  1. AP5 prevents LTP
    however
  2. AP5 doesn’t interfere LTP that has already been established
35
Q

The strengthening of synapses relates to what?

A

an increase in postsynaptic AMPA receptors

36
Q

What are AMPA receptors?

A

glutamate receptors that control Na+ channels (straight forward, doesn’t require ejection of Mg2+)

37
Q

What happens after Ca2+ enters the postsynaptic dendrites?

A

The protein kinase, CaM-KII, is activated and delivers AMPA receptors to the membrane via vesicles

38
Q

Presynaptic changes may be related to the activation of what?

A

Nitric Oxide (NO) - can act as a presynaptic messenger

39
Q

Provide the four steps to how a once-weak synapse changes:

A
  1. Glutamate released and binds to NMDA receptor
  2. Calcium enters and activates CaM-KII which causes insertion of AMPA receptors
  3. LTP also causes perforated synapses
  4. Calcium activates NO which diffuses out and back into terminal button to increase glutamate release