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Physiological Psychology > Chapter 12 book notes > Flashcards

Chapter 12 book notes Flashcards

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1
Q

Thompson found a localized engram, whereas Lashley did not. What key differences in procedures or assumptions were probably responsible for their different results?

A

Thompson studied a different type of learning. Also, he looked at the cerebellum instead of the cerebral cortex

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2
Q

What evidence indicated that the red nucleus is necessary for performing the conditioned eyelid response but not for learning it?

A

When the red nucleus was inactivated during training, the animal made no conditioned responses, so the red nucleus is necessary for the response. However, as soon as the red nucleus recovered, the animal exhibited conditioned responses, so learning occurred while the red nucleus was inactivated.

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3
Q

Why should we conclude that consolidation depends on more than just holding a short-term memory long enough for protein synthesis?

A

People can store some memories for hours or days without forming a permanent memory, whereas they form emotionally important memories quickly.

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4
Q

What mechanism causes flashbulb memories?

A

Emotionally exciting memories stimulate the locus coeruleus, which increases norepinephrine throughout the cortex and dopamine to the hippocampus. Emotional excitement also increases epinephrine and cortisol, which activate the amygdala and hippocampus.

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5
Q

How does the cortex store a working memory during a delay?

A

Activity reverberates among cortical cells and between the thalamus, maintaining a simplified code of just the info needed for a response.

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6
Q

Why did researchers look for a gene on chromosome 21 as a probable cause for early-onset Alzheimer’s disease?

A

Most people with Down syndrome, caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21, develop Alzheimer’s disease in middle age.

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7
Q

Which gene, and what chemicals, are most strongly linked to Alzheimer’s disease?

A

The APOE4 gene increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Two chemicals accumulate in this disease: (Beta)-amyloid and tau protein

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8
Q

What are the consequences of the rapid formation of new neurons in an infant hippocampus?

A

Rapid formation of new neurons in the infant hippocampus facilitates new learning, but at the cost of also increasing forgetting

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9
Q

Keyword: classical conditioning

A

Pairing two stimuli together and changing the response to one of them

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10
Q

Keyword: conditioned stimulus (CS)

A

A stimulus that elicits no response

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11
Q

Keyword: unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

A

A stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response

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12
Q

Keyword: unconditioned response (UCR)

A

An automatic response to the unconditioned stimulus

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13
Q

Keyword: conditioned response (CR)

A

A new response to the conditioned stimulus, made after pairing the unconditioned stimulus with the conditioned stimulus

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14
Q

Keyword: instrumental learning

A

AKA Operant learning; a response leads to a reinforcer or punishment

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15
Q

Keyword: reinforcer

A

Increases the future probability of a response

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16
Q

Keyword: punishment

A

Suppresses the frequency of a response

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17
Q

Keyword: engram

A

The physical representation of what has been learned

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18
Q

Keyword: equipotentiality

A

All parts of the cortex contribute equally to complex behaviors such as learning

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19
Q

Keyword: mass action

A

More cortex is better

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20
Q

Keyword: short-term memory

A

Memories of events that have just occurred

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21
Q

Keyword: long-term memory

A

Memories of events from further back

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22
Q

Keyword: consolidate

A

Strengthen

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23
Q

Keyword: working memory

A

Refers to the way we store information while we work on it

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24
Q

Keyword: delayed response task

A

A task in which one responds to something they saw or heard a short while ago

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25
Q

Keyword: amnesia

A

Memory loss

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26
Q

Keyword: Alzheimer’s disease

A

Most common form of severe memory loss

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27
Q

Keyword: APOE

A

This gene makes a protein that contributes to many functions, including lipid metabolism and control of the blood-brain barrier

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28
Q

Keyword: (Beta)-amyloid

A

One of two major chemicals that contribute to Alzheimer’s disease

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29
Q

Keyword: tau protein

A

One of two major chemicals that contribute to Alzheimer’s disease

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30
Q

Keyword: infant amnesia

A

Universal experience that older children and adults remember very little of what happened in their first few years

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31
Q

What evidence led Lashley to draw his conclusions of equipotentiality and mass action?

A

Impairment of learning depended on the amount of damage rather than the location

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32
Q

Which of Lashley’s assumptions did researchers later reject?

A

Any convenient example of learning reveals the mechanisms for all learning

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33
Q

Why did Thompson conclude that eye-blinking conditioning did not depend on the red nucleus?

A

Rabbits learned from training while the red nucleus was suppressed

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34
Q

Why did Hebb infer a difference between short-term and long-term memory?

A

Some memories form quickly and some are permanent

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35
Q

How does emotional arousal facilitate consolidation?

A

Increased release of norepinephrine, epinephrine, and cortisol

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36
Q

How does the cortex store a working memory?

A

Reverberating activity between the thalamus and the cortex

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37
Q

People with which condition are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease in middle age?

A

Down syndrome

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38
Q

What is known about the heritability of Alzheimer’s disease?

A

Early-onset Alzheimer’s disease has a higher heritability than later-onset Alzheimer’s disease

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39
Q

Currently, what seems to be the most promising explanation for infant amnesia?

A

Forming many new memories in infants replaces old ones

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40
Q

What general point do the studies of H.M. and similar patients tell us about the nature of memory?

A

Episodic memory differs from semantic memory, explicit memory differs from implicit memory, and declarative memory differs from procedural memory. In each case, brain damage can impair one without the other

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41
Q

What brain activity occurs when you recall an episodic memory?

A

The hippocampus retrieves information from cortical areas in the proper sequence

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42
Q

Why does recent episodic memory include more detail than older memories?

A

The hippocampus stores detailed episodic memories, and the cortex stores semantic memories and general relationships. As time passes, the hippocampal representation fades.

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43
Q

What evidence indicates that hippocampal ripples represent efforts to remember something?

A

The ripples last longer when people recall an autobiographical event, and especially when they have to struggle to recall it

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44
Q

In addition to an animal’s location, what else do many place cells monitor?

A

Some also respond to time or the direction the animal is heading

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45
Q

What is the evidence that rats can imagine the future?

A

When a rat pauses at a choice point in a maze, place cells respond in sequence as if the animal were traveling down one arm or another of the maze

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46
Q

How do place cells and time cells relate to episodic memory?

A

Episodic memories almost always include the location of the remembered event, and often the approximate time as well

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47
Q

Would Parkinson’s disease patients be more impaired at learning new facts or at acquiring new habits?

A

Parkinson’s disease patients are more impaired at acquiring new habits. Habit learning depends on the striatum more than the hippocampus, and the striatum is damaged in Parkinson’s disease

48
Q

In probabilistic learning situations, how does initial learning differ from later learning?

A

At first, responding depends on declarative memory controlled by the hippocampus. After extensive practice, the striatum develops habits of responding that weigh many types of information to produce the most accurate responding

49
Q

Key term: anterograde amnesia

A

Inability to form memories for events after brain damage

50
Q

Key term: retrograde amnesia

A

Loss of memories for events prior to brain damage

51
Q

Key term: semantic memories

A

Memories of factual information

52
Q

Key term: episodic memory

A

Memory of personal events

53
Q

Key term: explicit memory

A

Deliberate recall of information that one recognizes as a memory, AKA declarative memory

54
Q

Key term: declarative memory

A

Deliberate recall of information that one recognizes as a memory, AKA explicit memory

55
Q

Key term: implicit memory

A

Influence of experience on behavior, even if one is unaware of it

56
Q

Key term: delayed matching-to-sample task

A

An animal sees an object and, after a delay, gets to choose between two objects, from which it must choose the previously displayed one

57
Q

Key term: delayed nonmatching-to-sample task

A

Similar to the delayed matching-to-sample task except the object is different from the sample

58
Q

Key term: sharp-wave ripples

A

Messages bounced back and forth between the hippocampus and cerebral cortex to reactivate a memory

59
Q

Key term: radial maze

A
60
Q

Key term: Morris water maze

A
61
Q

Key term: place cells

A
62
Q

Key term: time cells

A
63
Q

Key term: grid cells

A
64
Q

Key term: striatum

A

Part of the basal ganglia consisting of the caudate nucleus and the putamen

65
Q

Key term: probabilistic learning

A

Statistical learning—learning what will probably happen under certain circumstances, or what to expect when the outcome is not entirely predictable

66
Q

Key term: semantic dementia

A

A loss of semantic memory

67
Q

What is antegrade amnesia?

A

Inability to form new memories

68
Q

What is most impaired in patients with hippocampal damage?

A

Ability to imagine the future

69
Q

What was most severely impaired in patient H.M.?

A

Episodic memory

70
Q

What type of memory does the delayed match to sample task measure?

A

Declarative memory

71
Q

How does memory storage in the hippocampus relate to memory storage in the cortex?

A

They develop in parallel from the start

72
Q

What do sharp wave ripples in the hippocampus apparently indicate?

A

Effort to recall a memory

73
Q

What type of memory do the radial maze and Morris water maze test?

A

Spatial memory

74
Q

Evidence that rats can imagine the future came from recordings from what type of cell?

A

Place cells

75
Q

Why are certain cells in the entorhinal cortex called grid cells?

A

They respond to locations distributed in a hexagonal grid

76
Q

The striatum is primarily responsible for which type of learning?

A

Gradual learning habits

77
Q

Which brain area is most important for gradual probabilistic learning?

A

Striatum

78
Q

If someone can answer questions about personal experiences, but never volunteers much about them, and describes them as if they happened to someone else, where is the probable damage?

A

Locus coeruleus

79
Q

How can the Hebbian synapse account for the basic phenomenon of classical conditioning?

A

In a Hebbian synapse, pairing the activity of a weaker (CS) axon with a stronger (UCS) axon produces an action potential, and in the process strengthens the response of the cell to the CS axon. On later trials, it will produce a bigger depolarization of the postsynaptic cell, which we can regard as the conditioned response

80
Q

When sodium blocks potassium channels on the presynaptic terminal, what is the effect on transmission?

A

Blocking potassium channels prolongs the action potential and therefore prolongs the release of neurotransmitters, producing an increased response

81
Q

Before LTP, what is the effect of glutamate at the AMPA receptors? at the NMDA receptors?

A

Before LTP, glutamate stimulates AMPA receptors but usually not the NMDA receptors, because magnesium blocks them

82
Q

During the formation of LTP, when a burst of intense stimulation releases much more glutamate than usual at two or more incoming axons, what is the effect of the glutamate at the AMPA receptors? At the NMDA receptors?

A

The massive glutamate input stimulates the AMPA receptors enough to depolarize the dendrite and enable glutamate to excite the NMDA receptors

83
Q

After the neuron has gone through LTP, what is now the effect of the glutamate at the AMPA receptors? At the NMDA receptors?

A

After LTP has been established, glutamate stimulates the AMPA receptors more than before, mainly because of an increased number of AMPA receptors. At the NMDA receptors, it is again usually ineffective.

84
Q

Why should you be unimpressed with the statement that a supplement has been “clinically tested”? Why should you be unimpressed by a testimonial that a “product works for me”?

A

Being clinically tested says nothing about the results of the test. A testimonial is no substitute for a double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment.

85
Q

Key term: Hebbian synapse

A
86
Q

Key term: habituation

A
87
Q

Key term: sensitization

A
88
Q

Key term: long-term potentiation (LTP)

A
89
Q

Key term: specificity

A

If some of the synapses on a cell have been highly active and others have not, only the active ones become strengthened

90
Q

Key term: cooperativity

A

Nearly simultaneous stimulation by two or more axons produces LTP more strongly than does repeated stimulation by just one axon

91
Q

Key term: associativity

A

Paring a weak input with a strong input enhances later responses to the weaker input

92
Q

Key term: long-term depression (LTD)

A

A prolonged decrease in response at a synapse, occurs for axons that have been less active than others

93
Q

Key term: AMPA receptor

A
94
Q

Key term: NMDA receptor

A
95
Q

Key term: BDNF

A

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor

96
Q

Key term: retrograde transmitter

A
97
Q

What is true about the Hebbian synapse?

A

It strengthens as a result of experience

98
Q

Cells that fire together wire together, but only under what condition?

A

The cells are close together

99
Q

Why is Aplysia an appealing animal for studies of the physiology of learning?

A

The neurons are the same from one individual to another

100
Q

What causes habituation in Aplysia?

A

A change at a synapse

101
Q

What is meant by the “associativity” of LTP?

A

Pairing two stimuli increases responsiveness to the weak one

102
Q

How do AMPA and NMDA synapses differ?

A

They respond differently to different drugs

103
Q

Why are NMDA receptors usually unresponsive?

A

Magnesium ions block their channel

104
Q

Which ion enters through an NMDA channel when the synapse is stimulated?

A

Calcium

105
Q

In the United States, is it possible to market a supplement that produces only placebo effects?

A

Yes, if the advertisements do not make unverified claims

106
Q

What evidence supports the conclusion that genetic variation contributes to variations in human intelligence?

A

The evidence is based largely on comparisons of monozygotic and dizygotic twins. Also, genetic mutations can produce intellectual disabilities.

107
Q

Why are brain size and brain-to-body ratio unsatisfactory ways of estimating animal intelligence?

A

If we consider ourselves to be the most intelligent species, we are confronted with the fact we have neither the largest brains nor the highest brain-to-body ratios. Total neuron number is a more promising correlate of intelligence.

108
Q

Why do recent studies show a higher relationship between brain size and IQ than older studies did?

A

The use of MRI greatly improves the measurement of brain size in comparison to measurements based on the skull

109
Q

Why were our ancient ancestors able to evolve a larger number of neurons than other species?

A

Because of cooking, cooperative breeding, and upright locomotion, they were able to decrease the energy necessary for other organs and functions

110
Q

What is meant by the g factor of intelligence?

A

General

111
Q

The evidence for a genetic factor of intelligence comes mainly from what type of research?

A

Comparison of twins

112
Q

Human brains exceed those of all other species in what regard?

A

Number of neurons

113
Q

Why would it be a mistake to measure people’s intelligence by measuring their brains?

A

The correlation between brain size and intelligence is low

114
Q

When researchers selectively bred guppies for large brains, what occurred?

A

The guppies decreased their reproduction

115
Q

Theorists believe that early humans were able to evolve greater intelligence because of an improvement in what?

A

Nutrition

Physiological Psychology (8 decks)

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