chapter 13 Flashcards
stimulus response learning
learning to automatically make a particular response in the presence of a particular stimulus; includes classical and operant conditioning
classical conditioning
a learning procedure; when a stimulus that produces no particular response is followed several times by an unconditioned stimulus that produces a defensive or appetitive response (the unconditioned response) the first stimulus (now called conditioned stimulus) itself evokes the response (now called a conditioned response)
Hebb rule
the hypothesis proposed by Donald Hebb that the cellular basis of learning involves the strengthening of a synapse that is repeatedly active when the postsynaptic neuron fires
operant conditioning
a learning procedure whereby the effects of a particular behavior in a particular situation increase (reinforce) or decrease (punish) the probability of the behavior
reinforcing stimulus
an appetitive stimulus that follows a particular behavior and thus makes the behavior become more frequent
punishing stimulus
an aversive stimulus that follows a particular behavior and thus makes the behavior become less frequent
motor learning
learning to make a new response
perceptual learning
learning to recognize a particular stimulus
relational learning
learning the relationships among individual stimuli
nondeclarative memory
memory whose formation does not depend on the hippocampal formation; a collective term for perceptual, stimulus response, and motor memory. unconscious memory
declarative memory
memory that can be verbally expressed, such as memory for events in a person’s past; includes episodic and semantic memories
episodic memory
memory of a collection of perceptions of events organized in time and identified by a particular context
semantic memory
a memory of facts and general information
ventral tegmental area (VTA)
a group of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral midbrain whose axons form the mesolimbic and mesocortical systems; plays a critical role in reinforcement
nucleus accumbens (NAC)
a nucleus of the basal forebrain near the septum; receives dopamine secreting terminal buttons from neurons of the ventral tegmental area and is thought to be involved in reinforcement and attention
anterograde amnesia
amnesia for events that occur after some disturbance to the brain such as head injury or certain degenerative brain diseases
retrograde amnesia
amnesia for events that preceded some disturbance to the brain such as head injury of electroconvulsive shock
consolidation
the process by which short term memories are converted into long term memories
hippocampal formation
a forebrain structure of the temporal lobe, consulting an important part of the limbic system; includes the hippocampus proper, dentate gyrus, and subiculum
place cell
a neuron that becomes active when the animal is in a particular location in the environment; most typically found in the hippocampal formation
long term potentiation
a long term increase in the excitability of a neuron to a particular synaptic input caused by repeated high frequency activity of that input
population EPSP
an evoked potential that represents the EPSPs of a population of neurons
NMDA receptor
a specialized ionotropic glutamate receptor that controls a calcium channel that is normally blocked by Mg ions; involved in long term potentiation
AP5
2 amino 5 phosphonopentanoate; a drug that blocks NMDA receptors
dendritic spike
an action potential that occurs in the dendrite of some types of pyramidal cells
associative long term potential
a long term potentiation in which concurrent stimulation of weak and stong synapses to a given neuron strengthens the weak ones
AMPA receptor
an iontropic glutamate receptor that controls a sodium channel; when open, it produces EPSPs
CaM - KII
type II calcium calmodulin kinase, an enzyme that must be activated by calcium may play a role in the establishment of long term potentiation
nitric oxide synthase
an enzyme responsible for the production of nitric oxide
