chapter 13

Question 1

stimulus response learning

Answer 1

learning to automatically make a particular response in the presence of a particular stimulus; includes classical and operant conditioning

Question 2

classical conditioning

Answer 2

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)

Question 3

Hebb rule

Answer 3

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

Question 4

operant conditioning

Answer 4

a learning procedure whereby the effects of a particular behavior in a particular situation increase (reinforce) or decrease (punish) the probability of the behavior

Question 5

reinforcing stimulus

Answer 5

an appetitive stimulus that follows a particular behavior and thus makes the behavior become more frequent

Question 6

punishing stimulus

Answer 6

an aversive stimulus that follows a particular behavior and thus makes the behavior become less frequent

Question 7

motor learning

Answer 7

learning to make a new response

Question 8

perceptual learning

Answer 8

learning to recognize a particular stimulus

Question 9

relational learning

Answer 9

learning the relationships among individual stimuli

Question 10

nondeclarative memory

Answer 10

memory whose formation does not depend on the hippocampal formation; a collective term for perceptual, stimulus response, and motor memory. unconscious memory

Question 11

declarative memory

Answer 11

memory that can be verbally expressed, such as memory for events in a person’s past; includes episodic and semantic memories

Question 12

episodic memory

Answer 12

memory of a collection of perceptions of events organized in time and identified by a particular context

Question 13

semantic memory

Answer 13

a memory of facts and general information

Question 14

ventral tegmental area (VTA)

Answer 14

a group of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral midbrain whose axons form the mesolimbic and mesocortical systems; plays a critical role in reinforcement

Question 15

nucleus accumbens (NAC)

Answer 15

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

Question 16

anterograde amnesia

Answer 16

amnesia for events that occur after some disturbance to the brain such as head injury or certain degenerative brain diseases

Question 17

retrograde amnesia

Answer 17

amnesia for events that preceded some disturbance to the brain such as head injury of electroconvulsive shock

Question 18

consolidation

Answer 18

the process by which short term memories are converted into long term memories

Question 19

hippocampal formation

Answer 19

a forebrain structure of the temporal lobe, consulting an important part of the limbic system; includes the hippocampus proper, dentate gyrus, and subiculum

Question 20

place cell

Answer 20

a neuron that becomes active when the animal is in a particular location in the environment; most typically found in the hippocampal formation

Question 21

long term potentiation

Answer 21

a long term increase in the excitability of a neuron to a particular synaptic input caused by repeated high frequency activity of that input

Question 22

population EPSP

Answer 22

an evoked potential that represents the EPSPs of a population of neurons

Question 23

NMDA receptor

Answer 23

a specialized ionotropic glutamate receptor that controls a calcium channel that is normally blocked by Mg ions; involved in long term potentiation

Question 24

AP5

Answer 24

2 amino 5 phosphonopentanoate; a drug that blocks NMDA receptors

Question 25

dendritic spike

Answer 25

an action potential that occurs in the dendrite of some types of pyramidal cells

Question 26

associative long term potential

Answer 26

a long term potentiation in which concurrent stimulation of weak and stong synapses to a given neuron strengthens the weak ones

Question 27

AMPA receptor

Answer 27

an iontropic glutamate receptor that controls a sodium channel; when open, it produces EPSPs

Question 28

CaM - KII

Answer 28

type II calcium calmodulin kinase, an enzyme that must be activated by calcium may play a role in the establishment of long term potentiation

Question 29

nitric oxide synthase

Answer 29

an enzyme responsible for the production of nitric oxide