Chapter 13 Flashcards
Learning
Acquire new and relatively enduring information, behavior patterns, or abilities, characterized by modifications of behavior as a result of practice, study or experience
Memory
- ability to learn and neurally encode information, consolidate the information for longer term storage, retreive or reactivate the consolidated memory at a later time
- The specific information that is stored in the brain
Amnesia
Severe impairment of memory
Retrograde/Anterograde Amnesia
Retro-Difficulty in retrieving memories formed before the onset of amnesia
Antero-Difficulty in forming new memories beginning with the onset of a disorder
H.M.
Henry Molaison, patient who was unable to encode new declarative memories because of surgical removal of the medial temporal lobe structure
Hippocampus
Medial temporal love structure that is important for learning and memory
Declarative memory
Memory that can be stated or described
Nondeclarative memory
“Procedural memory” memory that is shown by performance rather than by conscious recollection
Delayed non-matching-to-sample task
A test in which the subject must respond to the unfamiliar stimulus in a pair of stimuli
Patient N.A.
Still-living patient who is unable to encode new declarative, because of damage to the dorsomedial thalamus and the mammilary bodies
Dorsomedial thalamus
Limbic system structure that is connected to the hippocampus
Mammilary body
One of a pair of limbic system structures that are connected to the hippocampus
Korsakoff’s syndrome
A memory disorder, caused by thiamine deficiency, that is generally associated with chronic alcoholism
Confabulate
To fill in a gap in memory with falsification. Confabulation is often seen in Korsakoff’s syndrome.
Patient K.C.
Kent Cochrane, a patient who sustained damage to the cortex that rendered him unable to form and retrieve episodic memdores
Episodic memory
“autobiographical memory” Memory of a particular incident or a particular time and place
Semantic Memory
Generalized declarative memory, such as knowing the meaning of a word
Skill learning
Process of learning to perform a challenging task simply by repeating it over and over
Basal ganglia
A group of forebrain nuclei, including the caudate nucleus, globus pallidus, and putamen, found deep within the cerebral hemispheres. They are crucial for skill learning.
Priming
Also called repetition priming. Phenomenon by which exposure to a stimulus facilitates subsequent responses to the same or a similar stimulus
Associative learning
Type of learning in which an association is formed between two stimuli or between a stimulus and a response. It includes both classical and instrumental conditioning.
Classical Conditioning
“pavlonian conditioning” associative learning type which an originally neutral stimulus acquires the power to elicit a conditioned response when presented alone
Cerebellum
Structure located at the back of the brain, dorsal to the pons, that is involved in the central regulation of movement, and in some forms of learning
Instrumental conditioning
Also called operant conditioning. A form of associative learning in which the likelihood that an act (instrumental response) will be performed depends on the consequences (reinforcing stimuli) that follow it.
Cognitive Map
Mental representation of the relative spatial organization of objects and information
Place cell
Neuron in the hippocampus that selectively fires when the animal in a particular location.
Sensory buffer
Very brief type of memory that stores the sensory impression of a scene. In vision, it is sometimes called ionic memory
Short Term Memory (STM)
“working memory” A form of memory that usually lasts only seconds, or as long as rehearsal continues
Long Term Memory (LTM)
Enduring form of memory that lasts days, weeks, months, or years and has a very large capacity
Encoding
First process in the memory system, in which the information entering sensory channels is passed into short-term memory
Consolidation
The second process in the memory system, in which information in short-term memory is transferred to long-term memory
Retrieval
The third process of the memory system in which a stored memory is used by an organism
Postraumatic stress disorder
A disorder in which memories of an unpleasant episode repeatedly plague the victim
Primacy effect
Superior performance seen in a memory tast for items at the start of a list. It is usually attributed to long-term memory
Recency effect
The superior performance seen in a memory task for items at the end of a list. Usually attribute
Memory trace
Persistent change in the brain that reflects the storage of memory
Reconsolidation
Return of a memory trace to stable long-term storage after it has been temporarily made changeable during the process of recall
Neuroplasticity
“neural plasticity” The ability of the nervous system to change in response to experience or the environment
Standard condition (SC)
The usual environment for labratory rodents with a few animals in a cage and adequate food and water
Impoverished condition (IC)
Isolated condition, environment which each animal is housed singly in a small cage without complex stimuli
Enriched condition (EC)
Complex environment, for lab rodents in which animals are group-housed with a wide variety of stimulus objects
Nonassociative learning
Type of learning in which presentation of a particular stimulus alters the strength or probability of a response. Includes habituation
Habituation
Form of nonassociative learning in which an organism becomes less responsive following repeated presentations of stimulus
Hebbian synapse
A synapse that is strengthened when it successfully drives the postsynaptic cell
Tetanus
An intense volley of action potential
Long-term potentiation (LTP)
A stable and enduring increase in the effectiveness of synapses following repeated strong stimulation
Dentate gyrus
A strip of gray matter in the hippocampal formation
Glutamate
An amino acid transmitter; the most common excitatory transmitter
NMDA receptor
Glutamate receptor that also binds the glutamate agonist NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) and that is both ligand-gated and voltage sensitive
AMPA receptor
Fast-acting ionotropic glutamate receptor that also binds the glutamate agonist AMPA
Retrograde transmitter
A neurotransmitter that is released by the postsynaptic region, diffuses back across that synapse, and alters the functioning of the presynaptic neuron.
