Chapter 13: Biology of Learning and Memory

Question 1

Classical conditioning

Answer 1

• Ivan Pavlov
• NS becomes CS when paired with US that automatically results in UR
• After several pairings, the response can elicited by CS without US
• New response called CR

Question 2

Operant conditioning

Answer 2

• B.F. Skinner
• Response followed by reinforcement or punishment which either strengthen or weaken behavior
• Positive, negative, punishment, reinforcement

Question 3

Lashley and the search for the “engram”

Answer 3

• Searched for localized representations of memory mostly by making slices in rat brains after they learned a task
• Found that learning did not seem to depend on connections across cortex or a single area of cortex

Question 4

Equipotentialality (Lashley)

Answer 4

-All parts of cortex contribute equally to complex functioning behaviors

Question 5

Mass action (Lashley)

Answer 5

-The cortex works as a whole, not as solitary isolated units

Question 6

Thompson

Answer 6

• During conditioning, changes occur in lateral interpositus nucleus (LIP) of cerebellum
• Responses increase as learning proceeds
• Area is necessary for learning & retention

Question 7

Important areas for learning

Answer 7

• Amygdala: fear learning
• Parietal lobe: spontaneous recall
• Anterior&inferior temporal cortex: semantic memory (facts)
• Prefrontal cortex: learning value of rewards & punishments
• Learning produces changes in neurons

Question 8

Habituation

Answer 8

• Decreased response to repeated stimulus

- Less neurotransmitter released from sensory neuron

Question 9

Sensitization

Answer 9

• Increased response to mild stimuli after exposure to more intense stimuli
  
  • Facilitating neurons prompt sensory neurons to release more neurotransmitter

Question 10

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

Answer 10

• Leaves a synapse “potentiated” for a period of time so that neuron is more responsive
• Relies on AMPA & NMDA receptors that respond to glutamate (generally excitatory)
• Can lead to increased dendritic branching

Question 11

Long-term depression (LTD)

Answer 11

-Prolonged decrease in responsiveness at other synapses

Question 12

Short term memory (Hebb)

Answer 12

• Events that just occurred

- Also known as working memory

Question 13

Long term memory (Hebb)

Answer 13

-Events from times farther back

Question 14

Differences between STM and LTM

Answer 14

1. STM has limited capacity (7+/- 2 chunks)
   LTM is unlimited
2. STM fades quickly without rehearsal
   LTM can persist indefinitely but change
3. STM is doorway into LTM (consolidation)
   LTM canbe triggered by cues
   -Recent researched weakened distinction between STM and LTM

Question 15

Baddeley

Answer 15

-“Working memory”: alternative to STM, involves temporary storage in order to actively manipulate information

Question 16

Phonological loop

Answer 16

• Things being repeated over and over

- To transfer from STM to LTM

Question 17

Working memory test

Answer 17

• Delayed Response Task
  
  • Identify something you heard or saw a short while ago
  • Prefrontal cortex appears important for temporary storage of info
• Older people tend to do worse
  
  • Likely due to prefrontal cortex changes

Question 18

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 18

-Loss of ability to form new memories

Question 19

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 19

-Loss of memory for events prior to damage

Question 20

H.M.

Answer 20

• Had hippocampus removed to stop seizures
• Could no longer form new memories
• STM remained intact
• Suggests hippocampus is vital for forming new LTM

Question 21

H.M.’s explicit memory

Answer 21

• Deliberate recall of info that can be stated in words (AKA declarative memory)
  
  • Episodic: autobiographical events
  • Semantic: factual info
• H.M.’s greatly impaired

Question 22

H.M.’s implicit memory

Answer 22

• Influence of recent experience on behavior without realizing (AKA procedural memory)
  
  • Motor skills, conditioning, associations
• H.M.’s remained intact

Question 23

Larry Squire

Answer 23

• Hippocampus is:
  1. Critical for declarative and especially episodic memory
  2. Important for spatial memory
  3. Important for remembering details and context of events

Question 24

Testing episodic memory in animals

Answer 24

• Delayed non-matching-to-sample tasks

- After a delay, the subject must choose the object that is different from the previous trial

Question 25

Testing episodic spatial memory in animals

Answer 25

• Morris water maze task

- Rat must swim through murky water to find a platform just underneath water surface

Question 26

Testing episodic source memory in animals

Answer 26

• Radial arm maze
• Rats with hippocampal damage learn to not enter arms that were never rewarded
• But they repeatedly enter arms that are sometimes rewarded, as if they forgot they were just there

Question 27

Hippocampus: important for consolidation

Answer 27

• The more consolidated a memory becomes, the less it depends on hippocampus
• Stress at time of encoding can release cortisol and activate amygdala which enhance storage and consolidation
  
  • Flashbulb memories (9/11)

Question 28

Life without memory: Clive Wearing

Answer 28

• British musician who suffered permanent damage to hippocampus & temporal lobes due to virus
• Result: extreme anterograde & retrograde amnesia
• Consciousness is a continuous series of new moments, free of recollection
• Procedural memory is almost fully intact
• Musical ability and language still retained