Chapter 13: Learning And Memory Flashcards
Stimulus-Response Learning
Learning to automatically make particular stimulus
Conditioning
Learning from exposures to stimuli to produce lasting change in behavior
Classical Conditioning
When stimulus that initially produces no particular response is followed several times by unconditioned stimulus that produces a defensive or appetitive response (the unconditioned response), the first stimulus (now a conditioned stimulus) itself evokes response (now closed conditioned response)
Hebb Rule
Hypothesis proposed by Donald Herb that cellular basis of learning involved strengthening of synapse that is repeatedly active when postsynaptic neuron fires
Operant Conditioning
Learning procedure whereby effects of particular behavior in particular situation increase (reinforce) or decrease (punish) probability of the behavior
Reinforcing Stimulus
Appetitive stimulus that follows particular behavior and thus makes behavior become more frequent
Punishing Stimulus
Aversive stimulus that follows particular behavior and thus makes behavior become less frequent
Motor Learning
Learning to make new response
- Establishes changes within motor systems following a stimulus - Requires sensory guidance from environment
Perceptual Learning
Learning to recognize particular stimulus
- Each of out sensory systems is capable of perceptual learning
Relational Learning
Learning the relationships among individual stimuli
Episodic Learning
Remembering sequences of events that we witness- requires us to keep track of and remember not only individual events, but also order in which they occur
Sensory Memory
Initial sensation of environmental stimuli is initially remembered
Short-Term Memory
If info is meaningful or salient enough to be passed from sensory memory —> STM
- Second- minutes - Length of STM can be extended through rehearsal - Chunking- grouping pieces of info together
Long-Term Memory
Info that will be retained from STM is consolidated into LTM
Nondeclarative Memory
Memory whose formation does not depend on hippocampal formation
- Collective term for perceptual, stimulus- response, and motor memory - Memories that we aren’t necessarily conscious of - Operate automatically
Declarative Memory
Memory that can be verbally expressed, such as memory for events in person’s past
Episodic Memory
Memory of collection of perceptions of events organized in time and identified by particular context
- Must be learned all at once
Semantic Memory
Memory of facts and general info
- Can be acquired gradually, over time
Information about CS reaches […]
Information about CS reaches lateral nucleus of amygdala
- Contains neurons whose axons project to central nucleus
When individual encounters a painful stimulus, somatosensory input activates strong synapses in lateral nucleus —>
Neurons in this nucleus begin firing, which activates neurons in central nucleus, evoking an unlearned emotional response
Changes in […] using Glu are responsible for LTP
Changes in lateral amygdala using Glu are responsible for LTP
2 major pathways between sensory and motor associations cortex
- Direct transcortical connections
- Connections via basal ganglia and thalamus
Direct transcortical connections
Involved in acquiring episodic memories
Connections via basal ganglia and thalamus
- As learned behaviors become automatic and routing, they’re transferred to basal ganglia
- Neostriatum (caudate nucleus and putamen) receives info from all regions of cerebral cortex
- Outputs of caudate and putamen —> globes pallidus —> frontal cortex and primary motor cortex
Mesolimbic system of DAergic neurons begins in […] projects rostrally to amygdala, hippocampus, and […]
Mesolimbic system of DAergic neurons begins in VTA projects rostrally to amygdala, hippocampus, and nucleus accumbens
VTA
Group of DAerigic neurons in ventral midbrain whose axons from mesolimbic and mesocortical systems
- Plays role in critical role in reinforcement
Nucleus Accumbens (NAc)
Nucleus of basal forebrain near septum
- Receives DA-secreting terminal buttons from neurons of VTA and is thought to be involved in reinforcement and attention
Reinforcement system must perform 2 functions:
- Detect presence of reinforcing stimulus
- Strengthen connections between neurons that detect specific stimulus and neurons that produce response
Ventral premotor cortex
Home to mirror neurons that facilitate motor learning when observing someone else
Anterograde Amnesia
Amnesia for events that occur after some disturbances
- Can be caused by damage to temporal lobes
Retrograde Amnesia
Amnesia for events that preceded some disturbances to the brain
H.M. Deficit conclusions
- Hippocampus is not location of LTM or necessary for retrieval of LTM
- Hippocampus isn’t location of immediate (short-term) memories
- Hippocampus is involved in converting immediate (short-term) memories into LTM
Consolidation
Process of which STM are converted into LTM
Hippocampal Formation
Forebrain structure of temporal lobe, constituting an important part of limbic system
- Includes hippocampus proper (Ammon’s horn), dentate gyros, and subiculum
Place Cell
Neuron that becomes active when animal is in particular location in environment
- Different neurons had different spatial receptive field
Grid cells
Show evenly spaced, crystal-like coverage of entire environment in which animal is located
Border cells
Fire when animal is near one or more boundaries of environment
Head direction cells
Fire when head is facing particular direction with respect to distant cues in particular environment
Long-Term Potentiation
Long-term increase in excitability of neuron to particular synaptic input caused by repeated high-frequency activity of that input
Induction of LTP
Perfornant path —> dentate gyrus —> Entorhinal cortex
Population EPSP
Evoked potential that represents EPSPs of population of neurons
- Size of first population EPSP indicates strength of synaptic connection before LTP takes place
NMDA Receptors
Specialized ionotropic Glu receptor that control Ca2+ channel that is normally blocked by Mg2+ ions
- Involved in LTP
AP5
Drug that blocks NMDA-Rs
Threshold of excitation for […] is really high
Threshold of excitation for dendritic spikes is really high
- Whenever axon of pyramidal cell fires, all dendritic spines become depolarized for brief time - If dendritic spike are blocked by tetrodotoxin, LTP doesn’t occur
Dendritic Spikes
AP that occurs in dendrite of some types of pyramidal cells
Associative Long-Term Potentiation
LTP in which concurrent stimulation of weak and strong synapses to given neurons strengthen weak ones
AMPA Receptors
Ionotropic Glu-R that controls Na+ channel
- When open, it produced EPSPs
CaM-KII
Type II calcium- calmodulin kinase, an enzyme that must be activated by calcium
- Starts movement of AMPA-R to postsynaptic membrane
Presynaptic Changes
- Nitric oxide (NO) can communicate retrograde messages from one cell to another
- Nitric oxide synthase
Nitric Oxide Synthase
- Enzyme responsible for production of NO
- Found in dentate gyrus and fields CA1 and CA3 of hippocampus
Postsynaptic Changes
- Establishment of LTP includes changes in size and shape of dendritic spines
- Causes growth of new dendritic spines
Protein Synthesis
- Long-lasting LTP (L-LTP)
- PKM-zeta helps move AMPA-Rs to terminal membrane and remains active to perpetuate this contribution to LTP through positive feedback loop
- Long-term depression (LTD)
Long-lasting LTP (L-LTP)
LTP that lasts more than a few hours and requires protein synthesis
Long-term depression (LTD)
Induced by low-frequency stimulation and results in decreased synaptic strength and fewer AMPA-Rs in postsynaptic membrane
