chapter 13: memory and learning Flashcards
The most striking impairment suffered by Henry Molaison (patient H.M.) was
anterograde amnesia
Nondeclarative memory is said to deal with _______ questions.
“how” questions
Knowing the meaning of word, without knowing where or when you learned it, describes _______ memory.
semantic memory
Patients with Korsakoff’s syndrome may _______ in an attempt to conceal gaps in their memory.
confabulate
The three successive systems that are necessary for recall of a past event are encoding, ________, and retrieval.
consolidation
Place cells, which are located in the _______, become active when an animal moves through its spatial environment or toward a particular location.
hippocampus
After a tetanus there are _______ AMPA receptors, and these receptors are _______ effective, so the synaptic response to glutamate is _______.
more; more; strengthened
NMDA receptors are gated by…
the ligand glutamate and a strong depolarization of the membrane
After a brief tetanus, the excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) response increases significantly and remains high. This greater responsiveness is called
long-term potentiation (LTP).
learning
process of acquiring new information
memory
the ability to store and retrieve that information
amnesia
severe impairment of memory, usually as a result of accident or disease
retrograde amnesia
loss of memories prior to an event (such as surgery or trauma)
Patient H.M. (henry molaison)
unable to encode new declarative memories because of surgical removal of medial temporal lobe structures
anterograde amnesia
inability to form new memories after an event
hippocampus
a medial temporal lobe structure that is important for spatial cognition, learning, and memory
declarative memory
facts and information acquired through learning (“what” questions)
nondeclarative memory
procedural memory; memory about perceptual or motor procedures showed by performance (“how” questions)
delayed non-matching-to-sample-task
a test in which the individual must respond to the unfamiliar stimulus in a pair of stimuli
Patient N.A.
unable to encode new declarative memories, because of damage to the dorsomedial thalamus and the mammillary bodies
Korsakoff syndrome
a memory disorder, caused by thiamine deficiency, that is generally associated with chronic alcoholism; damage to mammillary bodies and dorsomedial thalamus but not temporal lobe structures, fail to recognize familiarity with items
confabulate
fill a gap in memory with a falsification that they seem to accept as true
Patient K.C.
sustained damage to the cortex that rendered him unable to form and retrieve episodic memories
episodic memory
(autobiographical memory) memory of a particular incident or a time and place
semantic memory
knowing the meaning of a word without knowing where or when you learned it
skill learning
process of learning how to perform a challenging task simply by doing it over and over
basal ganglia
crucial for skill learning
priming
exposure to a stimulus facilitates subsequent responses to the same or similar stimulus
associative learning
learning that involves relations between events
instrumental conditioning
(operant conditioning) an association is formed between a behavior and its consequences
cognitive map
a mental representation of the relative spatial organization of objects and information
place cells
a neuron in the hippocampus that selectively fires when the animal is in a particular location
sensory buffers
a very brief type of memory that stores the sensory impression of a scene
short-term memories
usually lasts only seconds or as long as rehearsal continues
long term memories
enduring form of memory that lasts longer
encoding
information entering sensory channels is passed into STM
consolidation
information in STM is transferred to LTM
retrieval
stored memory in LTM is used in STM or working memory
memory trace
a 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
ability of the nervous system to change in response to an experience or the environment
habituation
decrease in a response to a stimulus as it is repeated
Hebbian synapses
a synapse that is strengthened when it successfully drives the postsynaptic cell
tetanus
in intense volley of action potential
long-term potentiation
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
NMDA
a glutamate receptor that also binds the glutamate agonist NMDA and that is both ligand-gated and voltage sensitive
AMPA receptors
a fast acting ionotropic glutamate receptor that also binds the glutamate agonist AMPA
retrograde transmitter
a neurotransmitter that is released by the postsynaptic neuron diffuses back across the synapse and alters the functioning of the presynaptic neuron
nonassociated learning
involves only one stimulus
long-term depression
synapses with low levels of stimulation reduce EPSP
