Chapter 13- The Biology of Learning and Memory Flashcards

1
Q

Classical Conditioning

A

Pavlov- pairing two stimuli changes the response to one of them ( associations)

CS- initially elicits no response
UCS- automatically elicits an UCR
pair CS and UCS , then CR emerges

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2
Q

Pavlov believed that conditioning…

A

strengthened connections between the CS center and the UCS center

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3
Q

Operant Conditioning

A

Skinner. Individual’s response leads to a reinforce or punisher

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4
Q

Reinforcer

A

any event that increases the future probability of the response

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5
Q

Punishment

A

an event that suppresses the fx of the response

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6
Q

Observational Learning

A

learning that occurs as result of observing the experiences of others

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7
Q

modeling

A

natural tendency to imitate the bx of significant others

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8
Q

Conditioned taste aversion

A

phenomenon in which one avoids a certain food because it once made the person ill.

aversion is acquired in ways that violate the basic principles of classical conditioning

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9
Q

Engram

A

Lashley’s physical representation of what has been learned ( physical trace)

a knife cut should interrupt connection in brain

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10
Q

Results of deep cuts made in varying locations of rat’s brain to demonstrate an engram?

A

Learning and memory did not depend entirely on connections across the cortex, did not matter what parts of the cortex were removed, but was dependent on the amount removed

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11
Q

Lashley’s two proposed principles of the nervous system

A

Equipotentiality - all parts of the cortex contribute equally to learning and any part of the cortex can substitute for another

Mass action- the cortex works as a whole, and more cortex is better

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12
Q

Thompson and colleagues searched for the engram in the..

A

cerebellum, not the the cortex

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13
Q

Lateral Interpositus Nucleus ( LIP)

A

essential for learning

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14
Q

Short Term Memory

A

memory for events that just occurred, has limited capacity, fades quickly without rehearsal

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15
Q

Long-Term Memory

A

memory for events further back, memories persist, no capacity limits

Hebb distinguished between STM and LTM after William James did

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16
Q

Which retrieval of memories can be retrieved with the right cue?

A

Long term. STM does not benefit from presence of a cue

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17
Q

True or False. All rehearsed items in STM become LTM?

A

false.

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18
Q

Which hormones enhance consolidation of recent experiences?

A

Epinephrine and cortisol

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19
Q

Reconsolidation

A

memory is strengthened again by a process that requires protein synthesis

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20
Q

True or False. Consolidated memory is solid forever?

A

false. memory reawakened by a reminder can become labile, if reminder is followed by a similiar experience, the memory is reconsolidated by process that requires protein synthesis

giving a reminder and then a drug that blocks the synthesis weakens the memory

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21
Q

Working Memory

A

proposed as an alternative to STM and involves the way we store info while we’re working with it

  • emphasis on temporary storage of info to actively attend to it, and work on it for a period of time
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22
Q

delayed response task

A

requires responding to something you saw or heard a short while ago

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23
Q

Research indicates that the location for temporary storage of information is not the hippocampus, but the

A

prefrontal cortex

brain may use elevated levels of calcium to potentiate later responses

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24
Q

Working memory is often impaired by older people probably because of changes in the

A

prefrontal cortex

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25
Q

Amnesia

A

memory loss

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26
Q

Patient HM

A

underwent surgery for epileptic seizures and had 2/3 of his hippocampus removed from both sides. he was then unable to form new long term memories but his STM was intact ( anterograde amnesia ) and some retrograde amnesia

language and intelligence were unimpaired

hippocampus is vital for forming new long term memories

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27
Q

Anterograde Amnesia

A

inability to form memories that happened after brain damage

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28
Q

Retrograde Amnesia

A

loss of memory for events that occurred before brain damage

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29
Q

Declarative Memory

A

ability to state a memory in words, consists of episodic and semantic memory

30
Q

Episodic memory

A

memory for specific events in your life

31
Q

Is the STM related to the hippocampus?

A

no

32
Q

Explicit memory

A

memory involving a deliberate retrieval of information, able to recognize it as a memory

33
Q

Implicit Memory

A

an influence of recent experience on behavior , you don’t recognize it as a memory ( word stems)

34
Q

Procedural memory

A

development of motor skills and habits, a special kind of implicit memory . hippocampus not important for this type of memory

35
Q

General pattern for people with amnesia

A
  1. Normal Working Memory
  2. Severe anterograde amnesia for declarative memory
  3. some degree of retrograde amnesia
  4. better implicit than explicit memory
  5. nearly intact procedural memory
36
Q

The hippocampus is critical for

A

declarative, especially episodic memory. Spatial and contextual learning and binding

37
Q

patients with damage to the hippocampus have a hard time

A

learning new facts

38
Q

Hippocampi of London Taxi drivers…

A

larger than normal

39
Q

Radial Maze

A

has eight or more arms, some of which have a reinforcer at the end

rats with damage to the hippocampus seldom enter the never-correct arms, but they often enter a correct arm twice

40
Q

Morris water maze task

A

rat must swim through murky water to find a rest platform that is just under the surface

rats with damage to the hippocampi cant remember the spatial navigation, swim around longer

41
Q

Damage to the Hippocampus impairs recent learning more than older learning. Why?

A

The more consolidated a memory becomes, the less it depends on the hippocampus

42
Q

Gradual Learning depends on the

A

Basal Ganglia ( habit learning or implicit learning)

43
Q

People with Parkinson’s disease have an impairment of the basal ganglia and

A

can’t develop implicit memory

44
Q

Korsakoff’s syndrome

A

brain damage caused by prolonged thiamine deficiency ( leads to loss or shrinkage of neurons throughout the brain)

needs thiamine to metabolize glucose

often due to chronic alcoholism, area most affected is the dosomedial thalamus- the main source of input to the prefrontal cortex

symptoms are apathy, confusion and forgetting, confabulation

45
Q

Alzheimer’s Disease

A

associated with gradual loss of memory and other cognitive functioning.

have better procedural than declarative memory

memory and alertness vary substantially from one day to another and from one time to another within a day ( malfunctioning and death of neurons)

46
Q

Dementia

A

loss of cognitive ability

47
Q

about half of AD patients with late onset

A

have no known relative with the disease

48
Q

Genes controlling early-onset AD cause protein

A

amyloid beta to accumulate both inside and outside the neuron

  • damages dendritic spines, decreases synaptic input and decreases brain plasticity ( produces widespread atrophy)
  • damaged structures cluster into plaques ( structures formed from degenerating axons)
  • as plaques accumulate, cerebral cortex, hippocampus and other areas atrophy
49
Q

AD patients also accumulate abnormal form of the

A

tau protein ( part of the intracellular support structure of axons)

  • attacks from within dendrites and adds to the attack by amyloid beta causing a vicious cycle
  • responsible for tangles- structures formed from degenerating within neurons
50
Q

Treatments for AD

A

no drug is highly effective, some drugs can increase acetylcholine receptors which results in increased arousal

51
Q

Prevent AD?

A

decrease amyloid beta production through increased consumption of antioxidants.

limbic system affected by AD

52
Q

What part of the brain is important for fear learning?

A

Amygdala

53
Q

People with parietal lobe damage

A

lack ability to elaborate on a memory spontaneously ( associating one piece of detail with another)

anterior and inferior portions of the temporal lobe and semantic memory

54
Q

Semantic Dementia

A

loss of certain types of semantic memory ( knowledge of things)

results from damage to the anterior and inferior regions of the temporal lobe

55
Q

Parts of the prefrontal cortex are important for learning about rewards and punishments including

A
  • ventromedial prefrontal cortex ( based on past experiences of the reward)
  • orbitofrontal prefrontal cortex ( self control)
  • anterior cingulate cortex
56
Q

The basal ganglia also learn about rewards and punishments but

A

they learn slowly based on the average reward over a long period of time

57
Q

Hebb’s suggestion

A

Associative learning. an axon that has successfully stimulated cell B in the past becomes even more successful in the future

58
Q

Hebbian Synapse

A

a synapse that increases in effectiveness because of simultaneous activity in the presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons. ay be critical for associative learning

59
Q

Many researchers use _____ to study the nervous system

A

invertebrates

60
Q

Aplysia

A
  • marine invertebrate related to the common slug

- has fewer neurons which are large

61
Q

withdrawal response response of the Aplysia

A

touch the siphon, mantle or gill and aplysia vigorously withdraws irritated structure

62
Q

Habituation

A

a decrease in response to stimulus that is presented repeatedly and accompanied by no change in other stimuli

decrease in neurotransmitter release at the synapse

  • sensory neurons fail to excite motor neurons as they did previously
63
Q

Sensitization

A

an increase in response to mild stimuli as a result of exposure to more intense stimuli

  • after later action potentials, membrane takes longer than usual to repolarize, Presynaptic neuron continues releasing its neurotransmitters for longer than usual
64
Q

Long term potentiation ( LTP)

A

occurs when one or more axons connected to a dendrite bombard it with brief but rapid series of stimuli

  • bursts leave some synapses potentiated , more responsive to new input of the same type, for minutes, days or weeks. Neuron is more responsive than before
65
Q

Three properties of LTP

A

1) Specificity- any synapses onto a cell that have been highly active become strengthened
2) cooperatvity- simultaneous stimulation by 2 or more axons produces LTP much more strongly than does repeated stimulation by a single axon
3) associativity- pairing a weak input with a strong input enhances later response to weaker input

66
Q

Long-Term Depression (LTD)

A

opposite change than occurs in the hippocampus and cerebellum of LTP

  • prolonged decrease in response at synapse that occurs when axons have been less active than others
  • as one synapse strengthens, another weakens
67
Q

LTP depends on changes as ______ synapses

A

glutamate and GABA primarily in the post synaptic neuron

depends on all three chemical CaMKII, CREB and BDNF

68
Q

Two types of Glutamate receptors

A

AMPA receptor & NMDA receptor

both are ionotropic ( fast) receptors that when stimulated, open a channel to let ions enter postsynaptic cell

69
Q

AMPA ____ sodium channels

A

opens

70
Q

NMDA receptor’s response to glutamate

A

depends on degree of polarization across the membrane

when glutamate attaches to NMDA receptor while membrane is at resting potential, the ion channel is blocked by magnesium ions
- only opens if the magnesium lease by depolarization of the membrane

causes increase in dendritic branches

71
Q

Presynaptic Changes of LTP

A
  • excessive stimulation of a postsynaptic cell causes it to release a retrograde neurotransmitter that travels back to the presynaptic cell to modify it
  1. Decrease its threshold for producing action potentials
  2. Increases its release of neurotransmitter
  3. Expands its axon
  4. Releases its transmitter from additional sites along its axon
72
Q

LTP reflects increased activity

A

by the presynaptic neuron and increases responsiveness by the postsynaptic neuron