Chapter 16.9 Flashcards
What are memories
Stored information gathered through experience
What are fact memories
Specific bits of information
What are skill memories
Learned motor behaviors
▪ Incorporated at the unconscious level with repetition
What are short term memories
Information can be recalled immediately
– Do not last long
– Contain small bits of information
What is memory consolidation
Repeating information allows short-term memory to be converted to long-term memory
What are the two types of long term memories
Secondary memories
– Fade with time and require effort to recall
▪ Tertiary memories
– Do not fade
Which Brain regions involved in memory consolidation and
access
– Amygdaloid body and hippocampus
– Nucleus basalis
– Cerebral cortex
Describe Amygdaloid body and hippocampus
They are components of the limbic system and are essential to memory consolidation. Therefore damage to the hippocampus causes inability to convert short-term memories to new long-term memories
Describe the nucleus basalis
It’s a cerebral nucleus near the diencephalon which plays a role in memory storage and retrieval. Damage changes emotional states, memory, and intellectual functions
Describe the cerebral cortex
– Stores most long-term memories
– Conscious motor and sensory memories are referred to appropriate association areas
List the three ways for Cellular mechanisms of memory formation and storage
▪ Increased neurotransmitter release
▪ Facilitation at synapses
▪ Formation of additional synaptic connections
Describe the increased neurotransmitter release
A frequently active synapse increases amount of neurotransmitter it stores
– Releases more on each stimulation
– The more neurotransmitter released, the greater the
effect on postsynaptic neuron
Describe the facilitation at synases
A repeatedly activated neural circuit results in
continuous release of neurotransmitters
– Neurotransmitter binds to receptors on postsynaptic membrane
– Produces graded depolarization that brings membrane closer to threshold
– Resulting facilitation affects all neurons in circuit
Describe the formation of additional synaptic connections
– When neurons repeatedly communicate,
– Axon tip branches and forms additional synapses on
postsynaptic neuron
– As a result, presynaptic neuron has greater effect on membrane potential of postsynaptic neuron
Facilitated communication along a specific neural circuit
– Caused by anatomical changes
– Thought to be the basis of memory storage
What is a memory engram
– Single circuit that corresponds to a single memory
– Forms as result of experience and repetition
– Takes at least an hour to form
