Chapter 17: Learning and Memory

Question 1

Learning

Answer 1

The process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information, behavior patterns, or abilities, characterized by modifications of behavior as a result of practice, study or experience

Question 2

Memory

Answer 2

1. The ability to retain information, based on the mental process of learning or encoding, retention across some interval of time, and retrieval or reactivation of the information.
2. The specific information that is stored in the brain

Question 3

Amnesia

Answer 3

Severe impairment of memory

Question 4

Retrograde Amnesia

Answer 4

Difficulty in retrieving memories formed before the onset of amnesia

Question 5

Patient H.M

Answer 5

A person who, because of damage to medial temporal lobe structures, was unable to encode new declarative memories. Upon his death we learned his name was Henry Molaison

Question 6

Anterograde Amnesia

Answer 6

The inability to form new memories beginning with the onset for a disorder

Question 7

Hippocampus

Answer 7

A medial temporal lobe structure important for learning, memory, and spatial navigation

Question 8

Declarative Memory

Answer 8

A memory that can be stated or described

Question 9

Non declarative Memory

Answer 9

Also called “Procedural Memory”. A memory that is shown by performance rather than by conscious recollection

Question 10

Delayed Non-Matching-To-Sample-Task

Answer 10

A test in which, on each trial, the participants much select the stimulus that was seen previously

Question 11

Patient N.A.

Answer 11

A person who is unable to encode new declarative memories, because of made to the dorsal thalamus and the mammillary bodies

Question 12

Korsakoff’s Syndrome

Answer 12

A memory disorder, related to a thiamine deficiency, that is generally associated with chronic alcoholism

Question 13

Confabulate

Answer 13

To fill in a gap in memory with falsification. It often occurs in Korsakoff’s Syndrome

Question 14

Patient K.C.

Answer 14

A person who sustained damage to the cortex that rendered him unable to retrieve autobiographical memories. Upon his death we learned his name was Kent Cochran

Question 15

Episodic Memory

Answer 15

Memory of a particular incident or a particular time and place

Question 16

Semantic Memory

Answer 16

Generalized memory- for instance, knowing the memory of a word without knowing where or when you learned that word

Question 17

Skill Learning

Answer 17

Learning to perform a task that requires motor coordination

Question 18

Priming

Answer 18

Also called “Repetition Priming”. The phenomenon by which exposure to a stimulus facilitates subsequent responses to the same or a similar stimulus

Question 19

Associative Learning

Answer 19

A type of learning in which an association is formed between two stimuli or between a stimulus and a response. It includes both classical and operant conditioning

Question 20

Operant Conditioning

Answer 20

Also called “Instrumental Conditioning”. A form of associative learning in which the likelihood that an act (instrumental response) will be performed depends on the consequences (reinforcing stimuli) that follow it

Question 21

Classical Conditioning

Answer 21

Also called “Pavlovian Conditioning”. A type of associative learning in which an originally neutral (conditioned) stimulus acquires the power to elicit the response normally elicited by another (unconditioned) stimulus after the stimuli are paired. A response elicited by the unconditioned stimulus (US); a response elicited by the conditioned stimulus (CS) alone is called a conditioned response (CR)

Question 22

Cognitive Map

Answer 22

A mental representative of a spatial relationship

Question 23

Place Cell

Answer 23

A neuron within the hippocampus that selectively fires when the animal is in a particular location

Question 24

Grid Cell

Answer 24

A neuron that selectively fires when an animal crosses the intersection points of an abstract grid map of the local environment

Question 25

Border Cell

Answer 25

A neuron that selectively fires when an animal arrives at the perimeter of a local spatial cognitive map

Question 26

Sensory Buffer

Answer 26

An element of the type of memory that stores the sensory impression of a scene

Question 27

Short-Term Memory (STM)

Answer 27

A form of memory that usually lasts only for seconds, or as long as rehearsal continues, especially while being used during performance of a task

Question 28

Working Memory

Answer 28

A type of short-term memory that holds a limited amount of information available for ready access during performance of a task

Question 29

Prefrontal Cortex

Answer 29

The most anterior portion of the frontal lobe

Question 30

Intermediate-Term-Memory

Answer 30

A form of memory that lasts longer than short-term memory but not as long as long-term memory

Question 31

Long-Term Memory

Answer 31

An enduring form of memory that lasts days, weeks, months or years and has a very large capacity

Question 32

Encoding

Answer 32

A stage of memory formation in which the information entering sensory channels is passed into short-term memory

Question 33

Consolidation

Answer 33

A stage of memory formation in which information in short-term or intermediate-term memory is transferred to long-term memory

Question 34

Engram

Answer 34

The physical basis of a memory in the brain. It is sometimes referred to as memory trace on the assumption that it involves changes in a neural circuit rather than a single neuron.

Question 35

Retrieval

Answer 35

A process in memory during which a stored memory is used by an organism

Question 36

Reconsolidating

Answer 36

The process by which a retrieved memory may be strengthened or altered before being returned to LTM

Question 37

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Answer 37

A disorder in which memories of an unpleasant episode repeatedly plague the victim

Question 38

Neuroplasticity

Answer 38

Also called "Neural Plasticity". The ability of the nervous system to change in response to experience or the environment

Question 39

Standard Condition (SC)

Answer 39

The usual environment for laboratory rodents, with a few animals in a cage and adequate food and water but no complex stimulation

Question 40

Impoverished Condition (IC)

Answer 40

Also called "Isolation Condition". A condition in which laboratory rodents are housed singly in a small cage without complex stimuli

Question 41

Enriched Condition (EC)

Answer 41

Also called "complex environment". A condition in which laboratory rodents are group-housed with a wide variety of stimulus objects

Question 42

Non-associative Learning

Answer 42

A type of learning in which presentation of a particular stimulus alters the strength or probability of a response according to the strength and temporal spacing of that stimulus. It includes habituation and sensitization

Question 43

Habituation

Answer 43

A form of non associative learning in which an organism becomes less responsive following repeated presentation of a stimulus

Question 44

Dishabituation

Answer 44

The restoration of response amplitude following habituation

Question 45

Sensitization

Answer 45

A form of non-associative learning in which an organism becomes more responsive to most stimuli after being exposed to unusually strong or painful stimulation

Question 46

Cell Assembly

Answer 46

A large group of cells that tend to be active at the same time because they have been activated simultaneously or in close succession in the past

Question 47

Hebbian Synapse

Answer 47

A synapse that is strengthened when it successfully drives the postsynaptic cell

Question 48

Tetanus

Answer 48

An intense volley of action potential

Question 49

Long-Term Potentiation

Answer 49

A stable and enduring increase in the effectiveness of synapse following repeated strong stimulation

Question 50

Dentate Gyrus

Answer 50

A strip of gray matter in the hippocampal formation

Question 51

NMDA Receptor

Answer 51

A glutamate receptor that also binds the glutamate agonist NMDA (N-Methyl-D-Aspartate) and that is both ligand-gated and voltage-sensitive

Question 52

AMPA Receptor

Answer 52

A glutamate receptor that also binds the glutamate agonist AMPA.

Question 53

Protein Kinase

Answer 53

An enzyme that adds phosphate groups (PO4) to protein molecules, altering the proteins function

Question 54

CREB

Answer 54

Cyclic AMP responsive element-binding protein, which binds the promoter region of several genes involved in neural plasticity when activated by cAMP

Question 55

Retrograde Messenger

Answer 55

Transmitter that is released by the postsynaptic region, travels back across the synapse, and alters the functioning of the presynaptic neuron

Question 56

Conditional Knockout

Answer 56

A gene that can be selectively deactivated in specific tissues and/or at a specific stage of development

Question 57

Nootropics

Answer 57

A class of drugs that enhance cognitive function