Chapter 17: Learning and Memory Flashcards
What is nondeclarative memory?
Memories of “how”, shown by performance rather than recollection; skills such as riding a bike
What is declarative memory?
Memory of facts and information acquired through learning that can be stated and described
What are the two subtypes of declarative memory?
Semantic and episodic
What is semantic memory?
Generalized memory of facts
What are the three subtypes of nondeclarative learning?
Skill learning, priming, and conditioning
What is episodic memory?
Detailed autobiographical knowledge and memory of events
What is skill leaning?
Learning how to perform a task requiring motor coordination
What is priming?
The change of stimulus processing due to prior exposure to a stimulus
What are the three types of conditioning?
Classical conditioning, conditioned emotional response, and operant (instrumental) conditioning
What brain region is involved in classical conditioning?
Cerebellum
What brain region is involved in a conditioned emotional response?
Amygdala
What brain region is involved in operant (instrumental) conditioning?
Hippocampus
What brain region is involved in priming?
The frontal and occipitofrontal cortices
What brain region is involved in skill learning?
The basal ganglia
What bran region is involved in semantic memory?
Temporal cortex
What brain region is involved in episodic memory?
Frontal cortex
What is conditioning?
The association of two stimuli, or of a stimulus and a response
What are the two types of learning?
Associative and nonassociative
What is nonassociative learning?
A single stimulus presented once or repeated
What are the two subtypes of nonassociative learning?
Habituation and sensitization
What is habituation?
A deceased response to repeated presentations of a stimulus
What are the three aspects of memory systems?
Encoding, consolidation, and retrieval
What happens in encoding?
Sensory information is captured and converted into a construct that can be stored within the brain
What happens in consolidation?
Information that is encoded can be placed in long-term storage
What happens in retrieval?
Stored information is recalled
What is sensitization?
A prior strong stimulation increases response to most stimuli
What causes Korsakoff’s syndrome?
Thiamine deficiency (which can be seen in chronic alcoholism)
What brain region is damaged in Korsakoff’s syndrome?
Mammillary bodies of the thalamus
What is Korsakoff’s syndrome?
A memory deficiency characterized by confabulation
What is neuroplasticity?
The ability of the nervous system to change in response to experience
Who first proposed the idea that synaptic alterations are the basis of learning?
Charles Sherrington (1897)
What did Donald Hebb propose in 1949?
When a presynaptic and a postsynaptic neuron repeatedly fire together, the synaptic connection between the two becomes stronger and more stable
What is Hebb’s postulate?
Cells that fire together, wire together.
What is an engram?
A change in the brain that provides a physical basis for a memory (also called a memory trace)
What is another name for non-declarative learning?
Procedural learning
What was damaged in HM’s brain to cause memory loss?
A surgery that removed his hippocampus, amygdala, and some cortex
What happened to HM after the surgery?
He had severe anterograde amnesia
What did HM retain?
His past memories and some procedural learning
What did we discover because of HM?
The existence of multiple memory systems
What is reconsolidation?
The return of a memory trace to stable long-term storm, after recall
What changes in short-term habituation?
Function
What changes in long-term habituation?
Structure
What is long-term potentiation (LTP)?
A persistent increase in the efficacy (strength) of synapses after a long stimulus
Where was LTP first observed?
In Schaffer collaterals of the hippocampus
How is CREB activated?
Activated during LTP induction by protein kinase and signaling
What is CREB and what does it do?
Transcription factor that induce transcription of genes that change structure/function of neurons; CREB activation necessary for long-term memory
Evidence 1 that LTP is a mechanism of memory formation:
The time course of LTP is the same as memory formation.
Evidence 2 that LTP is a mechanism of memory formation:
Drug and genetic interventions that block/enhance LTP have similar function on learning and memory
Evidence 3 that LTP is a mechanism of memory formation:
Learning a new task produces the same cellular changes that are produced by LTP.
