Chapter 5 : Learning and memory

Question 1

Habituation

Answer 1

Learning behaviour in which response to stimulus weakens with repeated stimulus presentations (ex. get less scared of loud noise the more you hear it)

Question 2

Sensitization

Answer 2

Learning behaviour in which the response to a stimulus strengthens with repeated presentations of that stimulus because the stimulus is novel or stronger than normal (ex. school bell you’ll know it’s end of the day)

Question 3

Associative learning

Answer 3

Linkage of 2 or more stimuli to elicit a behavioural response

Question 4

Long-term Potentiation (LTP)

Answer 4

In response to stimulation at a synapse, changed amplitude of an excitatory postsynaptic potential that lasts for hours to days or longer, plays part in associative learning (ex. exposed to what prof said in class, going through notes + reading textbook, things stick in mind)

Question 5

Glutamate

Answer 5

Key neurotransmitter released into synapses when LTP occurs, binds at MNDA receptor
Glutamate - AMPA receptor - Na influx - EPSP = strengthening of synapse = LTP, Glutamate - NMDA receptor - Mg release, Ca influx, EPSP = strengthening of synapse = LTP

Question 6

2 phases of LTP

Answer 6

Establishment (1 hour) : induced by a single, high-frequency stimulation (activity of enzymes that persist after the Ca+ is eliminated

Maintenance (lasts for days or months) : triggered by a series of high-frequency stimuli (synthesis of new proteins)

Question 7

Pavlovian conditioning

Answer 7

Classical conditioning, conditioned stimulus (CS) - unconditioned response (UR) - conditioned response (CR), associative learning, pair motor responses with environmental events, amygdala circuits mediate fear conditioning

Question 8

Instrumental conditioning

Answer 8

Operant conditioning, consequences of behaviour increase or decrease the probability of behaviour to occur again

Question 9

Implicit and explicit memory

Answer 9

Implicit : expressed through performance without any requirement for conscious memory content (bottom up processing) ex. priming, memory for skills and habits, classical conditioning

Explicit : retrieval of an item (facts and events) and confirmation that the item retrieved is the correct item (conscious memory), top down processing

Question 10

Anterograde and retrograde amnesia

Answer 10

Anterograde : inability to learn new material, ex. Bob can’t learn how to sow after anterograde amnesia

Retrograde : inability to recall things learned before the onset of amnesia (greater deficit for memories acquired before the onset than for memories of more distant events), ex. Marie can’t recall that her daughter got married before retrograde amnesia