Class 11 - Hormones and Cognition Flashcards
(T/F) effects of hormones on learning and memory can be measured by directly assessing learning
FALSE, can only measure/quantify the results of learning
What are the 3 general components required to say something is a memory system?
- enter info into storage (acquisition and consolidation)
- retain info
- retrieve info from storage
What are the 3 psychological components of learning and memory?
- motivation
- attention
- arousal
What is the U-shaped function of memory?
- inverted u-shape as function of arousal
- memory best at medium arousal
(T/F) all types of memory require a nervous system
FALSE, think immune system and vaccines
Distinguish learning and memory
- learning: adaptive change in behavior in response to experience
- memory: information about past experience; needed for learning
What are the 4 stages of learning?
- acquisition, consolidation, retrieval, extinction
What are 2 types of nonassociative learning?
- sensitization (stimulus that originally provoked little-no response evokes stronger response after repeated presentation or single intense presentation)
- habituation (decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated exposures)
What are 4 types of associative learning?
- classical conditioning
- operant conditioning
- active avoidance (animal must do something to avoid a noxious situation)
- passive avoidance (animal must suppress some behavior that would otherwise be exhibited)
Short-term memory persists for ____. ____ is the best way to move things from short-term into long-term memory.
seconds to minutes; rehearsing
Long-term memory lasts for _____. What is the upper capacity of long-term memory?
- days, weeks, or years
- NO upper limit in capacity!
Long-term memory can be divided into __ and __ memory
declarative (explicit) and procedural (implicit)
What are the 2 types of declarative memory?
- episodic
- semantic
What are the 3 types of procedural memory?
- skill learning
- priming
- conditioning
Distinguish working memory, reference memory, and spatial memory
- working is like declarative and short-term memory; involves short-term memory for info that changes on a regular basis
- reference is associations/discriminations requiring repetitious learning (like learning the rules)
- spatial memory encodes info ab environment and its orientation
What does a graph of the association btw epinephrine and memory look like?
- inverted U-shape
- low or high epinephrine impairs memory
The memory-enhancing effects of epinephrine are both ___ and __ dependent
dose and time (ex animals do better in avoidance situations after receiving moderate vs mild foot shock)
When is the best time to administer epinephrine for learning? What hypothesis is this consistent with?
- immediately after training
- consistent w hypothesis that epinephrine influences memory by potentiating the effects of noxious events
What are the 2 hypotheses for HOW epinephrine enhances memory?
- activates peripheral receptors that directly influence brain function
- affects memory via its effect on blood glucose levels
(T/F) epinephrine can cross the blood-brain barrier
FALSE, polar molecule (has to indirectly affect memory)
What is the pathway by which epinephrine affects memory via peripheral receptors?
- acts via Beta-noradrenergic receptors which activate ascending neurons in vagus nerve (main nerve of parasympathetic NS)
- neurons travel to nucleus of solitary tract which projects noradrenergic fibers to amygdala
- amydgala modulates memory of emotional experiences by moderating memory consolidation via efferent connections to other brain regions
What would happen if any part of the pathway by which epinephrine affects memory via peripheral receptors (b-noradrenergic receptors, vagus nerve, nucleus of solitary tract, amygdala) was BLOCKED?
- prevents memory-enhancing effects of epinephrine
Place these in order for the pathway by which epinephrine affects memory via peripheral receptors:
- nucleus of the solitary tract
- vagus nerve
- amygdala
- efferent connections to other brain regions
- beta-noradrenergic receptors
- beta-noradrenergic receptors
- vagus nerve
- nucleus of the solitary tract
- amygdala
- efferent connections to other brain regions
What did the study on emotionally charged stories and hormones find?
- b-adrenergic antagonist impairs memory of emotionally arousing stories
- supports H that highly charged emotional memories require activation of b-adrenergic receptors!!!
What is the likely role of epinephrine in PTSD?
- variations among ppl in fear-learning/memory mechanisms AND responsiveness to nor/epinephrine may contribute to indiv variation in susceptibility to PTSD
(T/F) the relationship btw memory and glucose levels is also a U-shaped curve
TRUE
Glucose (enhances/inhibits) memory for avoidance learning
ENHANCES
(T/F) the impact of glucose on memory is time dependent
TRUE (no effect at delay of 1h+)
The agents most effective in enhancing human cognitive performance (learning + memory) share a common feature: ______
they all elevate blood glucose levels!
Glucose release is a ________ step that occurs ___ to the release of epinephrine. The effects of glucose are ____ from the peripheral epinephrine receptors.
- memory modulation step
- subsequent to release of epinephrine
- downstream
Elevated blood glucose lvls permit more glucose to enter neurons which stimulates an increase in the release of ____
acetylcholine (excitatory neurotransmitter)
Increases in ____ levels in brain synapses are characteristic of all known cognitive enhancers
acetylcholine
The severe memory deficits in Alzheimer’s or AIDS are correlated w a marked reduction in _____. What was the study that supported this?
- neurons that secrete acetylcholine
- lemonade w glucose (but not saccharine) improved memory in elderly ppl (not young ppl)
Research on glucose and memory suggests that the normal decline in memory during aging might reflect _____
a diminishing ability to regulate blood levels of glucose
What are the cognitive effects of diabetes for:
- different age groups
- type of memory most affected
- T1 diabetes
- T2 diabetes
- most pronounced in older ppl but still observed in YA
- verbal memory most affected
- In T1, cog impairments ass w chronic hyperglycemia and recurrence of hypoglycemia
- In T2, onset of cog impairments could reflect disruptions in blood glucose metabolism or other related issues
While it is unclear what exactly insulin does in the brain, we know that it has ____ effects
neuromodulatory
Which type of diabetes negatively affects verbal/numerical reasoning, attention, concentration, verbal/visual memory, and verbal fluency
BOTH T1 and T2
Diabetes can increase the risk of ___
dementia
Impaired insulin signaling has been proposed as important in the development of ____ (sometimes called T3 diabetes)
Alzheimer’s
Activation of insulin receptors in the brain are correlated with ____
associative learning
Abnormal ___ levels and reduced number of _____ are common among Alzheimer’s patients w severe memory impairments
insulin; brain insulin receptors
Glucose use (metabolism) is (increased/decreased) in patients w Alzheimer’s
reduced
Impaired glucose metabolism can result in _____
memory problems ass w Alzheimer’s and dementia
How does brief vs chronic exposure to glucocorticoids affect memory?
- brief: enhances learning and memory
- chronic: functions as amnesiac
What were the findings of the morris water maze study with mice?
- shocked 2m, 30m, or 4hr before test
- glucocorticoids are released 20-30m after stress so animals in 30m group showed impaired performance (too much stress)
- chronically stressed animals make more errors
- glucocorticoid receptor agonist injections in hippocampus improves performance!
generally, acute stress (impairs/improves) memory
improves
The memory-enhancing effects of glucocorticoids appear to involve the ___
amygdala! (which modulates memory consolidation process)
Glucocorticoid receptors in the ___ and the ___ have a role in memory and learning
hippocampus and amygdala
(high/low) corticosterone concentrations damage the hippocampus
BOTH! (remember U shape curve)
