COMPLEX FUNCTIONS Flashcards
What were Charles Darwin’s contributions to emotions, arousal, and motivated behaviour?
noted similarities in facial expressions between animals
- idea that many expressions of emotions in humans (ie. baring teeth) are vestigial action patterns
- set of basic emotions (including anger, fear, surprise, sadness) are evolutionarily ancient and conserved across species and cultures
What do facial expressions reveal?
specific emotional states
Mouse facial expressions reflect emotional state. Describe the experiment.
- mice were head-fixed on a rotating ball and given different taste stimuli or subjected to tail shocks
- their facial expressions were monitored by video, and then analyzed with machine learning
Is language unique to humans? Name a non-human animal that people claim uses “language.”
- parrots – Alex the parrot = Avian Learning EXperiment
- whales – discrete set of sounds/calls
- primates
- unicorns
- prairie dogs
What are the two sides of the brain connected by?
corpus callosum (tract that runs between two hemispheres of the brain)
How do birds learn their songs?
by comparing their own song to a stored template of a tutor song, and then adjusting when mismatch is detected
Do adults continue to use a template song?
yes – adult birds continue to compare their song to the template, and make adjustments in response to mismatch
What does prior experience do for memory?
provides a framework for memory
What can shape memory capabilities?
internal state (ie. motivation)
Why is memory not very accurate most of the time?
because you are inferring things based on assumptions and previous constructions in the brain
RECALL VISION: when you see things, you are not perceiving them on a blank state – it is interpreted within frameworks in the brain that have developed to interpret visual information
What are the two types of human memory?
- declarative memory
- non-declarative memory
What is declarative memory?
memory available to consciousness (aware that you know)
- daily episodes
- words and their meanings
- history
What is non-declarative memory?
memory generally not available to consciousness
- motor skills
- associations
- priming cues
- puzzle-solving skills
What are the three types of temporal memory?
- intermediate memory
- short-term memory
- long-term memory
What is immediate memory?
fractions of a second to seconds
ie. existing in the world, remembering what someone just said
What is short-term memory?
seconds to minutes
ie. remembering two-factor authentication codes
What is long-term memory?
days to years
What is forgetting? Why is it important?
passive degradation of memories
important process for limiting amount of info that you can sort in your brain – problematic if you remember everything
Describe the memory encoding of the three types of temporal memory.
each memory type is encoded separately in different brain areas – BUT memory can transfer between types
What is working memory?
similar to immediate memory – committing for short time to complete tasks
What is anterograde amnesia?
remember things that occurred a long time ago prior to surgery, but unable to form new long-term memories
Describe the Morris water maze experiment.
test for declarative (spatial) memories in rodents
- conducted in room with ample visual cues, pool with platform hidden underneath
- mice will remember where platform is based on visual cues
What is the hippocampus necessary for?
formation of new declarative (spatial) memories