Eric Kandel lectures Flashcards
How do we define learning vs memory?
Acquisition of information vs storage and recall
What technique, developed in 1990, allowed us to begin to study brain function in intact humans rather than just post mortems and animal experiments?
Functional MRI
What was the major difference between the surgery William Scoville carried out on HM in 1953 compared to the previous surgeries carried out by Wilder Penfield?
It was bilateral. There is a big literature on cross-connectivity in the brain and loads of disconnection studies in humans and animals
Where in the brain is the short-term of working memory buffer believed to be?
Prefrontal cortex
What were Brenda Milner’s 2 main findings about patient HM post-surgery?
HM cannot form new conscious memories and also could learn procedural tasks - therefore there must be an anatomical distinction between these 2 types of memory
Brenda Milner’s studies of HM led to the definitions of which types of memory?
Explicit vs implicit
What makes Aplysia Californica a useful model system for studying learning and memory?
Simple nervous system arranged into ganglia with large nerve cells but generates a range of behaviours
What 4 types of learning can Aplysia display?
Sensitisation, habituation, classical conditioning, operant conditioning
Is protein synthesis necessary for memory?
Yes for long term but not for short term
What’s the neuromodulator involved in Aplysia gill withdrawal reflex sensitisation?
Serotonin
What happens with cAMP after multiple stimuli leading to long term memory (LTM) vs single stimulus leading to STM?
It relocates to the nucleus
What neurotransmitter/modulator in the hippocampus is the mammalian equivalent of serotonin in the Aplysia?
Dopamine
What is the timescale of early vs late LTP?
Early up to 90 mins vs late up to days (even weeks/months)
Which type of memory involves the postsynaptic cell?
Explicit
Which type of memory involves the presynaptic cell?
Implicit
