How do we learn and remember? Flashcards
implicit memory
Unconscious memory: subjects can demonstrate knowledge, such as a skill, conditioned response, or recalling events on prompting, but cannot explicitly retrieve the information.
procedural memory
Ability to recall a movement sequence or how to perform some act or behavior.
anterograde amnesia
Inability to remember events subsequent to a disturbance of the brain such as head trauma, electroconvulsive shock, or certain neurodegenerative diseases.
eye-blink conditioning
Commonly used experimental technique in which subjects learn to pair a formerly neutral stimulus with a defensive blinking response.
neuritic plaque
Area of incomplete necrosis (dead tissue) consisting of a central protein core (amyloid) surrounded by degenerative cellular fragments; often seen in the cortex of people with senile dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease.
traumatic brain injury (TBI)
Damage to the brain that results from a blow to the head.
conditioned stimulus (CS)
In Pavlovian conditioning, an originally neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), triggers a conditioned response.
learning
Relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior as a result of experience.
operant conditioning
Learning procedure in which the consequences (such as obtaining a reward) of a particular behavior (such as pressing a bar) increase or decrease the probability of the behavior occurring again; also called instrumental conditioning.
reconsolidation
Process of restabilizing a memory trace after the memory is revisited.
Korsakoff’s syndrome
Permanent loss of the ability to learn new information (anterograde amnesia) and to retrieve old information (retrograde amnesia) caused by diencephalic damage resulting from chronic alcoholism or malnutrition that produces a vitamin B1 deficiency.
unconditioned response (UCR)
In classical conditioning, the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus, such as salivation when food is in the mouth.
episodic memory
Autobiographical memory for events pegged to specific place and time contexts.
Pavlovian conditioning
Learning procedure whereby a neutral stimulus (such as a tone) comes to elicit a response because of its repeated pairing with some event (such as the delivery of food); also called classical conditioning or respondent conditioning.
perirhinal cortex
Cortex lying next to the rhinal fissure on the base of the brain.
dyslexia
Impairment in learning to read and write; probably the most common learning disability.
memory
Ability to recall or recognize previous experience.
consolidation
Process of stabilizing a memory trace after learning.
long-term depression (LTD)
Long-lasting decrease in synaptic effectiveness after low-frequency electrical stimulation.
emotional memory
Memory for the affective properties of stimuli or events.
long-term potentiation (LTP)
Long-lasting increase in synaptic effectiveness after high frequency stimulation.
entorhinal cortex
Located on the medial surface of the temporal lobe; provides a major route for neocortical input to the hippocampal formation; often degenerates in Alzheimer’s disease.
amnesia
Partial or total loss of memory.
epidermal growth factor (EGF)
Neurotrophic factor that stimulates the subventricular zone to generate cells that migrate into the striatum and eventually differentiate into neurons and glia.
explicit memory
Conscious memory: subjects can retrieve an item and indicate that they know that the retrieved item is the correct item.
conditioned response (CR)
In Pavlovian conditioning, the learned response to a formerly neutral conditioned stimulus (CS).
visuospatial learning
Using visual information to recall an object’s location in space.
behavioral sensitization
Escalating behavioral response to the repeated administration of a psychomotor stimulant such as amphetamine, cocaine, or nicotine; also called drug-induced behavioral sensitization.
retrograde amnesia
Inability to remember events that took place before the onset of amnesia.
fear conditioning
Learned association, a conditioned emotional response, between a neutral stimulus and a noxious event such as a shock.
nerve growth factor (NGF)
Neurotrophic factor that stimulates neurons to grow dendrites and synapses and, in some cases, promotes the survival of neurons.
unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
A stimulus that unconditionally, naturally and automatically triggers a response.
associative learning
Linkage of two or more unrelated stimuli to elicit a behavioral response.
priming
Using a stimulus to sensitize the nervous system to a later presentation of the same or a similar stimulus.
declarative memory
Ability to recount what one knows, to detail the time, place, and circumstances of events; often lost in amnesia.
metaplasticity
Interaction among different plastic changes in the brain.
learning set
The ‘rules of the game;’ implicit understanding of how a problem can be solved with a rule that can be applied in many different situations.
parahippocampal cortex
Cortex located along the dorsal medial surface of the temporal lobe.
