Its all about gene expression Flashcards
What brain structure is shaped like a seahorse?
Hungry hungry hippocampus
Strengthening synapse is _____ specific
input
3 types of long term memory
Explicit, implicit, and emotional
Whats another term for operate conditioning?
Instrumental conditioning.
Explicit learning
Conscious memory – subjects can retrieve information and know that it is correct. Ex: – a test
Implicit learning
knowledge (a skill, conditioned response or prompted response) that cannot be explicitly recalled. Ex: Guitar
How are implicit memories encoded?
implicit memory enters the brain in a ‘bottom-up’ way - sensory receptors, then its processed by a series of sub-cortical and cortical areas.
How are explicit memories encoded?
Explicit memory requires cortical control of behavior in a ‘top-down’ way. E.g. looking for your keys – the temporal lobe holds a vision of keys and ignores other stimuli from the visual system.
Retrograde amnesia
graded with loss of memories leading up to the trauma. Memories after the trauma are retained.
Anterograde amnesia
events leading up to the trauma can be recalled, but you’ll never be able to remember anything new
What memory structures are located in the medial temporal cortex?
Entorhinal cortex, perirhinal cortex, parahippocampal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus
3 types of short-term memory
Sensory, motor, cognitive
Episodic memories
those that include us as part of a record of events– things that happen to us, and our role in those events.
The hippocampus is critically involved in spatial ______ and ________.
Memory. Reasoning
Why get a model organism?
cheap easy to test easy to minipulate morally okay
what underlies habituation of gill retraction in Aplysia?
Decrease in pre-synaptic calcium influx
what is the result of less calcium influx?
Less neuro-transmitter release
Habituation
A form of learning in which an organism decreases or ceases to respond to a stimulus after repeated presentations.
There is a simple _____ underlying the Aplysia retraction reflex, and changes in a single ______ of this _____ mediate this habituation response
Circuit Synapse Circuit
What was Kandels animal model?
The sea slug Aplysia Californica.
Sensitization
a non-associative learning process in which repeated administrations of a stimulus results in the progressive amplification of a response. (New dendritic spines are formed.)
What mediates the effect of sensitization in Aplysia?
Slower efflux of potassium from the presynaptic neuron in response to serotonin
Long term potentiation
In the hippocampus we observe an increase in the amplitude of post-‐synaptic potentials after strong stimulation of the pre-‐synaptic neuron.
How many types of ionotrophic receptors for glutamate are there?
3 (NMDA and AMPA are of interest now)
What makes a NMDA receptor unique?
At resting membrane potential it has a magnesium ion (Mg++) blocking its pore.
When does Mg++ leave the pore of a NMDA receptor?
Once the cell depolarizes
Synaptic plasticity
The ability of synapses to strengthen or weaken over time, in response to increases or decreases in their activity.
AMPA receptors
because there is a Mg++ in NMDA receptors release of glutamate by weak electrical stimulation activates only AMPA receptors
What physical changes in the brain are needed to create, store, and retrieve long term memories?
Primarily the growth and loss of synapses
What second messenger is a critical mediator of synaptic plasticity and learning?
Cyclic-AMP (cAMP)
True or False: Both High levels AND low levels of cAMP will cause an impairment in learning.
True
What area is hypothesized to be central for long term explicit memories?
The Temporal lobe
What area is responsible for short term explicit memory storage?
The prefrontal cortex
What part of the brain projects down towards the basal ganglia for implicit memories?
The entire cortex
What neurotransmitter modulates neuronal firing in the basal ganglia and what receptors receive them?
Dopamine. D1 and D2 receptors
what is Korsakoffs syndrome?
Caused by thiamine deficiency, which is associated with retro and anterograde amnesia. Patients often “fill in the gaps” w/o knowing they aren’t being truthful. Often observed in chronic alcoholics
dysfunction in APP processing pathway is associated with early- onset _______
Alzheimers disease
How do we diagnose AD?
Recently a new PET ligand was found that attaches to A-beta plaques
Mood disorder
Severe disturbances of mood resulting in extreme and inappropriate sadness or elation for extended periods of time (bipolar disorder)
DSM
Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. it establishes categories of diseases
3 problems with DSM
Validity Reliability Culture
Validity
how valid are the described categories of disorder? Do they correspond to something in the real world?
Reliability
How robust is the DSM to repeated measurement by multiple investigators?
Culture
our concepts of disease and disorder change with social norms
Every aspect of behavior is the product of brain activity
not only does altering the brain change our behavior, altering our behavior changes the brain.
What is a ‘delayed, non-match to task’ behavioral task?
A developmental task that tests for explicit learning and memory. The DNMS task requires the subject to compare a presented sample object with a previously presented comparison object and encourages the selection of a new object with an object’s second presentation. An edible reward is given to the subject to encourage the novel item selection.
