Learning and memory Flashcards
Learning
Process of acquiring new information
Memory
Long-term changes in the nervous system that occur after learning
Steps of memory
Encoding, consolidation, storage, retrieval
Types of learning
Stimulus-response, motor learning, perceptual learning, relational learning
Stimulus-response learning
classical and operant conditioning
Unconditioned stimulus
Stimulus that produces defensive or operative response (dog food)
Unconditioned response
the response to the unconditioned stimulus (dog salivating)
Conditioned stimulus
when paired with an unconditioned stimulus during training comes to elicit a learned response (the bell)
Conditioned response
response to the presentation to the conditioned stimulus (salivating at the ringing of the bell)
Operant conditioning
Change in behavior based on consequences
How operant conditioning works
It selectively strengthens connections between neural circuits that produce a particular response. Neural circuits begin in the sensory association cortex (perception) and ends in the motor association cortex of the frontal lobe (movement)
Two pathways of operant conditioning
transcortical pathway and basal ganglia and thalamic pathway
Transcortical pathway
direct connections between different areas of the cerebral cortex. Involved w/ declarative, episodic memories, complex perceptual memories of sequences
Basal Ganglia and Thalamic pathways
learned behaviors become automatic/habitual/routine
motor learning
a type of stimulus response learning. Learning to make a new response through the establishment of changes within the motor system
The more novel the behavior, the more neural circuits in the motor systems must be modified.
Involves the cortex and the basal ganglia
Perceptual learning
Involves learning to recognize things you’ve perceived before.
We can learn that spec stimuli are found in spec locations
We can learn sequences of episodes/ events
The cortex plays an important role
Role of the cortex in perceptual learning
Perceptual learning is mediated by the extrastriate cortex (vision) and involves the dorsal and ventral system
Relational learning
complex learning involving associations between stimuli
It is involved in most learning
The hippocampus plays a major role
Without the hippocampus, there would just be individual isolated memories without context
Sensory memory
a brief period that the initial sensation of environmental stimuli that is initially remembered
Short-term/working memory
longer than sensory, but still brief time that info is meaningful. Capacity is limited to a few items like digits in a phone number. Length can be extended through rehearsal or chunking
Long-term memory
Declarative (explicit) and non-declarative (implicit/procedural)
Declarative memory
Things you can tell others, conscious
2 types of declarative memory
episodic and semantic
episodic memory
memories about events that you’ve experienced
semantic memory
factual knowledge that is acquired over a lifetime
Non-declarative memory
things you can show by doing; hard to describe
3 types of non-declarative memory
Skill learning (knowledge of how to do things), priming (exposure to one stimulus influences response to subsequent stimulus) and conditioning
The hippocampus
The hippocampus receives info from sensory and motor association cortexes and other regions. The hippocampus modifies memories being consolidated there. The hippocampus then links memories together to help us remember relationships among elements of memory. It is involved with consolidation and retrieval of memories, but not the location of the memories.
Anterograde amnesia
difficulty learning new information; damage to the hippocampus produces difficulty with consolidation
Retrograde amnesia
inability to remember events before the brain damage; a problem of retrieval and does not include hippocampus
Korsakoff’s syndrome
severe
Hebb’s rule
if a synapse repeatedly becomes active at bout the same time that the postsynaptic neuron fires, changes will take place in the synapse that will strengthen that connection. (Confirmed by LTP)
Long term potentiation (LTP)
Process by which synaptic connections between neurons becomes stronger with frequent activation
2) involves NDMA and AMPA receptors
3) Activation of NMDA receptors increase the number of postsynaptic AMPA receptors
In the hippocampus, LTP depends on what
The activation of NMDA receptors
