learning and memory (3.6) Flashcards
learning vs memory
learning: the acquisition of new information or knowledge
memory: the retention of learned information
long-term vs short-term memories
long-term: those that can be recalled days, months, and years after they were stored
short-term: those that last on the order of seconds to hours
consolidation
short-term memories are selectively converted into a permanent form (long-term)
explicit vs procedural/implicit memory
explicit: declarative; memory for facts and personal events that can be consciously recalled (semantic or episodic)
implicit: non-declarative; long-term memory for habits and skills that cannot be consciously recalled
retrograde vs anterograde amnesia
retrograde: memory loss for events before the trauma
anterograde: an inability to form new memories after the trauma
anterior pole vs caudal medial temporal lobe
anterior pole: in the temporal lobe; the “hub” for semantic memory or converging information
caudal medial temporal lobe: episodic memory
semantic vs episodic memory
semantic: general world knowledge that we have accumulated throughout our lives
episodic: explicit long-term memories for the particular events of one’s life
semantic memory activation (thinking about shape, sound, touch, smell, everything)
shape: inferotemporal lobe
sound: primary auditory cortex
touch: primary somatosensory cortex
smell: piriform cortex, amygdala
everything: anterior pole
Papez circuit (8)
hippocampus -> fornix -> mammillary bodies ->mammillothalamic tract -> anterior thalamic nuclei -> cingulate cortex -> entorhinal cortex -> hippocampus
how to do things vs pattern recognition
how to do things: cerebellum
pattern recognition: basal ganglia
where short-term memory is stored
telencephalon
spatial memory vs object identifiers
spatial memory: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dorsal stream)
object identifiers: ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (ventral stream)
Alzheimer’s disease
a progressive, degenerative and ultimately fatal brain disease, in which the ability to think and to remember is gradually lost; the most common form of dementia; generally diagnosed in patients over the age of 65
contributing factor to memory loss in AD
depletion of acetylcholine in the brain due to the degeneration of the basal forebrain (treated with acetylcholine agonists)
Hebb
proposed that the internal representation of an object consists of all of the cortical cells activated by the external stimulus (cell assembly)
long-term potentiation (3)
induction (learning): NMDA glutamate receptors respond when glutamate binds or the postsynaptic neuron is already partially depolarized; Ca+2 entry triggers events that lead to LTP (says to make connections stronger)
maintenance (memory): involves structural changes (which depend on protein synthesis) including increase in number/type of synapses, increase in number/size of spines, changes in dendritic branching
expression (recall): sodium helps with firing APs while calcium makes the cell release nitric oxide (presynaptic cell says glutamate was released and calcium is in)
(maintenance and expression combined in lecture)
concussion
causes permanent retrograde amnesia for events that led up to the blow and permanent anterograde amnesia for events during the subsequent period of confusion; length of retrograde amnesia depends on injury severity
electroconvulsive shock testing (ECT)
an outdated treatment for epilepsy; suggests that memory consolidation occurs over a period of years; new treatment for depression; too much current may cause memory loss
