Learning and Memory Flashcards
What is learning?
Process by which knowledge of the world is acquired. Not innate.
What is memory?
The process by the knowledge of the world is encoded, stored and retrieved.
What is intelligence?
General mental capability that involves the ability to reason, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and from experience.
What are the four stages of memory?
Acquisition, Retention/Encoding, Consolidation, Retrieval.
What does acquisition depend on?
Attention, motivation, ability to learn.
What is acquisition?
Sensory information is perceived and acquired.
What is retention/encoding?
The perceived item of interest to be converted into a construct that can be stored in the brain. Requires consolidation to commit to longer memory.
What is consolidation?
Stabilisation of memory trace after acquisition.
What is retrieval?
Subsequent re-accessing of events or information from the past, which have been previously encoded and stored in the brain.
What are the two major types of memory?
Implicit (non-declarative) and explicit (declarative)
What are the three types of implicit memory?
Procedural- skills and habits
Classical conditioning- emotional responses
Memory acquired through classical conditioning- emotional responsive and skeletal musculature.
Non-associative- acquired through habituation.
What are the two types of explicit memory?
Episodic- memory of events
Semantic memory- memory of facts.
What memory is vulnerable to disruption and lasts second to hours?
Short-term memory
What is working memory?
Memory converted from short-term memory through consolidation.
What is working memory?
Temporary form of information storage that is being manipulated.
What major area of the brain is important for processing of declarative memories and what structures does it include?
The temporal lobe:
- Hippocampus
- Subiculum
- Parahippocampus
- Rhinal cortical areas (e.g. pre-frontal cortex).
What does the removal of structures responsible for formation of declarative memories result in?
Anterograde amnesia- inability to form new long term declarative memories.
What structure is important for processing procedural memories, what structures does it include and what major brain structure is it part of?
Striatum, which includes the caudate nucleus and the putamen
- Part of the basal ganglia.
What structure is important for formation of spatial memory? What are the cells important for spatial memory called?
Hippocampus- place cells and grid cells.
What area of the brain is important for working memory?
The prefrontal cortex.
True or false; working memory have unlimited storage duration and capacity?
False
What is synaptic plasticity?
Ability of the synapse to change in strength in response to use or disused.
What enzyme is activated during long term depression (LTD)?
Phosphatases- cause protein dephosphorylation.
What enzyme is activated in long term potentiation?
Kinases- cause protein phosphorylation.
True or false; the size of dendritic spine alters with the amount of use of a memory?
True- shrinks with LTD and enlarges with LTP.
What is the most common form of dementia?
Alzheimer’s disease.
