Learning and Memory

Question 1

What is Learning

Answer 1

– A behavioural experience associated with change – Where the change allows some form of adaptation – (so not change incurred by brain damage)

Question 2

What is Memory

Answer 2

– The encoding of the learning experience – Physical basis of memory is the change in the brain

Question 3

What are the 2 types of learning

Answer 3

> Associative Learning > Non-associative Learning

Question 4

Name 2 examples of associative learning

Answer 4

> Classical Conditioning > Operant Conditioning

Question 5

Give an example of Classical Conditioning

Answer 5

> Ivan Pavlov (1927)

Question 6

Advantages of Associative and Non-Associative learning

Answer 6

– Offer an adaptive advantage – Allow organisms to respond to the environment – Develop efficient responses to positive stimuli – Develop efficient avoidance of negative stimuli

Question 7

Define Engram

Answer 7

A physical representation of what has been learnt

Question 8

What did Lashley do?

Answer 8

– Multiple deep cuts in the rat brain

Question 9

What did Lashley find?

Answer 9

– Didn’t impair learning – Learning was impaired by large lesions, but not in a single area

Question 10

What can be concluded by Lashley’s findings?

Answer 10

> Equipotentiality: all parts of cortex contribute equally to complex behaviours > Mass action: cortex works as a whole

Question 11

Name a modern study into the Engram

Answer 11

Richard Thompson: Classical conditioning responses in the rabbit

Question 12

What did Richard Thompson do?

Answer 12

Whilst cutting lesions in the brains of rabbits

Question 13

What did Richard Thompson find?

Answer 13

• LIP suppressed during conditioning, and the rabbits didn’t learn
• Later experiments showed that the red nucleus is crucial for performance of a conditioned response, but not learning

Question 14

What area of the brain is responsible for learning?

Answer 14

Lateral interpositus nucleus (LIP) in the cerebellum – area of learning

Question 15

What part of the brain is responsible for the performance of learning behaviour?

Answer 15

Red nucleus (midbrain structure that has input from cerebellum) - performance of learned behaviour

Question 16

What did Hebb (1949) suggest?

Answer 16

Suggested that the processes for immediate recall and past-event recall were different

Hebb (1949)

Question 17

What did Baddeley & Hitch (1974) suggest?

Answer 17

WORKING MEMORY:

• stored information that is still in use
• Information that is still relevant
• Information crucial for complex cognitive activities

Question 18

How do you figure out which parts of the brain are functions of the working memory model (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974)

Answer 18

• Delayed response tasks
• Testing participants responses to stimuli they saw/heard a short while before
• Record activity in the brain during the delay

Question 19

Where is the ‘info’ being stored

Answer 19

Pre-frontal cortex (associated with complex, executive cognitive functions)

Question 20

Define Habituation in cellular changes

Answer 20

Decrease in response to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly

Question 21

Define Sensitization in cellular changes

Answer 21

Increased responses to unpleasant stimuli after a shock

Question 22

What did Hebb (1949) suggest?

Answer 22

The Hebbian Synapse

Question 23

What does the Hebbian Synapse suggest?

Answer 23

• Continuous activity in the pre and post-synaptic neurons increase the effectiveness of each action potential
• If an axon stimulates a cell that has recently been stimulated, the response is increased

Question 24

Define long term potentiation (LTP)

Answer 24

Axons bombard a dendrite with a rapid series of stimuli which leaves the synapses more responsive (potentiated) for a period of time

Question 25

Define long-term depression (LTD)

Answer 25

When axons are active at low frequency, response reduces

Question 26

How else can we find out how the brain stores memories and learns?

Answer 26

Some patients with brain damage have amnesia (memory loss)

Question 27

What parts of H.M.'s brain were still functioning

Answer 27

* Intellect and language intact. * Working memory intact. * severe impairment on forming new long-term memories

Question 28

Define Anterograde Amnesia

Answer 28

- Loss of memory for events that happened after the brain damage

Question 29

Define Retrograde Amnesia

Answer 29

Loss of memory for events that happened a few yrs before brain damage

Question 30

Define Intact procedural memory

Answer 30

Intact development of motor skills and responses

Question 31

Briefly describe the case of H.M.

Answer 31

* Severe epilepsy * Removal of hippocampus (thought to be related) * Reduced the seizures * Severe memory impairment

Question 32

Name a case study which existence of the hippocampus

Answer 32

Patient H.M. (1953)

Question 33

What were the conlcusions of HM's memory

Answer 33

* Intact procedural memory but poor declarative memory * Intact implicit memory but poor explicit memory

Question 34

What does HM's case tell us about the hippocampus?

Answer 34

Question 35

Name the 3 hypotheses that explain the main role of the hippocampus

Answer 35

1. Specialised for Declarative Memory 2. Specialised for Spatial Memory 3. Specialised for Configural Learning

Question 36

What does the Specialised for Declarative Memory hypothesis state about the hippocampus

Answer 36

Hippocampus is crucial for declarative memory, remembering specific, personal events

Question 37

What does the Specialised for Spatial Memory hypothesis state about the hippocampus

Answer 37

Hippocampus is crucial for remembering places and locations

Question 38

What study supports the hypothesis of specialised for spatial memory

Answer 38

(Maguire et al, 2000)

Question 39

What did Maguire (2000) find

Answer 39

* London taxi drivers have larger hippocampus than non-taxi drivers * PET scans showed activation when describing a route * Those driving for longer had even larger hippocampus * Implies experience leads to growth

Question 40

What does the hypothsis specialised for configural learning suggest about the hippocampus

Answer 40

* Remembering stimuli relative to other stimuli

Question 41

So what can we conclude from all these studies and information about the hippocmapus? (Diagram)

Answer 41

Hippocampus is improtant for the consolidation and binding of information

Question 42

What is Korkasoff's Syndrome?

Answer 42

It is brain damage which leads to amnesia. Causes a shrinkage of neurons throughout the brain. Causes widespread damage, and pathway to cortex is damaged, so executive functions are 'affected'

Question 43

Where does Korkasoff's Syndrome mainly occur?

Answer 43

Mainly in alcoholics, due to vitamin deficiency (Specifically Thiamin or Vitamin B12)

Question 44

Name symptoms of the Korkasoff's Syndrome

Answer 44

* apathy * confusion * retrograde * anterograde amnesia

Question 45

Define the confabulations that patients with Korkasoff's Syndrome experience

Answer 45

Remembering guesses as true memories! Usually related to episodic memories, not semantic ‘I went dancing last night!’

Question 46

How does Alzheimer's occur?

Answer 46

Accumulation of a protein called amyloid Causes widespread atrophy (wasting away) of celebral cortex, hippocampus and other areas

Question 47

What are the psychological symptoms of alzheimers?

Answer 47

– Better procedural than declarative memory, e.g., can acquire new skills but don’t remember learning – Better on implicit than explicit memory, but implicit is still impaired

Question 48

What happens when Alzheimer's start?

Answer 48

Starts with minor forgetfulness, progresses to severe memory loss

Question 49

What are the 2 known causes of Alzheimers?

Answer 49

Genetic component Environmental component

Question 50

What proof is there that a genetic component can be a cause of Alzheimers?

Answer 50

A person with Down’s syndrome (3 copies of chromosome 21) almost always acquire Alzheimer’s in middle age

Question 51

What proof is there that an environmental component can be a cause of Alzheimers?

Answer 51

Yoruba people of Nigeria have high-risk genes, but lower rate of Alzheimer (maybe due to low-calorie, low fat, low salt diet)

Question 52

Name the similarities between Korkasoffs and Alzheimers

Answer 52

* Both associated with widespread damage, cortical damage and hippocampal damage * Lose previous memories and ability to form new ones

Question 53

Name the differences between Korkasoffs and Alzheimers

Answer 53

More prefrontal cortex in K, therefore confabulations