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Biological and Cognitive Psychology > Learning and Memory > Flashcards

Learning and Memory Flashcards

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1
Q

What is Learning

A

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

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2
Q

What is Memory

A

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

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3
Q

What are the 2 types of learning

A

> Associative Learning > Non-associative Learning

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4
Q

Name 2 examples of associative learning

A

> Classical Conditioning > Operant Conditioning

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5
Q

Give an example of Classical Conditioning

A

> Ivan Pavlov (1927)

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6
Q

Advantages of Associative and Non-Associative learning

A

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

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7
Q

Define Engram

A

A physical representation of what has been learnt

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8
Q

What did Lashley do?

A

– Multiple deep cuts in the rat brain

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9
Q

What did Lashley find?

A

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

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10
Q

What can be concluded by Lashley’s findings?

A

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

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11
Q

Name a modern study into the Engram

A

Richard Thompson: Classical conditioning responses in the rabbit

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12
Q

What did Richard Thompson do?

A

Whilst cutting lesions in the brains of rabbits

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13
Q

What did Richard Thompson find?

A
  • 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
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14
Q

What area of the brain is responsible for learning?

A

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

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15
Q

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

A

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

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16
Q

What did Hebb (1949) suggest?

A

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

Hebb (1949)

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17
Q

What did Baddeley & Hitch (1974) suggest?

A

WORKING MEMORY:

  • stored information that is still in use
  • Information that is still relevant
  • Information crucial for complex cognitive activities
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18
Q

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

A
  • Delayed response tasks
  • Testing participants responses to stimuli they saw/heard a short while before
  • Record activity in the brain during the delay
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19
Q

Where is the ‘info’ being stored

A

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

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20
Q

Define Habituation in cellular changes

A

Decrease in response to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly

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21
Q

Define Sensitization in cellular changes

A

Increased responses to unpleasant stimuli after a shock

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22
Q

What did Hebb (1949) suggest?

A

The Hebbian Synapse

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23
Q

What does the Hebbian Synapse suggest?

A
  • 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
24
Q

Define long term potentiation (LTP)

A

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

25
Q

Define long-term depression (LTD)

A

When axons are active at low frequency, response reduces

26
Q

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

A

Some patients with brain damage have amnesia (memory loss)

27
Q

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

A
  • Intellect and language intact.
  • Working memory intact.
  • severe impairment on forming new long-term memories
28
Q

Define Anterograde Amnesia

A
  • Loss of memory for events that happened after the brain damage
29
Q

Define Retrograde Amnesia

A

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

30
Q

Define Intact procedural memory

A

Intact development of motor skills and responses

31
Q

Briefly describe the case of H.M.

A
  • Severe epilepsy
  • Removal of hippocampus (thought to be related)
  • Reduced the seizures
  • Severe memory impairment
32
Q

Name a case study which existence of the hippocampus

A

Patient H.M. (1953)

33
Q

What were the conlcusions of HM’s memory

A
  • Intact procedural memory but poor declarative memory
  • Intact implicit memory but poor explicit memory
34
Q

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

A
35
Q

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

A
  1. Specialised for Declarative Memory
  2. Specialised for Spatial Memory
  3. Specialised for Configural Learning
36
Q

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

A

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

37
Q

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

A

Hippocampus is crucial for remembering places and locations

38
Q

What study supports the hypothesis of specialised for spatial memory

A

(Maguire et al, 2000)

39
Q

What did Maguire (2000) find

A
  • 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
40
Q

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

A
  • Remembering stimuli relative to other stimuli
41
Q

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

(Diagram)

A

Hippocampus is improtant for the consolidation and binding of information

42
Q

What is Korkasoff’s Syndrome?

A

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’

43
Q

Where does Korkasoff’s Syndrome mainly occur?

A

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

44
Q

Name symptoms of the Korkasoff’s Syndrome

A
  • apathy
  • confusion
  • retrograde
  • anterograde amnesia
45
Q

Define the confabulations that patients with Korkasoff’s Syndrome experience

A

Remembering guesses as true memories!

Usually related to episodic memories, not semantic

‘I went dancing last night!’

46
Q

How does Alzheimer’s occur?

A

Accumulation of a protein called amyloid

Causes widespread atrophy (wasting away) of celebral cortex, hippocampus and other areas

47
Q

What are the psychological symptoms of alzheimers?

A

– 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

48
Q

What happens when Alzheimer’s start?

A

Starts with minor forgetfulness, progresses to severe memory loss

49
Q

What are the 2 known causes of Alzheimers?

A

Genetic component

Environmental component

50
Q

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

A

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

51
Q

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

A

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

52
Q

Name the similarities between Korkasoffs and Alzheimers

A
  • Both associated with widespread damage, cortical damage and hippocampal damage
  • Lose previous memories and ability to form new ones
53
Q

Name the differences between Korkasoffs and Alzheimers

A

More prefrontal cortex in K, therefore confabulations

54
Q
A
55
Q
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56
Q
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Biological and Cognitive Psychology (4 decks)

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