Learning and Memory Flashcards
What is Learning
– A behavioural experience associated with change – Where the change allows some form of adaptation – (so not change incurred by brain damage)
What is Memory
– The encoding of the learning experience – Physical basis of memory is the change in the brain
What are the 2 types of learning
> Associative Learning > Non-associative Learning
Name 2 examples of associative learning
> Classical Conditioning > Operant Conditioning
Give an example of Classical Conditioning
> Ivan Pavlov (1927)
Advantages of Associative and Non-Associative learning
– Offer an adaptive advantage – Allow organisms to respond to the environment – Develop efficient responses to positive stimuli – Develop efficient avoidance of negative stimuli
Define Engram
A physical representation of what has been learnt
What did Lashley do?
– Multiple deep cuts in the rat brain
What did Lashley find?
– Didn’t impair learning – Learning was impaired by large lesions, but not in a single area
What can be concluded by Lashley’s findings?
> Equipotentiality: all parts of cortex contribute equally to complex behaviours > Mass action: cortex works as a whole
Name a modern study into the Engram
Richard Thompson: Classical conditioning responses in the rabbit
What did Richard Thompson do?
Whilst cutting lesions in the brains of rabbits
What did Richard Thompson find?
- 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
What area of the brain is responsible for learning?
Lateral interpositus nucleus (LIP) in the cerebellum – area of learning
What part of the brain is responsible for the performance of learning behaviour?
Red nucleus (midbrain structure that has input from cerebellum) - performance of learned behaviour
What did Hebb (1949) suggest?
Suggested that the processes for immediate recall and past-event recall were different
Hebb (1949)
What did Baddeley & Hitch (1974) suggest?
WORKING MEMORY:
- stored information that is still in use
- Information that is still relevant
- Information crucial for complex cognitive activities
How do you figure out which parts of the brain are functions of the working memory model (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974)
- Delayed response tasks
- Testing participants responses to stimuli they saw/heard a short while before
- Record activity in the brain during the delay
Where is the ‘info’ being stored
Pre-frontal cortex (associated with complex, executive cognitive functions)
Define Habituation in cellular changes
Decrease in response to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly
Define Sensitization in cellular changes
Increased responses to unpleasant stimuli after a shock
What did Hebb (1949) suggest?
The Hebbian Synapse
What does the Hebbian Synapse suggest?
- 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
Define long term potentiation (LTP)
Axons bombard a dendrite with a rapid series of stimuli which leaves the synapses more responsive (potentiated) for a period of time
Define long-term depression (LTD)
When axons are active at low frequency, response reduces
How else can we find out how the brain stores memories and learns?
Some patients with brain damage have amnesia (memory loss)
What parts of H.M.’s brain were still functioning
- Intellect and language intact.
- Working memory intact.
- severe impairment on forming new long-term memories
Define Anterograde Amnesia
- Loss of memory for events that happened after the brain damage
Define Retrograde Amnesia
Loss of memory for events that happened a few yrs before brain damage
Define Intact procedural memory
Intact development of motor skills and responses
Briefly describe the case of H.M.
- Severe epilepsy
- Removal of hippocampus (thought to be related)
- Reduced the seizures
- Severe memory impairment
Name a case study which existence of the hippocampus
Patient H.M. (1953)
What were the conlcusions of HM’s memory
- Intact procedural memory but poor declarative memory
- Intact implicit memory but poor explicit memory
What does HM’s case tell us about the hippocampus?
Name the 3 hypotheses that explain the main role of the hippocampus
- Specialised for Declarative Memory
- Specialised for Spatial Memory
- Specialised for Configural Learning
What does the Specialised for Declarative Memory hypothesis state about the hippocampus
Hippocampus is crucial for declarative memory, remembering specific, personal events
What does the Specialised for Spatial Memory hypothesis state about the hippocampus
Hippocampus is crucial for remembering places and locations
What study supports the hypothesis of specialised for spatial memory
(Maguire et al, 2000)
What did Maguire (2000) find
- 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
What does the hypothsis specialised for configural learning suggest about the hippocampus
- Remembering stimuli relative to other stimuli
So what can we conclude from all these studies and information about the hippocmapus?
(Diagram)
Hippocampus is improtant for the consolidation and binding of information
What is Korkasoff’s Syndrome?
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’
Where does Korkasoff’s Syndrome mainly occur?
Mainly in alcoholics, due to vitamin deficiency (Specifically Thiamin or Vitamin B12)
Name symptoms of the Korkasoff’s Syndrome
- apathy
- confusion
- retrograde
- anterograde amnesia
Define the confabulations that patients with Korkasoff’s Syndrome experience
Remembering guesses as true memories!
Usually related to episodic memories, not semantic
‘I went dancing last night!’
How does Alzheimer’s occur?
Accumulation of a protein called amyloid
Causes widespread atrophy (wasting away) of celebral cortex, hippocampus and other areas
What are the psychological symptoms of alzheimers?
– 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
What happens when Alzheimer’s start?
Starts with minor forgetfulness, progresses to severe memory loss
What are the 2 known causes of Alzheimers?
Genetic component
Environmental component
What proof is there that a genetic component can be a cause of Alzheimers?
A person with Down’s syndrome (3 copies of chromosome 21) almost always acquire Alzheimer’s in middle age
What proof is there that an environmental component can be a cause of Alzheimers?
Yoruba people of Nigeria have high-risk genes, but lower rate of Alzheimer (maybe due to low-calorie, low fat, low salt diet)
Name the similarities between Korkasoffs and Alzheimers
- Both associated with widespread damage, cortical damage and hippocampal damage
- Lose previous memories and ability to form new ones
Name the differences between Korkasoffs and Alzheimers
More prefrontal cortex in K, therefore confabulations
