Learning & Memory Flashcards
What is learning?
relatively enduring change in an organism’s behaviour as a result of experience
What is memory?
ability to recall or recognize past experience
What is classical conditioning?
pairing two stimulus together (so both cause same response)
What is operant conditioning?
punishments/rewards are used to make behaviours less/more often
What is positive/negative reinforcement?
positive means behaviour is repeated so you get something good, negative means behaviour is repeated so bad things stop
WHat is positive/negative punishment?
positive means something bad is added, negative means something good is taken away
What does episodic memory involve?
personal, autobiographical
What does semantic memory involve?
facts, knowledge
What does implicit memory involve?
skills, habit, priming, conditioning
What is declarative (explicit) memory include?
ability to recount what one knows, to detail the time, place, and circumstances of events
What is procedural (implicit) memory?
ability to recall a movement sequence or how to perform some act/behaviour
What is priming?
sensitizes the brain to the later presentation of the same stimuls
What is an example of priming taht we run into in real life?
advertisements
What neural circuits are important for implicit memory?
basal ganglia, prefrontal cortex, substantia nigra
What type of memory is usually impraied in amnesia?
explicit (episodic/semantci)
Is explicit memory top-down or bottom up?
top down- active process
Is implicit memory top-down or bottom up?
bottom-up passive process
What parts of the brain are important for explicit memoyr?
hippocmapus
What case studies points to how important the hippocampus is for explicit memory?
H.M.
What is the function of the entorhinal cortex?
gateway to hippocampus (gives and receives info from it)
What is the function of the parahippocampal cortex?
receives input from visual dorsal stream (sends/gets info from entorhinal cortex)
What is the function of the perirhinal cortex?
receives input from the visual ventral stream (sends/gets info from entorhinal cortex)
What helps with visuospatial navigation and recognition of objects place?
hippocampus
What are spatial specific cells?
cells that react when a certain part of your environment comes into view
What are some examples of spatial specific cells?
place cells, grid cells, head direction cells
What does the mishkin model explain?
full explicit memory circuit, sensory/motor inputs go to medial temporal regions and go between that and prefrontal cortex, basal forebrain maintains arousal,
When is alzheimer’s definitively diagnosed?
autopsy
In alzheimer’s when do neuropathologies start to occur? What are they?
decades before symptoms emerge
beta amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles
What does temporal graded mean? What explains it?
newer memories are the first to go in amnesia
memory consolidation
What is the distributed reinstatement theory?
memory stores are strengthened outside hippocampus through repitition
What plays a key role in emotional memories?
amygdala
What are emotional memories?
memories for the affective properties of stimuli
Fear conditioning is what type of memory?
implict
Chocolate chip cookies that remind you of your grandma is what type of memory?
explicit
How can the brain change?
modifying synaptic connections, forming new connections or neurons
What does methlyation have to do with memory?
neurons involved in a memory trace can be methylated or not, fear conditioning means methylated
What are some moderators of neuroplasticity?
epigenetic, hormones, neurotrophic factors, psychoactive drugs
Normal aging is associated with?
loss of synapses and NMDA receptors in the hippocampus, this impairs long term potentiation, which helps with learning
lose white matter in prefrontal cortex
What are some learning and memory strategies?
rehearsal, chunking, spaced retrieval, semantic associations
Where is thought believed to arise from in humans? What about other crows and other birds?
prefronta lcortex, specialized brainstem nuclei
What are cell assemblies?
functionally connected groups of neurons
What are some structural differences between the left and right hemispheres?
lateral fissure has a sharper upward division on the right side so RH has a temporal lobe, LH has larger sensorimotor face area, more gyrification of brocas area on LH
What does right parietal damage cause?
constructional apraxia, difficulty doing puzzles and navigating familiar environments
What is constructional apraxia?
difficulty copying pictures
What does left parietal damage cause?
apraxia, difficulty with math, reading, and object naming
In dichotic listening task what ear hears what better?
right can recall digits easier but left can recall music easier
For people who are right-handed almost all of them have language in what hemisphere?
LH
Corpus collosum is larger in left or right handed people?
left
Visuospatial deficits implicate what region of the brain?
posterior parietal regions
What is balint syndrome?
optic ataxia, ocular apraxia, simultagnosia
What is selective attention?
visual search, inhibiting irrelevant material
What is focused attention?
active filtering and focusing; concentration
What is divided attention?
simultaneous processing of two or more sources
What is sustained attention?
maintaining a consistent focus
on one source of information
What is hemispatial neglect?
failing to notice one half of space, usually the left side, won’t draw left side of things, won’t clean left side of selves etc
What is hemispatial neglect caused by?
usually right parietal damage
Can neglected stimuli still affect behaviour?
yes, they arn’t aware of it though
What is dysexecutive syndrome?
damage to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), trouble with reasoning, poor motivation, lack of self-monitoring, decreased WM capcity, poor multi tasking
What is theory of mind? What is it goverened by?
understanding others mental states
DLPCF
What is self regulation goverend by?
by anterior cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex
What is convergent intelligence supported by?
parietal and temporal regions
What is divergent intelligence supported by?
frontal lobes
What is people’s intellectual potential determined by?
synaptic organization which are furhter shaped by epigenetics and environment
What is habituation?
Process where response to stimulus weakens with repeated exposure
What is long term potentiation?
Long lasting increase in synaptic effectiveness after high frequency stimulation
The evolution of skill in mental manipulation is closely tied to the evolution of?
Physical movements
What is neuroeconomics?
Interdisciplinary field that seeks to understand how the brain makes decisions
What is the evolutionary theory of consciousness?
Consciousness arose as a product of increased complexity requiring more complex nervous system
What is the global neuronal workspace theory of consciousness?
Consciousness emerges from info integrated in frontal-parietal networks and distributed across the brain
What is the info integration theory of consciousness?
Consciousness emerges from our ability to integrate info generated by posterior cortex
