Learning & Memory Flashcards
What are the different types of memory?
- Declarative memory
- Nondeclarative memory
What is learning?
Learning: acquisition of new information
What is memory?
Memory: retention of learned information
What is declarative memory?
Declarative memory (explicit) Facts and events – hippocampus
What is nondeclarative memory?
Nondeclarative memory (implicit) Procedural memory—motor skills, habits - striatum
Which brain regions are involved in declarative memory?
Medial temporal lobe
Diencephalon
Hippocampus
- Facts and events
Which brain regions are involved in nondeclarative memory?
Striatum: Procedural memory: skills + habits
Cerbellum: Skeletal musculature
Amygdala: Emotional responses
What are the subcategories of declarative memory?
Facts and events
- Working memory
- Short term memories
- Long term memories
What is working memory?
Temporary storage, lasting seconds e.g. random numbers
What is short term memory?
Short-term memories - vulnerable to disruption
Facts and events stored in short-term memory
Subset are converted to long-term memories
What are long term memories?
Recalled months or years later
What is memory consolidation?
The process of converting short- to long-term memories
There is a flow of info from the short-term and immediate working memory
How does the brain structure aid memory?
Primates have a large frontal lobe - have greater capacity for higher level thinking
What is the function of the prefrontal cortex?
self-awareness, capacity for planning and problem solving
What regions are involved in working memory?
Prefrontal cortex, lateral intraparietal cortex neuron response in delayed-saccade task - located posteriorly in the brain - occipital cortex
What is an engram?
A unit of cognitive information inside the brain, theorized to be how memories are stored as biophysical or biochemical changes in the brain (and other neural tissue) in response to external stimuli
Name the theory of memory storage
Hebb’s Cell Assembly and Memory Storage
Describe the Hebb’s cell assembly and memory storage theory
Neurons in the brain are interconnected in neural networks which cause cell assembly (collective firing).
This leads to reverberating electrical circuits within these neurons that continue to show increased activity even after the stimulus is removed
=> goes on to Hebbian modification of these circuits where connections are strengthened between neurons
Which brain region is responsible for consolidation of memories?
Medial temporal lobe (under the temporal bone) important in speech and memory
Hippocampus is important in consolidation of memories and is found within the medial temporal lobe
Quite closely associated with the neocortex, rhinal cortex and cerebral cortex
Outline the flow of info through the medial temporal lobe to become long term memories
- Sensory information
- Cortical association areas
- Parahippocampal and rhinal cortical areas
- Hippocampus
- Fornix
- Thalamus + hypothalamus
What is amnesia?
serious loss of memory and/or ability to learn
What are the causes of amnesia?
Causes: concussion, chronic alcoholism, encephalitis, brain tumor, stroke
What is retrograde amnesia?
Retrograde amnesia - still able to form new memories at time of trauma, but unable to recall old ones
What is anterograde amnesia?
Anterograde amnesia - following trauma being unable or severely limited in capacity to form new memories, but past memories are unaffected
