Lecture 14 (spatial navigation, PTSD and memory) Flashcards
Declarative memory?
facts and information acquired through learning.
Which two processes are involved in declarative memory?
recollection of the item in the specific context and the sense of familiarity.
Which parts of the brain are needed to form new declarative memories?
The hippocampus, the mammillary bodies, and the dorsomedial thalamus
What are declarative memory divided into?
Episodic and semantic memory
Episodic memory?
when you remember a specific episode in your life or relate an event to a particular time and place.
Semantic memory?
generalized declarative memory, such as knowing the meaning of a word.
What is nondeclarative memory the same as?
Procedural memory.
Nondeclarative memory?
memory about perceptual or motor procedures. Shown by performance. Is often nonverbal.
Skill memory?
this can be sensorimotor skills, perceptual skills, and cognitive skills
What are nondeclarative memory divided into?
Skill memory, priming, associative learning.
Priming?
a change in processing of a stimulus as a result of prior exposure to the same stimulus or related stimuli.
Associative learning?
learning that involves relations between events.
Operant conditioning?
an association is here formed between the individual’s behavior and the consequences of that behavior.
Classical conditioning?
an initially neutral stimulus comes to predict an event.
What is the relation between episodic and spatial memory?
both uses the two neural systems, hippocampus and cortex
Which brain parts are involved in episodic memory?
hippocampus, medial temporal lobe, neocortex
Which brain parts are involved in semantic memory?
lateral and anterior temporal cortex, prefrontal cortex
Which brain parts are involved in procedural memory?
striatum, motor cortex, cerebellum
Which brain parts are involved in priming?
neocortex
Which brain parts are involved in classic conditioning?
amygdala and cerebellum
Which brain parts are involved in spatial memory?
hippocampus and cortex
Which brain system is involved in spatial navigation?
Hippocampus.
What is found in taxa drivers because of increased navigation?
Their hippocampus is increased.
Which cell types are involved in spatial navigation?
Place cells, boundary vector cells, grid cells, and head direction cells.
Place cells?
can discriminate between different environments. They will start firing when the person enters a specific place/environment.
Boundary vector cells?
tell the place cells where the boundaries are. So, they know when they are in a different environment.
Grid cells?
fires at regular intervals as an animal navigates an open area, allowing it to understand its position in space by storing and integrating information about location, distance, and direction.
Head direction cells?
they code for the persons egocentric position. Every head cell has a preferred direction of the head.
Which model explains how spatial cognition and episodic memory are related?
The BBB model
The BBB model simplified?
egocentric (perception) –> allocentric (memory) –> egocentric (retrieval).
Explain the BBB model
- Place cells in hippocampus activates memories with pattern completion.
- This activates the boundary vector cells in parahippocampal cortex which codes for the spatial structure of the scene around one’s viewpoint.
- The grid cells can move the viewpoint.
- Head direction cells define the perspective of the memory.
- Cortical areas and perirhinal cortex represent perceptual information and object information.
Where can we find the sensory information from the memory?
Out in the cortex.
The two different types of consolidation?
Short-term (synaptic) consolidation and long-term (systemic) consolidaiton.
Short-term (synaptic) consolidation?
reinforcement of synapses and making of engram. Takes place in hippocampus. Happens with long-term potentiation (LTP) which is an experience-dependent reinforcement of synaptic transmission. The changes followed by LTP make the synapse more responsive.
Long-term (systemic) consolidation?
the memory gets less dependent of hippocampus through interactions between hippocampus and neocortical regions. So more neocortical than hippocampus here.
Flash bulb memories?
detailed and vivid memories which are mostly attached to an important historical or personal event.
How can emotions affect memory?
Associative memory is weakened by negative emotions where item memory is enhanced.
Relation between Alzheimer’s and spatial cognition?
the atrophy normally begins in hippocampus. Navigation problems are a part of the first symptoms.
Relation between PTSD and spatial cognition?
Maybe the trauma –> arousal/stress –> reduced hippocampal processing and enhanced emotional/perceptual processing via the amygdala –> impaired deliberate memory and increased intrusive memory.
LTP?
it gives an enhanced subsequent transmitter release. This leads to increased calcium concentration which leads to activation of protein kinases. Then it will end up with a retrograde signal generator which makes the synapse more responsive in the future.
Which part of the brain is especially plastic?
Hippocampus is especially plastic and change with training, learning or when not used.
The relation between depression and hippocampal neurogenesis?
During depression, they have reduced hippocampal neurogenesis. But antidepressiva increases the hippocampal neurogenesis. The antidepressive effect depends on whether or not the hippocampal neurogenesis is happening.
Why is hippocampal neurogenesis important for memory?
New cells can be a part of the memory network.
Four different duration categories for memory:
Sensory buffer, short-term memories, working memory, and intermediate-term memory.
Sensory buffer?
the briefest of them all. These brief memories are thought to be residual sensory neural activity.
Short-term memories?
a form of memory that usually lasts only for seconds, or as long as rehearsal continues, especially while being used during performance of a task.
Working memory?
this is how we hold information in mind while we are working with it to solve a problem.
The three parts of working memory?
o A phonological loop that contains auditory information.
o A visuospatial sketch pad that holds visual impressions of stimuli.
o An episodic buffer that contains more-integrated information, spanning
Intermediate-term memory?
a memory that outlasts what we typically consider to be short-term memory but if far from being permanent.
What are the three steps for creating and retaining memories?
Encoding, consolidation, retrieval.
Non-associative learning types?
Habituation, dishabituation, and sensitization.
Habituation?
a decrease in response to a stimulus as it’s repeated.
Dishabituation?
opposite of habituation. Increase in response to stimulus.
Sensitization?
when the response is greater than the baseline level because of prior stimulation.
What is the primary cranial nerve which do the communication between the intestine and the brain?
Vagus
