Lecture 16 - Hippocampus

Question 1

Procedural Memory

Answer 1

spared in amnesia

- memory embedded in procedures or changes pre-existing cognitive operations

Question 2

Declarative Memory

Answer 2

impared in amnesia
-information is explicit –> brought to mind as proposition or image
EX: facts, lists, everyday remembering

Question 3

Working Memory

Answer 3

task-relevant information
like a “scratch-pad”
buffering capacity against distractions

Question 4

Associative learning

Answer 4

process of forming associations between stimuli and responses

• pavlovian
• operant

Question 5

Non-associative learning

Answer 5

simpler learning of behavioral response with repeated presentations of stimulus

• habituation (startle reflex –> same stim decrease reaction)
• sensitization (startle reflex –> same stim increase reaction)

Question 6

Pavlovian (classical) Conditioning

Answer 6

Associate 2 unrelated stimuli together

• form association that didn’t previously exist (bell&salivation)
• neutral stimuli, upon temporal association with reflex-eliciting stimulus, gains ability to elicit reflex response
• non-related stimulus has to come BEFORE related stimulus

Question 7

Operant Conditioning

Answer 7

Associate action and outcome

-consequence contingent on behavior

Question 8

Positive reinforcement

Answer 8

keep something good happening

-consequence keeps behavior repeating

Question 9

Punishment

Answer 9

don’t do behavior anymore

-consequence reduces probability of behavior

Question 10

Negative reinforcement

Answer 10

stop something bad

• consequence removes unpleasant stimulus
• rats press lever in order to turn off aversive noise

Question 11

Plasticity

Answer 11

experience-induced changes in molecular processes and network organization of the brain, induced by exposure to salient stimuli (habituation/sensitization), stimulus-stimulus associations (classical conditioning), or action-outcome contingencies (operant conditioning)

Question 12

Hippocampus

Answer 12

acquires info about relationships among stimuli
-identify and remember multiple spatial locations (spatial memory and navigation - Place cells)
-embedded in entorhinal cortex (banana)
-input from many subcortical inputs, including striatum
> Ventral tegmental area - dopamine
> Raphe nuclei - serotonin
> Locus Coeruleus - NE ***Arousal important for activity

Question 13

Amygdala

Answer 13

mediate formation of behaviors based on association of neutral stimuli with biologically significant events that elicit emotional reaction (Pavlovian memory system)

• main neural site mediating fear responses (threatening)
• 3 groupings
  1. basolateral complex - cortical-like
  2. central nuclei - striatum like (autonomic)
  3. cortical and medial nuclei - part of olfactory (direct access to amygdala without any processing

Question 14

Dorsal Striatum

Answer 14

mediates formation of reinforced stimulus-response associations (operant, associative learning system where neutral stimuli elicit motor response)

Question 15

Entorhinal cortex

Answer 15

C shaped structure that hippocampus is embedded in

• important for input and output of information
• fornix carries info from hippocampus out to basal forebrain

Question 16

Hippocampus-to-cortex transfer

Answer 16

really long term memory stored in neocortex itself

• diff cellular mechanisms for short-term (labile) & long-term (permanent) memory –> long-term requires protein synthesis, achieved thru MAP-kinase
• cellular expression of proteins that stabilize synapses
• feedback loop to come back and reactivate kinases continuously (positive feedback) keep long-term memories in place