Lecture 5: Learning and Memory Flashcards
What is learning?
Acquisition of new information
What is memory?
Retention of new information
What is procedural memory?
Implicit or reflexive memory: skills/habit become automatic
Ex: riding a bike
Where are motor skills related to procedural memory stored?
Cerebellum
Where are non-motor skills related to procedural memory stored?
Nucleus Accumbens
What is declarative memory?
Explicit memory: conscious recognition or recollection of learned facts and experience
What is episodic memory?
Type of declarative memory for events
What is semantic memory?
Type of declarative memory for words, language, and rules
How long does short term last?
Seconds to hours
How long does long term last?
Years
What is working memory?
Recalling a fact/memory for use
Ex: recalling info for a test
What is plasticity?
Brain’s ability to change and adapt as a result of experience.
Can be by adding synapses or new branches to cells
What is post-tetanic stimulation?
Very short discharge of presynaptic neuron that results in NT release lasting 60 sec
Increases probability of AP in post-synaptic cell
What is long-term potentiation?
Series of changes in the pre and post synaptic neurons, leading to an increased response to the released NT
What is an example of long-term potentiation?
NMDA and non-NMDA cells
What changes in the neuronal structures can lead to plasticity?
Gain/loss of synapses
Structural changes in dendrites and soma of neurons
What transcription factor is associated with neuronal plasticity?
CREB
How can CBEB affect neuronal plasticity?
Can affect NT synthetic enzymes, receptors, and proteins required for growth/synapse formation
What are the four steps of memory formation?
- Encoding
- Storage of information
- Consolidation
- Retrieval
What is encoding?
Attending to new information and linking it to previous memory.
Emotion plays a role
Where is short term memory stored?
Hippocampus
Parahippocampal Cortex
Prefrontal Cortex
What structure makes interconnections between neocortex and amygdala possible?
Nucleus basalis of Meynert
-cholinergic projection that is a target for Alzheimer’s
How is short term memory stored?
Long-term potentiation (LTP)
What structures are required for consolidating short term memory to long term memory?
Hippocampus
Temporal lobes
Papez Circuit
What is the Papez circuit?
Hypothalamus/Mammillary Bodies –> Anterior Thalamus –> Cingulate Cortex –> Hippocampus
What conditions are required for the Papez circuit?
LTP and neuronal plasticity
Are aspects of a long-term memory stored at the same place?
No, stored in areas of cortex related to modality of individual components
What anatomic structures are required for long term memory retrieval?
Neocortex
Parahippocampal regions
Hippocampus
What is the three component model?
Central Executive: prefrontal cortes
Phonological Loop: Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas
Visuospatial Loop: Occipital cortex associated with vision
What are the steps to retrieval?
- Retrieve memory components from storage area
- Back to parahippocampal cortex
- Hippocampus to reconstruct memory
- Cortex via parahippocampal region
What are place cells?
Cells that serve as an anchor for the reconstruction of memory and only activate at specific places
What other cells are needed to create a spatial memory?
Head direction cell
Grid cell
Border cell
