Lecture 5: Learning and Memory

Question 1

What is learning?

Answer 1

Acquisition of new information

Question 2

What is memory?

Answer 2

Retention of new information

Question 3

What is procedural memory?

Answer 3

Implicit or reflexive memory: skills/habit become automatic

Ex: riding a bike

Question 4

Where are motor skills related to procedural memory stored?

Answer 4

Cerebellum

Question 5

Where are non-motor skills related to procedural memory stored?

Answer 5

Nucleus Accumbens

Question 6

What is declarative memory?

Answer 6

Explicit memory: conscious recognition or recollection of learned facts and experience

Question 7

What is episodic memory?

Answer 7

Type of declarative memory for events

Question 8

What is semantic memory?

Answer 8

Type of declarative memory for words, language, and rules

Question 9

How long does short term last?

Answer 9

Seconds to hours

Question 10

How long does long term last?

Answer 10

Years

Question 11

What is working memory?

Answer 11

Recalling a fact/memory for use

Ex: recalling info for a test

Question 12

What is plasticity?

Answer 12

Brain’s ability to change and adapt as a result of experience.
Can be by adding synapses or new branches to cells

Question 13

What is post-tetanic stimulation?

Answer 13

Very short discharge of presynaptic neuron that results in NT release lasting 60 sec
Increases probability of AP in post-synaptic cell

Question 14

What is long-term potentiation?

Answer 14

Series of changes in the pre and post synaptic neurons, leading to an increased response to the released NT

Question 15

What is an example of long-term potentiation?

Answer 15

NMDA and non-NMDA cells

Question 16

What changes in the neuronal structures can lead to plasticity?

Answer 16

Gain/loss of synapses

Structural changes in dendrites and soma of neurons

Question 17

What transcription factor is associated with neuronal plasticity?

Answer 17

CREB

Question 18

How can CBEB affect neuronal plasticity?

Answer 18

Can affect NT synthetic enzymes, receptors, and proteins required for growth/synapse formation

Question 19

What are the four steps of memory formation?

Answer 19

1. Encoding
2. Storage of information
3. Consolidation
4. Retrieval

Question 20

What is encoding?

Answer 20

Attending to new information and linking it to previous memory.
Emotion plays a role

Question 21

Where is short term memory stored?

Answer 21

Hippocampus
Parahippocampal Cortex
Prefrontal Cortex

Question 22

What structure makes interconnections between neocortex and amygdala possible?

Answer 22

Nucleus basalis of Meynert

-cholinergic projection that is a target for Alzheimer’s

Question 23

How is short term memory stored?

Answer 23

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

Question 24

What structures are required for consolidating short term memory to long term memory?

Answer 24

Hippocampus
Temporal lobes
Papez Circuit

Question 25

What is the Papez circuit?

Answer 25

Hypothalamus/Mammillary Bodies –> Anterior Thalamus –> Cingulate Cortex –> Hippocampus

Question 26

What conditions are required for the Papez circuit?

Answer 26

LTP and neuronal plasticity

Question 27

Are aspects of a long-term memory stored at the same place?

Answer 27

No, stored in areas of cortex related to modality of individual components

Question 28

What anatomic structures are required for long term memory retrieval?

Answer 28

Neocortex
Parahippocampal regions
Hippocampus

Question 29

What is the three component model?

Answer 29

Central Executive: prefrontal cortes
Phonological Loop: Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas
Visuospatial Loop: Occipital cortex associated with vision

Question 30

What are the steps to retrieval?

Answer 30

1. Retrieve memory components from storage area
2. Back to parahippocampal cortex
3. Hippocampus to reconstruct memory
4. Cortex via parahippocampal region

Question 31

What are place cells?

Answer 31

Cells that serve as an anchor for the reconstruction of memory and only activate at specific places

Question 32

What other cells are needed to create a spatial memory?

Answer 32

Head direction cell
Grid cell
Border cell