Lecture 7. Learning, Memory & Amnesia Flashcards
Deals with how experience changes the brain
learning
Deals with how these changes (experiences) are stored and subsequently reactivated
memory
Any pathological loss of memory
amnesia
amnesia can be ___ or ____ loss of memory and is either ____ or ____
- partial
- complete
- temporary
- permanent
2 main forms of amnesia
- retrograde amnesia
- anterograde amnesia
removal of the medial portions of both temporal lobes, including most of the hippocampus, amygdala, and adjacent cortex
bilateral medial temporal lobectomy
both hemispheres are experiencing seizure at the same time
general seizure
classic test of verbal long-term memory
digit span +1 test
An array of 9 blocks was spread out on a board in front and was asked to watch the neuropsychologist touch a sequence of them and then to repeat the same sequence of touches
block-tapping memory span test
task was to draw a line within the boundaries of a star-shaped target by watching his hand in a mirror
mirror-drawing test
subject was presented 5 sets of fragmented drawings having 20 items
incomplete-pictures test
A tone was sounded just before a puff of air was administered to his eye; these trials were repeated until the tone alone elicited an eye blink.
pavlovian conditioning
Amnesia that is associated with bilateral damage to the medial temporal lobes
medial temporal lobe amnesia
2 memory systems
- implicit memory
- explicit memory
Information that you remember unconsciously and effortlessly
implicit memory
Information that you have to consciously work to remember
explicit memory
reason why there are two memory systems
flexibility
flexible memory system
explicit memories
not flexible memory system
implicit memories
test that assesses implicit memory in which participants are asked to examine a list of words
repetition priming tests
2 categories of explicit memories
- semantic memories
- episodic memories
category of explicit memory that is for general facts or information
semantic memories
category of explicit memories that is for specific moments in one’s life
episodic memories
disorder of memory that is most common in people who have consumed large amounts of alcohol
korsakoff’s syndrome
korsakoff’s syndrome is largely attributed to brain dysfunction associated with the ______ that often accompanies heavy alcohol consumption
thiamine deficiency
korsakoff’s syndrome is characterized by severe _____ and ____
- anterograde amnesia
- retrograde amnesia
essential for normal brain function
thiamine
progressive disease beginning with mild memory loss and possibly leading to loss of the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to the environment
alzheimer’s disease
alzheimer’s is the most common type of _____
dementia
symptoms of alzheimer’s disease
- Mild Deterioration of Memory
- Progressive Cognitive Decline
- Severe Dementia
initial sign of alzheimer’s disease
mild deterioration of memory
temporary disturbance of consciousness produced by a nonpenetrating head injury is the most common cause of amnesia
concussion
transient state of altered brain function that may follow a traumatic brain injury
posttraumatic amnesia
effects of closed-head injury on memory
- coma
- retrograde amnesia
- period of confusion
- anterograde amnesia
pathological state of unconsciousness
coma
provided a means of testing the assumption that the amnesia resulting from medial temporal lobe damage is entirely the consequence to hippocampal damage
monkey version of delayed nonmatching-to-sample test
An apparatus representing the version of the delayed nonmatching-to-sample test for rats
mumby box
play a major role only in explicit episodic memories
medial temporal lobe
intact rats placed at various locations in a circular pool of murky water rapidly learn to swim to a stationary platform hidden just below the surface
morris water maze test
several (e.g., eight) arms radiate out from a central starting chamber, and the same few arms are baited with food each day
radial arm maze test
memory for the general principles and skills that are required to perform a task
reference memory
temporary memory that is necessary for the successful performance of a task on which one is currently working
working memory
type of neuron found in the hippocampus that respond only when a subject is in specific locations
place cells
area of the medial temporal cortex that is a major source of neural signals to the hippocampus
entorhinal cortex
entorhinal neurons that each have a repeating pattern of evenly spaced hexagon-shaped place fields that tile the surface of an environment
entorhinal grid cells
location that causes each place cell to fire
place field
major structures of medial temporal lobes
- hippocampus
- amygdala
- medial temporal cortex
plays a role in various forms of memory
hippocampus
plays a role in emotion
amygdala
lies adjacent to the hippocampus and amygdala
medial temporal cortex
areas of medial temporal cortex
- entorhinal cortex
- perirhinal cortex
- parahippocampal cortices
type of graph that represents the occurrence of neuronal trips with respect to time
neural coding
Highly selective and invariant
jennifer aniston neurons
neuroscientists insert an opsin gene into particular neurons, after which they can then use light to either hyperpolarize or depolarize those neurons
optogenetics
neurons that undergo a persistent change as the result of experience
engram cells
2 identification of engram cells
- tagging stage
- manipulate stage
the neurons that are active during the learning task are induced to express opsins while an animal engages in a particular learning task
tagging stage
the previously active neurons are now either inhibited or excited by using light to influence the activity of the opsin-tagged neurons
manipulate stage
5 brain areas implicated in memory
- inferotemporal cortex
- amygdala
- prefrontal cortex
- cerebellum
- striatum
Plays an important role in storing memories of visual input and is critically important for the visual recognition of objects
inferotemporal cortex
Play a special role in memory for the emotional significance of experiences
amygdala
Extensively involved in human memory, including working memory processes that support retention of information across short delays, and episodic long-term memory encoding and retrieval processes
prefrontal cortex
participate in the storage of memories of learned sensorimotor skills
cerebellum
Store memories for consistent relationships between stimuli and responses
striatum
striatum is one of the main structures involved in _____
habit formation
striatum-based learning =
habit-formation
phenomenon that showed that there is a facilitation of synaptic transmission following high-frequency electrical stimulation applied to presynaptic neurons
long-term potentiation
2 key properties of LTP
- LTP can last for a long time
- Many forms of LTP develop only if there is co-occurrence of activity in the presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons
prominent at the synapses at which LTP is commonly studied
NMDA receptor
variability of LTP
- long term depression
- metaplasticity
occurs in response to prolonged low-frequency stimulation of presynaptic neurons
long term depression
refers to the fact that LTP and/or LTD induction can be modulated by prior synaptic activity
metaplasticity
long term depression is the ____ of LTP
flip-side
2 neuroplastic changes that occur outside the synapse
- epigenetic mechanisms in the cell nucleus
- changes to the structure of axons
remembering virtually nothing of the events of our infancy
infantile amnesia
substances that are thought to improve memory
nootropics
nootropics are also called
smart drugs
