Lectures 1&2 Flashcards
Classical conditioning (Pavlovian conditioning)
A type of learning in which the organism comes to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that has been repeatedly presented along with a biologically significant stimulus
Stimulus
An event that evokes a specific functional reaction in an organ or tissue - provides information about the outside world
Response
The behavioral consequence of perception of a stimulus
Learning curve
A graph showing learning performance as a function of training
General trend of a learning curve
Large learning increments in early trials, less in later trials
Extinction
The process of reducing a learned response to a stimulus by ceasing to pair that stimulus with a reward or punishment
Generalization (Pavlov)
Transferring what is learned about one stimulus to similar stimuli
Operant conditioning (Thorndike)
Organisms learn to make responses in order to obtain or avoid important consequences
Law of effect
Probability of a particular behavioral response would increase or decrease depending on the consequences that follows
Reflex arc
An automatic pathway from a sensory stimulus to a motor response
Behaviorism (John Watson)
School of thought that says psychology should restrict itself to the study of observable behaviors and not seek to infer unobservable mental processes
Empiricism states that…
All behavior is lerned and a product of our environments
Evolution
Living species change over time, with new traits or characteristics emerging and being passed from one generation to the next
Darwin proposed that species evolve when they possess a trait that meets which three conditions?
Inheritable, variable, relevant to survival
Cognitive map (Edward Tolman)
An internal psychological representation of the spatial layout of the external world
Latent learning
Learning that is unconnected to a positive or negative consequence and that remains undetected (latent) until explicitly demonstrated at a later stage
Retention curve
Measures how much info is retained at each point in time following learning
General trend of retention curve
Huge jump at the start then steady slow decrease until a point
Subject bias
The influence a subject’s prior knowledge or expectations can have (consciously or unconsciously) on the outcome of an experiment
Experimenter bias
The influence an experimenter’s prior knowledge or expectations can (consciously or unconsciously) on the outcome of an experiment
Blind design
The participant does not know the hypothesis being tested or the variables being manipulated
Double-blind design
Neither the participant nor the experimenter knows which participant is getting which treatment or intervention
Connectionist model
Ideas and concepts in the external world are not presented as distinct and discrete symbols but rather as patterns of activity over populations of many nodes
Distributed representation
A representation in which information is coded as a pattern of activation distributed across many different nodes
4 essential fundamental questions and challenges about learning and memory
- How do sensations or ideas become linked in the mind?
- To what extent are behaviors and abilities determined by biological inheritance (nature) or life experiences (nurture)?
- In what ways are human learning and memory similar to learning and memory in other animals, and in what ways do they differ?
- Can the psychological study of the mind be rigorously scientific, uncovering universal principles of learning and memory?
Central nervous system (CNS)
The part of the vertebrate nervous system consisting of the brain and the spinal cord
Peripheral nervous system (PNS)
The part of the nervous system that transmits signals from sensory receptors to the central nervous system and carries commands from the CNS to muscles
Cerebral cortex is the brain tissue covering the ____ and ____ of the brain in most vertebrates
top; side
Cerebellum is a brain region that lies ____ the ____ ____ in the back of the head
below; cerebral cortex
Brainstem is a group of structures that connects the rest of the _____ to the ____
brain; spinal
The ____ lobe is the part of cerebral cortex lying at the front of the human brain
Frontal
The ____ lobe is the part of cerebral cortex lying at the top of the human brain
parietal
The ____ lobe is the part of cerebral cortex lying at the sides of the human brain
temporal
The ____ lobe is the part of cerebral cortex lying at the rear of the human brain
occipital
Subcortical structures important for learning and memory include… (4)
- Basal ganglia
- Thalamus
- Hippocampus
- Amygdala
Nissl stain
Stains cell bodies – darker = greater density
Camillo Golgi supported the ____ theory that claimed…
Reticular; the nervous system was a single network
Santiago Ramon y Cajal used ____ stain to claim that…
Golgi; nerve cells were not continuous
Size of a soma is between ____ - ____ ____
5-100 micrometers
Primary neuron type of cerebral cortex
Pyramidal cells
The cerebral cortex typically has ____ layers, with differing ____ of neurons
six; density
Circuitry stuff you need to draw in notes
Got it
Dendritic spines are… and they are the contact location for single ____ ____.
Small protruding extension of dendritic membrane; axon terminal
Neurotransmitters
Chemical substance that can cross a synapse to affect the activity of a postsynaptic neuron
Receptors
Proteins embedded in the membrane of neurons that are specialized to bind with and respond to particular kinds of neurotransmitters
Process of transmission across a synapse
1. ____ emerges with presynaptic membrane
2. Neurotransmitter is ____ in the ____ ____
3. Neurotransmitter ____ across ____ ____
4. Neurotransmitter binds to ____ on the postsynaptic membrane
5. Neurotransmitter ____ from receptors
6. Neurotransmitter is ____ down
7. Neurotransmitter is ____ ____ by the axon that ____ it (____)
vesicle; released; synaptic cleft; diffuses; synaptic cleft; receptors; unbinds; broken; taken up; released; reuptake
What does the binding of neurotransmitter do to the postsynaptic cell?
Changes the membrane potential so that it become either closer or farther from action potential threshold
Axon ____ is where action potential initiate
hillock
Firing rate of a neuron
of spikes/duration of time
(ex. 12 spikes in 2 seconds: 6Hz)
Glutamate neuron causes ____, while GABA neurons causes ____
Exitation; inhibition
In what ways can the brain change?
Structure (dendrites/axons/connections)
Signal transduction (amount of neurotransmitters, vesicles, receptors and rate of breakdown/reuptake of neurotransmitters)
Because structural neuroplasticity takes time, it can serve as a tool to investigate ____ ____ of an animal
life history (ex. the kind of environment it lives in – enriched or not)
Hebbian learning
Learning that involves strengthening connections between neurons
“Neurons that fire together, wire together”
Long-term potentiation (LTP)
A process in which synaptic transmission becomes more effective at eliciting a postsynaptic response as a result in recent activity
Long-term depression (LTD)
Process in which synaptic transmission becomes less effective at eliciting a postsynaptic response as a result of recent activity
Glia
Cells that provide functional or structural support to neurons
Oligodendrocytes
Wrap the axons of nearby neurons in myelin, a fatty substance that insulates electrical signals transmitted by neurons
Astrocytes
Glia that line the outer surface of blood vessels in the brain, also take up neurotransmitter after release from neurons; support the blood-brain barrier
Microglia
Play a role in response to brain damage. (Deficits of microglia is observed in Alzheimer’s Parkinson’s and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS))
