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Year 2 Semester 2 Neuroscience > Memory > Flashcards

Memory Flashcards

1
Q

What is the modern understanding of the physical correlate of memory?

A

Memories are stored through biochemical processes that shape neurons.

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2
Q

What are the two main types of memory?

A

Declarative (explicit) memory and procedural (implicit) memory.

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3
Q

Which brain structure is crucial for declarative memory?

A

The hippocampus.

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4
Q

What did the case of Henry Molaison (H.M.) illustrate about memory?

A

It illustrated the difference between declarative memory (impaired) and procedural memory (intact).

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5
Q

What is procedural memory?

A

Memory for skills and habits, expressed through performance without conscious recollection.

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6
Q

What is priming in memory?

A

The improved ability to detect, produce, or classify an item based on a recent encounter with it.

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7
Q

How do researchers study memory in animals?

A

By training animals to perform tasks for rewards and measuring behaviors like navigation and freezing.

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8
Q

What is the significance of the hippocampus in memory?

A

It is essential for forming new declarative memories and spatial navigation

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9
Q

How is memory categorized beyond declarative and procedural types?

A

Explicit (conscious recollection) vs. implicit (unconscious skills), and short-term vs. long-term memory.

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10
Q

What is the role of the striatum in memory?

A

It supports procedural memory and habits.

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11
Q

How does the amygdala contribute to memory?

A

It is involved in fear learning and enhances memory for emotionally arousing events.

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12
Q

How can the prefrontal cortex influence the amygdala?

A

It can modulate the amygdala, allowing for the reversal of fear learning through cognitive processes.

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13
Q

What is the relationship between stress hormones and memory?

A

Stress hormones from the adrenal gland can affect the hippocampus and other brain regions, influencing memory.

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14
Q

What is an example of classical conditioning related to memory?

A

Eye blink conditioning, where a puff of air paired with a beep leads to a conditioned blink response.

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15
Q

What is the difference between short-term and long-term memory?

A

They exist on a continuum, and the distinction is based more on memory load than duration.

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16
Q

What did studies with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients reveal about memory systems?

A

Alzheimer’s patients struggle with declarative memory, while Parkinson’s patients have trouble with procedural memory.

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17
Q

How are declarative memories measured in patients like H.M.?

A

Through tasks involving the recollection of recent facts, object positions, and images.

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18
Q

How can declarative memory be tested in animals?

A

By training animals to navigate mazes or perform tasks for rewards and measuring their ability to recall the correct path or action

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19
Q

What is the role of the cerebellum in memory?

A

It is involved in conditioning and reflexes, such as the eye blink conditioning.

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20
Q

How do animals express fear memory?

A

Through freezing behavior in response to a conditioned stimulus associated with an unpleasant experience.

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21
Q

How is spatial navigation memory studied in humans?

A

Using virtual reality tasks and measuring brain activity with MRI, showing hippocampal activation for spatial strategies and striatal activation for non-spatial strategies.

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22
Q

What is the role of procedural memory in daily activities?

A

It supports repetitive behaviors and skills like brushing teeth and hair.

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23
Q

What is the significance of double dissociation in memory research?

A

It helps distinguish between different types of memory by showing specific impairments in patient groups.

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24
Q

How does emotional state affect memory?

A

Emotional arousal, through the release of stress hormones, can enhance or impair memory depending on the context.

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25
Q

What are some key brain regions involved in non-declarative memory?

A

The striatum, neocortex, amygdala, cerebellum, and brainstem.

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26
Q

How can we study causation in memory formation?

A

Through animal experiments that manipulate brain regions and measure changes in behavior and memory performance.

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27
Q

What did studies of patients with medial temporal lobe lesions reveal about short-term memory?

A

Patients could manage well with a few objects but struggled with more, indicating the load on memory systems.

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28
Q

What is the significance of the neocortex in priming and perceptual learning?

A

It is involved in the improved ability to detect or classify items based on recent encounters.

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29
Q

What type of memory is associated with the basal ganglia?

A

Procedural memory, which is more of a habit-type memory.

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30
Q

What hypothesis did Donald Hebb propose regarding neurons and memory?

A

Hebb’s rule, which states that when an axon of cell A is near enough to excite cell B, or repeatedly or consistently takes part in firing it, some growth or metabolic change increases A’s efficiency in firing B.

31
Q

How is Hebb’s rule often summarized?

A

Neurons that fire together, wire together.”

32
Q

What did researchers observe about hippocampal synapses in the late 1960s and 1970s?

A

Repetitive high-frequency stimulation increased the size of synaptic responses, demonstrating synaptic plasticity.

33
Q

What experiment supported Hebb’s hypothesis that repeated stimulation leads to synaptic growth?

A

High-frequency stimulation (100 times per second) increased the postsynaptic response size.

34
Q

What does the hippocampus process?

A

Complex, high-level information from various brain regions, allowing for associations and memory encoding.

35
Q

How do excitatory and inhibitory neurons contribute to hippocampal plasticity?

A

Excitatory neurons decide whether the message gets relayed, while inhibitory neurons help in timing the activity.

36
Q

What role do NMDA receptors play in synaptic plasticity?

A

NMDA receptors act as coincidence detectors, allowing calcium influx when the cell is depolarized, which triggers molecular changes that enhance synaptic efficacy.

37
Q

What is the significance of high-frequency stimulation in synaptic plasticity?

A

It induces long-lasting changes in synaptic strength, demonstrating a mechanism for information storage in the brain.

38
Q

How is synaptic plasticity studied in vitro?

A

By using hippocampal slices and stimulating and recording from these slices to observe changes in synaptic responses.

39
Q

What does calcium influx through NMDA receptors trigger?

A

Molecular changes that enhance synaptic efficacy, such as the delivery of new AMPA receptors to the synapse.

40
Q

What did a study using human cortical tissue demonstrate about synaptic plasticity?

A

High-frequency stimulation increased synaptic responses, supporting NMDA receptor-dependent plasticity.

41
Q

Are all synaptic plasticity mechanisms NMDA receptor-dependent?

A

No, for example, mossy fiber synapses in the hippocampus exhibit presynaptic short-term plasticity.

42
Q

What is the importance of mossy fiber synapses in the hippocampus?

A

They exhibit presynaptic short-term plasticity, crucial for efficient coding, storage, and recall of information.

43
Q

How does the hippocampus integrate information?

A

By receiving inputs from various brain regions and allowing for complex associations and memory encoding.

44
Q

What role does local protein synthesis play in synaptic plasticity?

A

It contributes to the long-term maintenance of synaptic changes by allowing protein synthesis directly in dendritic spines after plasticity events.

45
Q

What discovery did John O’Keefe and the Mosers make that earned them the Nobel Prize in 2014?

A

They discovered the brain systems in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex that help map the environment.

46
Q

What is a tetrode, and what is its purpose in neuroscience experiments?

A

A tetrode is a type of electrode that measures the activity of many neurons simultaneously and helps distinguish individual neurons.

47
Q

What are place cells, and where are they found?

A

Place cells are neurons in the hippocampus that activate when an animal is in a specific location, helping to create a cognitive map.

48
Q

What is the significance of grid cells in the entorhinal cortex?

A

Grid cells fire in a hexagonal grid pattern, helping to create a spatial map of the environment.

49
Q

How do visual maps aid in memory improvement?

A

Visual maps help chunk information and create spatial cues, enhancing the encoding and retrieval of memories.

50
Q

What is long-term potentiation (LTP), and why is it important?

A

LTP is a long-lasting increase in synaptic strength following high-frequency stimulation, considered a key mechanism underlying learning and memory.

51
Q

How is synaptic plasticity related to learning and memory?

A

Synaptic plasticity involves changes in the strength of synaptic connections, which are believed to encode learning and memory.

52
Q

Describe the habituation and sensitization observed in the gill withdrawal reflex of Aplysia.

A

Habituation is the decreased response to repeated stimulation, while sensitization is the increased response to a stimulus following a noxious stimulus.

53
Q

What role does serotonin play in synaptic plasticity in Aplysia?

A

Serotonin release from facilitatory interneurons activates intracellular signaling pathways, leading to changes in synaptic strength and plasticity.

54
Q

What is an engram, and what are its key characteristics according to Susumu Tonegawa?

A

An engram is the neural substrate responsible for storing and recalling memories. Key characteristics include activation by learning, physical or chemical changes due to learning, and reactivation by retrieval cues.

55
Q

How is the Morris water maze used to study spatial memory in rodents?

A

Rodents are placed in a pool with a hidden platform. Their ability to find the platform over repeated trials is used to assess spatial learning and memory.What happens to rodents’ memory performance in the Morris water maze if the hippocampus is lesioned?

56
Q

What happens to rodents’ memory performance in the Morris water maze if the hippocampus is lesioned?

A

Rodents with hippocampal lesions fail to find the hidden platform and show impaired spatial memory.

57
Q

What is optogenetics, and how is it used in memory research?

A

Optogenetics involves using light to control neurons that have been genetically modified to express light-sensitive ion channels. It is used to activate or inhibit specific neurons to study their role in memory.

58
Q

Describe the experiment by Susumu Tonegawa’s lab using optogenetics and fear conditioning.

A

Mice were trained in different contexts, with neurons active in one context tagged with channelrhodopsin. By activating these neurons with light in a different context, researchers could induce a fear response, demonstrating the role of specific neurons in memory.

59
Q

What are the implications of optogenetics for treating memory-related disorders?

A

Optogenetics could potentially be used to modify or erase traumatic memories, offering a possible treatment for conditions like PTSD.

60
Q

How does Alzheimer’s disease affect memory, and which brain regions are initially involved?

A

Alzheimer’s disease initially affects the hippocampus and cortex, leading to episodic and declarative memory deficits. As the disease progresses, it spreads to other cortical areas, causing more profound memory loss.

61
Q

What is the role of CREB in long-term memory formation?

A

CREB (cAMP response element-binding protein) is a transcription factor that activates the expression of genes involved in synaptic plasticity and long-term memory formation

62
Q

How do the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex interact in memory processing?

A

The entorhinal cortex provides grid-like spatial information to the hippocampus, which integrates this information to form a cohesive spatial map and encode memories.

63
Q

What are the different types of memory and their associated brain regions?

A

Episodic memory (hippocampus and neocortex), procedural memory (basal ganglia and cerebellum), and priming (neocortex).

64
Q

What are the potential benefits and ethical considerations of using optogenetics in human memory research?

A

Benefits include targeted treatment of memory disorders. Ethical considerations involve the potential for misuse and the need for careful regulation of memory modification technologies.

65
Q

Describe the experiment involving lateral amygdala neurons and viral vectors expressing CREB.

A

Neurons in the lateral amygdala were tagged with a viral vector expressing CREB during a fear conditioning task. Later, these neurons could be selectively ablated to test their role in memory retrieval.

66
Q

What was the role of c-Fos in the optogenetics experiment by Susumu Tonegawa’s lab?

A

c-Fos is a gene activated by neuronal activity. Neurons expressing c-Fos were tagged with channelrhodopsin to allow for their selective activation or inhibition during memory retrieval.

67
Q

How does the facilitator interneuron modulate the gill withdrawal reflex in Aplysia?

A

The facilitator interneuron releases serotonin, which activates downstream signaling pathways, leading to changes in synaptic strength and enhanced withdrawal reflex.

68
Q

What is the importance of transcription factors like CREB and c-Fos in memory formation?

A

Transcription factors like CREB and c-Fos activate gene expression necessary for synaptic plasticity and long-term memory formation.

69
Q

What is the significance of the probe test in the Morris water maze experiment?

A

The probe test assesses memory retrieval by measuring the time rodents spend in the area where the platform was previously located, indicating their spatial memory.

70
Q

Explain the concept of a memory trace or engram and its significance in neuroscience.

A

A memory trace or engram is the neural substrate that stores and recalls memories. It is significant because it provides a physical basis for understanding how memories are formed and retrieved.

71
Q

What are silent engrams, and why are they important in memory research?

A

Silent engrams are memory traces that exist but are not currently active or retrievable. They are important because they suggest that some memories may be stored but not accessible, offering potential for recovery in conditions like dementia.

72
Q

What experimental strategies link synaptic plasticity and memory?

A

Strategies include lesion studies, pharmacological interventions, optogenetics, and viral vector tagging to manipulate and observe changes in specific neurons or brain regions during memory tasks.

73
Q

What is the role of calcium in synaptic plasticity?

A

Calcium is crucial for activating intracellular signaling pathways that lead to synaptic changes, such as the activation of CREB and other molecules involved in long-term potentiation.

74
Q
A

Year 2 Semester 2 Neuroscience (6 decks)

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