Memory

Question 1

neuroplastic processes

Answer 1

memory and learning

Question 2

what brain region is affected when you suffer from amnesia?

Answer 2

medial temporal lobe

- episodic memory

Question 3

Patient H.M.

Answer 3

medial portions of his temporal lobe removed (hippocampus and amygdala)

anterograde amnesia - severely effected
retrograde amnesia - moderately effected

digit span = normal (6 items)

Question 4

assessment of H.M.

Answer 4

5 tests: 2 LTM deficit, 3 show subconscious memory

digit span + 1 = verbal LTM - could only repeat 8 digits (normal = 15)

block tapping memory span test (other sensory modalities) - couldn’t learn 6 blocks

mirror drawing task (sensorimotor task) = improved with more goes

incomplete picture test (non sensorimotor) = ordered images in sketchiness (improved)

pavlovian conditioning = eye blinking to jet of air combined with a tone. tone elicited blink

Question 5

global amnesia

Answer 5

affects all modalities

Question 6

remote memories

Answer 6

distant past

Question 7

explicit memory

Answer 7

semantic - general facts or information

episodic - autobiographical information (ones own life events)

Question 8

Patient K.C.

Answer 8

medial temporal lobe damage

severe amnesia but cognitive abilities fine (chess, language, organ)

fine semantic memory
poor episodic

Question 9

global cerebral ischemia

Answer 9

interception of blood supply to the brain = medial temporal load damage

Question 10

Patient R.B

Answer 10

global cerebral ischemia

pyramidal layer of hippocampus (CA1 subfield)

Question 11

transient global amnesia

Answer 11

sudden onset without any evidence or damage
found to be abnormalities in CA1 subfield
cleared 10 days after the attack

Question 12

korsakoff syndrome (Patient N.A.)

Answer 12

disorder of memory for those who have consumed a lot of alcohol

deficiency in thiamine
damage to neocortex, cerebellum and hippocampus

lesions to medial diencephalon

anterograde amnesia for explicit episodic memories for 2 years up the event - reduced to 2 weeks

would occasionally remember specific irrelevant new memories

Question 13

monkey model of object recognition

Answer 13

delayed non-matching to sample test

with medial temporal lobectomies struggle with this
model of H.M.

hippocampal damage

Question 14

delayed non-matching task in rats

Answer 14

mumby box
hippocampus, amygdala, medial temporal cortex = severe memory retention deficits

only moderate deficits when the hippocampus is removed
amygdala has no affect on its own

Question 15

rodent spatial memory

Answer 15

when hippocampus is removed, spatial abilities are sseverely affected

morris water maze
radial arm maze

Question 16

place cells

Answer 16

respond when a person is in a specific location

response depends on grid cells

Question 17

entorhinal cortex

Answer 17

area of medial temporal cortex which contains grid cells

Question 18

grid cells

Answer 18

evenly spaced place field cells

distance between the cells is flexible

Question 19

head direction cells

Answer 19

location of head

Question 20

border cells

Answer 20

borders of environment

Question 21

Hebb

Answer 21

long term potentiation - cells that fire together wire together

Question 22

where is LTP conducted

Answer 22

pyramidal and granule cells of the hippocampus

Question 23

key properties of LTP

Answer 23

lasts for a long time

develops only if presynaptic firing is followed by post

Question 24

Hebb’s postulate learning

Answer 24

cooccurance

Question 25

process of LTP

Answer 25

induction - high frequency stimulation induce LTP (learning)

maintenance - changed responsible for storing LTP (memory)

expression - changes allow it to be expressed in a text (recall)

Question 26

Calcium

Answer 26

NMDA ionotropic receptors - can turn genes on to create new receptors (protein synthesis)

Question 27

nitric oxide

Answer 27

thought to mediate presynaptic neuron

Question 28

induction of LTP

Answer 28

Learning

NMDA receptors (glutamate) found at synapses responsible for LTP
glutamate must bind to it
post synaptic neuron must be depolarised (so calcium ions can enter)
calcium triggers AP

Question 29

LTP maintenance and expression

Answer 29

dendritic spines (calcium ions that enter don’t readily pass out)

structural changes (protein synthesis - more synapses, more receptors)

transcription factors (intracellular protiens that bind to DNA and influence a gene - to produce structural changes)

nitric oxide - signal passes back to presynaptic neuron

Question 30

LTD

Answer 30

long term depression - opposite of LTP