Memory and Cognition Flashcards
What does cognition relate to?
The highest order of brain function
Behaviour that deals with thought processing
Simply the integration of all sensory information to make sense of a situation
What is neuronal plasticity?
The ability of central neurons to adapt their neuronal connecting in response to learning experiences
What are the 3 components of learning and memory?
Hippocampus
Cortex
Thalamus
Where are memories formed?
Hippocampus
Where are memories stored?
Cortex
Where are memories searched for and accessed?
Thalamus
What are memories formed by?
Limbic system
What are the 4 distinct areas of the cortex?
Hypothalamus
Hippocampus
Cingulate gyrus
Amygdala
What is the limbic system responsible for?
o instinctive behaviour, eg drives for thirst, sex, hunger etc. but also important in emotive behaviour which in turn are drive by seeking reward or avoiding punishment.
Stimulation of what areas in the limbic system give intsense feeling of well being, euphoria and sexual arousal?
Reward ares
What are punishment areas?
Areas that when stimulated give feeling of elicit terror, anger or pain
What does memory recall depend on?
the significance of the event
What is central to learning and the formation of memories?
Hippocampus
What are the divisions of memory?
Immediate or Sensory
Short term
Intermediate long term memory
Long term memory
What is immediate or sensory memory?
Describes the ability to hold experiences in the mind for a few seconds. Based on different sensory modalities.
Which sensory memories decay the fastest and slowest?
Fastest - visual
Slowest - auditory
What is short term memory?
Used for short term tasks such as dialling a phone number, mental arithmetic, reading a sentence. Associated with reverberating circuits.
What is intermediate memory?
Memory of hours to weeks e.g. what you did last weekend. Associated with chemical adaptation at the presynaptic terminal.
What is long term memory?
Memory of hours to lifetime. e.g. where you grew up and your childhood friends. Associated with structural changes in synaptic connections.
What does short term memory depend on?
Maintained excitation from reverberating circuits - needing constantly refreshed
Is each synapse at a reverberating pathway inhibitory?
No excitatory
If deemed significant what happens to the reverberating pathway?
It becomes consolidated and results in long term memory storage
If deemed insignificant what happens to the reverberating pathway?
reverberation fades and no consolidation occurs.
What is anterograde amnesia?
Inability to recall events following the injury
Or create new memories
What is retrograde amnesia?
Retrograde amnesia occurs when a person is unable to access memories of events that happened in the past, prior to the precipitating injury or disease that caused the loss.
What does immediate long term memory involve?
Chemical changes in presynaptic neurons
Increasing Ca + entry to presynaptic terminals strengthening the synapse
What structural changes are required at synapses to form long term memories?
- Increase in NT release sites on presynaptic membrane.
- Increase in number of NT vesicles stored and released.
- Increase in number of presynaptic terminals
What are the 2 main types of long term memory?
Declarative/explicit
Procedural/implicit
What is explicit long term memory?
Abstract memory for events (episodic memory) and for words, rules and language (semantic memory).
Declarative as you can recall the information
What is procedural long term memory?
Acquired slowly through repetition. Includes motor memory for acquired motor skills such as playing tennis, and rules based learning such as, in the UK, always driving on the left.
Where is implicit memory mainly base?
Cerebellum
How is short term memory converted to long term memory?
Consolidation
How does consolidation occur?
Consolidation involves selective strengthening of synaptic connections through repetition (for minutes to hours). Repeat a number and you can encode it into your long term memory.
During the consolidation process what do memories exist as?
Electrical activity
What happens to new memories?
They are coded
Where are new memories stored/
Sensory and association areas in the cortex
Where are different components of memory laid down?
different parts of the cortex, eg visual component in the visual cortex, auditory in auditory cortex, etc.
How is olfactory stimuli relayed?
relayed from the olfactory tract through the amygdala and hippocampus to the prefrontal cortex where they can be acknowledged. The route through the limbic system, and hippocampus
What are the amygdala considered to be part of?
Limbic system
What deficiency is present in Korsakoff’s syndrome?
Vitamin B1
What is the consequence of Korsakoff’s syndrome?
There is damage of the limbic system structures
the ability to consolidate memory is impared
What is the simplistic cause of alzheimer’s disease?
disease where there is a severe loss of cholinergic neurons throughout the brain, including the hippocampus. Gross impairment of memory.
What type of sleep is important for memory?
REM sleep
Which area of the limbic system is associated with ANS response
Hypothalamus
which are of the limbic system is associated with memory
hippocampus
which area of the limbic system is associated with emotion
Cingulate gyrus and amygdala
Order of papez circuit
Hippocampus
Mammillary bodies
Anterior thalamus
Cingulate gyrus
