Memory and Learning Flashcards
Amnesia
Severe memory impairment
Retrograde amnesia
Loss of memories formed before onset of amnesia
Anterograde amnesia
Inability to form memories after onset of a disorder. Pts with this type of amnesia can learn to read mirror-reversed text, verbal task
What structures of the brain are important for declarative memory?
Hippocampus
Mammillary bodies
Dorsomedial thalamus
Damage to the medial diencephalon can cause
Amnesia
Brain damage can destroy autobiographical memories while
Sparing general memories
Declarative memory
Facts and information acquired through learning that can be stated or described, used to answer “what” questions
Nondeclarative (procedural) memory
Shown by performance rather than recollection, used to answer “how” questions
Medial temporal lobe damage causes damage to
Delayed nonmatching to sample task- test of object recognition memory that requires only declaring what they remember
Long term memory has vast capacity but is
Subject to distortion
Plastic changes at synapses can be
Physiological or structural
Invertebrate nervous systems show
Synaptic plasticity
Classical conditioning relies on circuits in the
Mammalian cerebellum
Karsakoff’s syndrome is
Degenerative disease of memory deficiency caused by damage to mammillary bodies due to lack of thiamine
Seen in chronic alcoholism and conditions with Alzheimer’s disease
Form one part of a pathway for forming declarative memories
Mammillary bodies
Damage to any one of the regions on this pathway will result in anterograde amnesia
Sensory processing in cortex–> Parahippocampal, entorhinal perirhinal cortex–> Hippocampus–> Medial diencephalon, including mammillary bodies–> Declarative memory storage in cortex
What receptors collaborate in LTP
NMDA receptors and AMPA receptors
Declarative memory
Semantic and Episodic memory
Semantic memory
Generalized declarative memory
Episodic memory
Detailed autobiographical memory
KC could form new
Semantic memories but not episodic memories
The processes of memory system
Encoding
Consolidation
Retrieval
Different types of nondeclarative memory
In instrumental conditioning- operant conditioning an association is made between a behavior- instrument response- consequences of the behavior- reward
Henry Molaison provided
Critical information about neural mechanisms of memory in humans.
What was removed from Henry Molaison
Bilateral removal of medial temporal lobe structures he lost the ability to form new declarative memories- involving the conscious recollection of events and information
He did retain the ability to form nondeclarative memories- the ability to perform a new behavior is acquired
Long term memory can be divided into
Declarative memory- facts and information that can be “declared” to others
Nondeclarative memory- demonstrated by performance than conscious recollection
Declarative memories can be measured in
Monkeys
What did pt N.A suffer from
Anterograde amnesia- result of a diencephalic injury
Larger temporal diencephalic system appears to be important for
Declarative memory
Pts with Korsakoff’s syndrome exhibit a characteristic amnesia due to
Diencephalic and frontal lobe deterioration
Kent Cochrane lost
Autobiographical memory- following brain trauma, supporting the view that the semantic and episodic (autobiographical) forms of declarative memories seem to involve separable neural substrates
Type of learning in which an associated is formed between two stimuli or a stimuli and response
Included classical conditioning and instrumental (operant) conditioning
Associative learning
Type of learning in which presentation of a particular stimulus alters the strength or probability of a response and includes habitation
Nonassociative learning
Fleeting and represent the contents of sensory buffers
Iconic memories
Short term memories
Range from seconds to hours
Long term memories
May last for many years- believed to be prominent memories
*especially when a memorable event has a strong emotional connection
Treatment with ______ may be able to prevent PTSD in people subjected to server trauma
Adrenergic antagonists
Acquisition of skill depends on the
Basal Ganglia and sensorimotor learning, also involves the cerebellum and motor cortex
Eye blinking condition involves the
Cerebellum
Enriched condition (EC) rats exhibit increases in
Biochemical activity, dendritic branching, synaptic contacts and overall size of brain regions
Plasticity is evident in the nervous system of
Aplysia- offers the advantages of relative simplicity and the presence of identifiable neurons
Training of the Aplysia has demonstrated
Changes in synaptic number and function associated with learning
Research on eye blink conditioning had led of a
A complete neural circuit for this form of learning
Eye blinking conditioning a CS (tone) and US(corneal stimulation) becomes associated in
Cerebellar circuit that is superordinate to the basic reflect circuit for eye blinking
Long term potentiation (LTP)
Lasting increase in the magnitude of responses of neurons subsequent to afferent stimulation by high frequency bursts of electricity
LTP depends on the activation of
NMDA receptors- induce an increase in the number of postsynaptic AMPA receptors- greater neurotransmitter release
Cellular changes in LTP also appear to involve signaling by
Retrograde messengers
LTP is the only mechanism in memory formation
Does not yet exist
Characteristics of LTP resemble those of
Memory formation
