Module 13.1

Question 1

Describe the relationship among the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli and the unconditioned and conditioned responses in classical conditioning.

Answer 1

The conditioned stimulus is presented first (though it is not conditioned yet). Then the unconditioned stimulus is presented, which causes the unconditioned response. After repeated pairing of the conditioned and unconditioned stimulus, the individual begins making a new response to the conditioned stimulus called the conditioned response.

Question 2

What is the fundamental difference between classical and operant conditioning?

Answer 2

in operant conditioning, the outcome depends on the individual’s response. In classical conditioning the CS and UCS occur at certain times regardless of the individual’s behavior

Question 3

Define reinforcement in terms of operant conditioning.

Answer 3

any event that increases the future probability of the response

Question 4

Define punishment in terms of operant conditioning.

Answer 4

an event that suppresses the frequency of the response

Question 5

Why is bird song learning so difficult to classify?

Answer 5

The bird hears the song of his own species and imitates it. The song was not paired with any other stimulus, as in classical conditioning and he learned the song without reinforcers or punishments, so it isn’t operant conditioning either.

Question 6

What is an engram?

Answer 6

a physical representation of what has been learned

Question 7

What did Lashley discover in his search for the engram?

Answer 7

that the location of the cut is not important, but the amount of cortex destroyed was. So there isn’t a specific specific area that memory and learning rely on.

Question 8

What brain area was found by Richard F Thompson to be important for classical conditioning of the eye-blink response in rabbits?

Answer 8

The LIP in the cerebellum

Question 9

What are was important for the expression of the motor response, but not for initial conditioning?

Answer 9

red nucleus

Question 10

Which areas showed increased activity on PET scans during eye-blink conditioning in humans?

Answer 10

red nucleus, cerebellum, and other areas

Question 11

Define short-term memory.

Answer 11

memory of an event that just happened

Question 12

Define long-term memory.

Answer 12

memory of an event that is not currently held in attention

Question 13

What is the delayed response task?

Answer 13

animal must respond on the basis of a signal that it remembers, but is no longer present

Question 14

What brain area seems especially important for the delayed response task?

Answer 14

prefrontal cortex

Question 15

Describe prefrontal cortex activity in older adults with declining memory.

Answer 15

They have declining activity in the prefrontal cortex.

Question 16

Why were H.M.’s hippocampi removed bilaterally?

Answer 16

Because of evidence that epilepsy originates in the hippocampus, so they removed it from both hemispheres

Question 17

How successful was H.M.’s treatment?

Answer 17

it was successful in treating his epilepsy

Question 18

What were the side effects of H.M.’s surgery?

Answer 18

emotional placidity and developed an inability to form new memories (anterograde amnesia) and also had some retrograde amnesia

Question 19

What is the difference between retrograde and anterograde amnesia?

Answer 19

Anterograde amnesia is when the person can’t form any new memories. Retrograde amnesia is when the person loses memories from before the brain damage.

Question 20

What amnesia is more evident in H.M.?

Answer 20

anterograde amnesia

Question 21

Distinguish between declarative and procedural memory.

Answer 21

Declarative memory is memory that a person can state in words. Procedural memory is the memory of how to do something.

Question 22

Is declarative or procedural memory more impaired in H.M.?

Answer 22

declarative

Question 23

What is a test for procedural memory?

Answer 23

*

Question 24

For what three types of memory is the hippocampus hypothesized to be important?

Answer 24

Delcarative memory, spatial memory, and context of memories

Question 25

Judging from the work with amnesia patients, what is the major function of the hippocampus?

Answer 25

long-term declarative memory (consolidation)

Question 26

Describe the delayed-matching-to-sample and delayed-nonmatching-to-sample tasks.

Answer 26

Delayed matching-to-sample task is when an animal sees an object (the sample) and then, after a delay, gets a choice between two objects, from which is must choose the one that matches the sample. The delayed-nonmatching-to-sample task is the same as the delayed mathcing-to-sample task except they have to pick a different object than the one presented.

Question 27

Damage to what structure impairs performance on the delayed matching-to-sample task and the delayed-nonmatching-to-sample task.

Answer 27

hippocampus

Question 28

What type of memory is tested by the radial maze and the Morris search?

Answer 28

spatial memory

Question 29

What two kinds of errors can rats make in the radial maze?

Answer 29

entering a never-correct arm or entering a correct arm twice

Question 30

What type of error do rats make after damage to the hippocampus?

Answer 30

enter a correct arm twice

Question 31

Describe the Morris Search Task.

Answer 31

A rat must swim through murky water to find a rest platform that is just under the surface

Question 32

What deficits in this task are seen in hippocampally-damaged rats?

Answer 32

it learns to find the platform if it always starts from the same place and the rest platform is always in the same place, but if the starting point or the rest plaform are moved, the rat is disoriented

Question 33

What is context learning?

Answer 33

details of an event (or of learning something?)

Question 34

Describe the effects of stress on memory.

Answer 34

Stressful (or emotionally exiting) events cause epinephrine and cortisol to be released. Cortisol activates the amygdala and hippocampus, where they enhance the storage and consolidation of recent experiences. The amygdala in turn stimulates the hippocampus and cerebral cortex, which are both important for memory storage. But prolonged stress impairs memory.

Question 35

What is the “autobiographical memory bump”?

Answer 35

the ages from which people remember the most events for

Question 36

When does the”autobiographical memory bump” occur?

Answer 36

age 10 to age 30

Question 37

What is the immediate cause of Korsakoff’s syndrome?

Answer 37

prolonged thiamine deficiency

Question 38

What are the symptoms of Korsakoff’s syndrome?

Answer 38

apathy, confusion, memory loss, and confabulation

Question 39

In what groups of people does Korsakoff’s syndrome usually occur?

Answer 39

chronic alcoholics

Question 40

Which brain areas show neuronal loss in Korsakoff’s syndrome?

Answer 40

dorsomedial thalamus and frontal cortex

Question 41

What is confabulation?

Answer 41

when you make stuff up to fill in memory gaps

Question 42

What is the best way for most people to learn lists? What about people with Korsakoff’s syndrome?

Answer 42

For most people, the best way to learn lists is to read the list and then test yourself. People with Korsakoff’s syndrome learn much better by reading the list over and over, because if they test themselves, they tend to confabulate.

Question 43

Describe the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

Answer 43

Memory loss, confusion, dpression, psychosis, restlessness, sleeplessness, hallucinations and delusions, and loss of apetite

Question 44

Why are some cases of Alzheimer’s disease thought to be related to a gene on chromosome 21?

Answer 44

People with Down syndrome (who have a mutation on chromosome 21) almost always get Alzheimer’s disease.

Question 45

What is amyloid precursor protein?

Answer 45

A protein caused by the genese controlling early-onset Alzheimer’s that damages axons and dendrites.

Question 46

What other protein is implicated in Alzheimer’s disease? What is its normal function?

Answer 46

Tau protein; it’s normal function is supporting structure of neurons

Question 47

What are two temporary means of alleviating Alzheimer’s disease?

Answer 47

stimulating acetylcholine receptors or prolonging acetylcholine release (with drugs)

Question 48

What dietary factors may be preventative?

Answer 48

decreasing amyloid-beta production by increased consumption of antioxidants and curcumin

Question 49

What have we learned about memory from amnesic patients?

Answer 49

People do not lose all aspects of memory equally

Question 50

What brain area is most important for fear learning?

Answer 50

amygdala

Question 51

Describe the symptoms of damage to the parietal lobe.

Answer 51

impairs a person’s ability to associate one piece of information with another when recalling events

Question 52

Describe the symptoms of damage to the anterior and inferior temporal lobe.

Answer 52

suffer semantic dementia. which is a loss of semantic memory

Question 53

Distinguish between the roles of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the orbitofrontal cortex in reward learning.

Answer 53

The ventromedial prefrontal cortex responds based on what reward is expected, based on past experiences. The orbitofrontal cortex respond based on how that reward compares to other possible choices.

Question 54

Describe the characteristics of the neurons in the prefrontal cortex in people likely to gamble.

Answer 54

show greater prefrontal cortex reactions than other do when they incur disappointments or losses

Question 55

Describe the relationship between birds’ dependence on finding previously hidden food and the size of the hippocampus.

Answer 55

The more a bird depends on finding previously hidden food (because of altitude of habitat), the larger the hippocampus.