Section 5 Flashcards
Learning and Memory
Learning and memory may be referred to as different aspects of the same
neuroplasticity
Lashley’s experiments with rats concluded that
mnemonic functions are diffusely and equally represented in the brain
Thompson’s studies on classical conditioning demonstrated
the association between a neural stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus; pairing the two changes the response to the formerly neural stimulus called a conditioned response
Studies of eyeblink conditioning in rabbits determine that the _____ is the enegram for this memory
cerebellum
Atkinson & Shiffrin’s Memory Model demonstrates
there are three stages of memory; beginning with sensory input => sensory register => short-term storage => long-term memory
Different types of memory
Sensory memory
Short-term
Long-Term
Working Memory
Sensory memory
a copy of sensory info that you have just processed; very short lasting
thought to be “stored” in the associated primary sensory areas
Short-Term Memory
immediate or primary memory
words you have just seen or heard; short lasting
limited capacity
Working Memory
mental arithmetic; “online storage” of info while working with it or attending to it
severely limited capacity
Long-Term Memory
secondary or permanent memory; long-lasting with rehearsal
virtually unlimited capacity
Why is rehearsal important for long-term memory?
Rehearsal creates synapses
Consolidation of long-term memories
Short-term => Long-Term
emotional responses can enhance consolidation
Different types of LTM
explicit (episodic and semantic) - knowing facts
implicit - knowing how
Working memory is typically best in what population?
Adolescents and young adults
STM and Working memory are thought to be mediated by
the prefrontal cortex
Interactions between the hippocampus and neocortex produce what kind of memory?
Episodic
Interactions between the basil ganglia, cerebellum, and neocortex produce what kind of memory and learning?
procedural memory, classical conditioning, and semantic memory
Interactions between the parahippocampal gyrus and neocortex produce what kind of memory and learning?
familiarity and priming
How can we experimentally distinguish between STM and LTM?
Nature of representation
Stability/Duration
Capacity
Brain Region
Explicit memory is associated with which brain region
medial temporal
Implicit memory is associated with which brain region
neocortex
What is amnesia?
the inability to retain information for longer than a few minutes. Typically considered long-term memory impairment
Amnesia is caused by
damage to parts of the brain vital to memory consolidation, storage, processing, and recall
The effects of amnesia vary by
brain region
What did the H.M. case study illustrate about H.M.’s post-surgery abilities?
after having the hippocampus, amygdala, and adjacent cortex removed his STM was normal but his LTM was damaged. He could not form memories for new events so he had anterograde amnesia, more specifically explicit memory deficit
H.M.’s case demonstrated
there are small regions (medial temporal lobes) with different effects therefore mnemonic functions are NOT equally represented; first evidence that there are different kinds of memory
The process involved in the different modes of storage for STM and LTM is referred to as
memory consolidation
Issues with memory consolidation
inability to transfer the information in STM to LTM
How is explicit memory used in our behavioral control?
explicit memory provides flexibility and control over our behavior; it allows you to apply learned skills in any context
Which kind of amnesia does H.M. have?
Explicit memory Deficit
Anterograde Amnesia
H.M. had particular trouble with which kind of LTM?
Memory for new events
Memory consolidation
We know that H.M.’s implicit memory is intact because of his performance on which tests?
Mirror-drawing and Rotary-pursuit tests
Korsakoff’s Syndrome
thiamine deficiency due to chronic alcohol consumption; related to retrograde and anterograde amnesia due to damage to the medial diencephalon and PFC
PFC memory deficits
damage to the PFC associated with temporal ordering and working memory (e.g. Schizophrenia); poor performance on self-ordering task and remembering sequences of events
Alzheimer’s disease is caused by
acetylcholine and extensive neural degeneration
What have we learned from studying people with amnesia?
many different kinds of memory, modes or memory, and different brain regions associated with memory
What are the limitations of studying amnesia?
Lesions are not specific, findings may not be generalizable, difficult to control
Amnesia is always a short-term memory deficit (True/False)
False
Amnesia is usually has deep retrograde effects (True/False)
False. It is very uncommon to completely forget childhood
Amnesia does not involve problems with learning after injury (True/False)
False. Anterograde impairment is a common form of amnesia
Animal studies of MTL function demonstrate
monkeys with lesions have normal performance at short delays but perform at chance levels with longer delays compared to control monkeys
Which part of the MTL is really important for object recognition?
Rhinal cortex seems to play a more critical role in object recognition
Hippocampus seems to play a critical role in remembering _____ and _____
spatial locations; navigating through space
How does the hippocampus represent spatial information?
place cells found in the hippocampus fire more when the animal is in a specific location allowing you to create maps of the environment
