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Mind, Brain and Behavior > Test 3: Cellular Mechanisms of Learning and Memory > Flashcards

Test 3: Cellular Mechanisms of Learning and Memory Flashcards

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1
Q

Permanent changes in behavior caused by experience

Information acquisition process

A

Learning

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2
Q

Storage and retrieval processes

A

Memory

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3
Q

Ramon y Cajal

A

Learning is a synaptic event

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4
Q

What is both necessary and sufficient to explain behavioral change?

A

change in a specific neurotransmitter’s action at a specific location

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5
Q

nonassociative learning

2 types

A

organism interacts with a single repeating stimulus

habituation

sensitization

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6
Q

habituation

A

a decrease in response to a unchanging and repeating stimulus

you begin ignoring a meaningless signal

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7
Q

sensitization

A

increase in response to a repeating stimulus

caused by changing something about the stimulus like intensity or modality

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8
Q

associative learning

A

an organism associates a previously neutral stimulus with a response that is normally generated by another previously learned cue

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9
Q

Types of associative learning

A

Classical/Pavlovian Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

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10
Q

operant conditioning

example

A

organism learns through reward and punishment to respond to a stimulus with a given behavior

rat pressing lever for food or to stop a shock

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11
Q

How has habituation and sensitization been studied in babies?

Describe experiment

A

Sucking behavior

Sensor is put in pacifier that produces a tracing

Baby would stop sucking at the 1st tone, then become habituated to it and start sucking again after hearing it 9/10 times

Stopped sucking again when a second tone with a different sound was played

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12
Q

Type of sea slug used in learning and memory research

Who won the Nobel Prize for this work

A

Aplysia

Eric Kandel

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13
Q

What mechanism/process is vital for the aplysia’s survival?

A

Gill-Withdrawal Reflex (GWR)

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14
Q

Describe the Gill-Withdrawal Reflex in Aplysia

A

In calm waters it extends its gills to breath

If for some reason the siphon is disturbed it will withdraw the gill to protect it

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15
Q

Which single ganglion controls gill-withdrawal

A

abdominal ganglion

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16
Q

Describe the two ways sensory neurons can be in contact with motor neurons

A

Directly via excitatory synapses

Indirectly via interneurons

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17
Q

siphon

A

small fleshy tube

used to expel sea water and internal waste

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18
Q

What do sensory neurons from the siphon do and what does that action then initiate?

A

Excite motorneurons: causes the gill and siphon to be withdrawn into the internal mantle cavity

Excite an interneuron: it secretes serotonin and that enhances the response of the motoneurons to the sensory stimulation

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19
Q

What happens when the GWR begins to habituate?

A

Sensory neurons begin to release less neurotransmitters which means less sensory activation to the motor neurons

Behavior is performed less vigorously or not at all

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20
Q

How many stimulations are needed for the reflex to habituate and how long can that last?

A

10 stimulations

Hours

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21
Q

What type of learning is habituation considered to be and why?

A

Short term learning because it comes on quickly and lasts for a short period of time

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22
Q

What is short term learning the result of?

A

A specific change that takes place at the synapse between sensory neurons and motoneurons

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23
Q

What happens to neurons with sensitization?

A

The effectiveness of synaptic transmission is enhhanced

This means more neurotransmitter is released

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24
Q

Describe what happens to the GWR during sensitization

3 steps

A
  1. Starts with an electrical stimulation of the connections between the abdominal ganglion and the head ganglion
  2. This increases the amount of neurotransmitters released by sensory nerves
    1. This increase counteracts any previously induced habituation of the reflex
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25
Q

How long can the sensitization of the GWR last?

What does this indicate about the process?

A

between several minutes to hours

It is a short term adaptation

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26
Q

What also happens to the GWR with sensitizing stimulation? 3 steps

A

The interneuron that secretes serotonin is activated

Serotonin release causes increase in the levels of cAMP in sensory neurons

This therefore enhances the motorneuron’s response to sensory stimulation

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27
Q

Habituation and sensitization are primarily ________ phenomenon

A

Presynaptic

28
Q

What is the “simplest” kind of learning and why?

A

Non associative learning like habituation and sensitization because they do not require the organism to make an association between one event or stimulus an another

29
Q

Identify the four classical conditioning component’s with Pavlov’s dogs

A

Conditioned response: salivation

Conditioned stimulus: bell

Unconditioned stimulus: food

Unconditioned response: salivation

30
Q

4 classical conditioning components of GWR

A

Conditioned response: gill withdrawal

Conditioned stimulus: light touch

Unconditioned stimulus: shock to the tail

Unconditioned response gill withdrawal

31
Q

Associative learning is a _________ phenomenon

A

postsynaptic

32
Q

Relationship between the associative/classically conditioned GWR and non associative sensitization

A

Post synaptic vs. pre synaptic: the former is an extension of the latter

Both types of learning are represented by increase of cAMP

33
Q

cAMP

A

cyclic adenosine monophosphate

34
Q

What contributes to the association between the conditioned and unconditioned stimulus

A

Increased levels of cAMP and Ca2+ (calcium)

They both induce synaptic efficiency

Increase in these synergize and initiate enduring changes in synaptic efficiency for the duration of the conditioned response

35
Q

What kind of changes do cAMP and Ca2+ cause

What kind of phenomenon

A

long-lasting changes in the way the motoneuron responds (which is post-synaptic)

36
Q

Metabotropic receptors

3 steps

A

Receptor is attatched to a portion of the signal protein outside of the neuron

G protein is attatched to part of signal protein on the inside

A sub unit of the G protein breaks off into the neuron and either (1) binds to an ion channel (2) stimulates a second messenger

37
Q

What triggers the G protein activation in a metabotropic receptor?

A

neurotransmitter (“first messenger”) binds to the receptor

38
Q

Describe the 2 results of subunit activation in metabotropic receptor

A
  1. Þ subunit binds to an ion channel that causes it to have a structural change that allows ions to pass through
  2. Þ binds to an enzyme that activates a 2nd messenger (like cAMP, for example)
39
Q

scientific name for the fruit fly

A

drosophila melanogastor

40
Q

What did fruit fly studies reveal?

A

cAMP is necessary for learning

regulation of cAMP and Ca2+ has also been found to be a key component of basic learning in mammals

41
Q

Kandal

A

Memory is centered on the synapses

Changes in synaptic function form different types of memory

42
Q

Weak stimuli vs. strong stimuli

A

Weak stimuli cause certain synaptic changes that are the basis for STM (last minutes-hours)

Strong stimuli cause synaptic changes that are basis for LTM (weeks or longer)

43
Q

nictitating membrane

A

in rabbits

extra internal eyelid to protect cornea

44
Q

How can mammalian animal studies increase our knowledge about the brain?

A

Observe animal during learning and memory tests which can show us where in the brain learning events occur

45
Q

What kind of knowledge did researchers know before the rabbit study

A

Circuits for hearing a tone (CS) and the response (UR) to a puff of air in the eye (US)

Then observed how they associated neuroanatomically to produce a conditioned response

46
Q

How does the unconditioned response in the rabbit study enter circuitry

A

Air puff is applied to cornea and enters through the sensory fibers of the trigeminal nerve

47
Q

Where must synaptic adaptations occur in order for the conditioned stimulus to illicit the conditioned response?

A

Between cerebellar cortex neurons and their specific targets

48
Q

What has been identified as the critical site for producing an associative response and where is it

A

interpositus neucleus

it is one of the deep cerebellar nuclei

49
Q

Hippocampus and cerebellum in associative learning

A

possible connection between the two may mean the cerebellum stores some associative memories

hippocampus may be learning the context of the conditions for the sensory event that causes the nictitating membrane to move

50
Q

Hebb on LTM

A

changes in synaptic efficiency are the basis for long term memory

51
Q

What strengthens synapses through repeated stimulation

A

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

52
Q

Proccesses of LTP

A
  1. One or more neurons bombard some dendrites with a short but fast series of stimulation (ex: 100 synaptic excitations per second for 1-4 seconds)
  2. This burst of intense stimulation leaves some synapses potentiated for minutes, days, or weeks
53
Q

What happens when a synapse is potentiated

A

it is more responsive to new input of the same type

54
Q

What 3 properties of LTP make it a strong candidate for the cellular basis of learning and memory?

A
  1. Specificity - only the active synapses on a cell become strengthened
  2. Cooperativity - stimulation at the same time by 2 or more axons produces LTP more strongly than just 1
  3. Associativity - pairing weak input with strong input enhances a later response to the weak input
55
Q

Who’s theory does the process of LTP support?

A

Hebb

56
Q

How long can LTP last?

A

Many weeks

57
Q

When does LTP only occur?

A

If pre synaptic firing is followed by post-synaptic firing

58
Q

Hebb’s “postulate” for learning

A

The co-occurence of firing in pre- and post-synaptic cells is neccessary for learning and memory

59
Q

What do the levels of stimulation that elicit LTP resemble?

A

normal neural activity

60
Q

Where are LTP effects greatest?

A

Brain areas involved in learning and memory

61
Q

How do drugs that impact learning work?

A

They have parallel effects on LTP

62
Q

3 LTP pathways

A
  1. Entorhinal cortex to granule cells on dentate nucleus
  2. Dentate granule cells to CA3 pyramidal neurons
  3. CA3 to CA1 pyramidal neurons
63
Q

What underlies the long term changes of LTP

A

protein-synthesis

64
Q

What do hippocampal slices show increased synthesis of during LTP

A

PKM Zeta

65
Q

PKM Zeta is __________ for maintaining LTP

A

necessary and sufficient

66
Q

If the post-synaptic neuron is NOT depolarized when glutamate binds to its receptors….

A

NMDA receptors only allow in a few calcium ions

No LTP is produced

67
Q

If the post-synaptic neuron is depolarized when glutamate binds to its receptors

A

NMDA receptors allow many calcium ions to enter

LTP occurs because protein kinases in the cytoplasm are activated

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