WEEK 5 - The Cellular basis of learning and memory Flashcards
Learnign
the process of acquiring new information
what were the three conditions involved in the rat study regarding the effect of the environment on the brain
standard condition - normal cage
impoverished (or isolated) condition - less things in cage
enriched condition - more thingsi n cage
what was the findings of the rat study regarding the effect of the environment on the brain
rats in the enriched condition had heavier and thicker cortexes. larger cortical synapse and also increased growth in dendrites
what is environmental enrichment?
the brain grows and changes as a consequence of the environment. Evidence suggests long-term changes in brain structures occur as a result of experience
non-associative learning?
inolves a single stimulus presented once or repeated
associative learning
learning about connections or relationships between events
what are the two types of non-associative learning?
habituation and sensitization
what is habituation
decreased response to repeated presentations of a stimulus
sensitization
prior strong stimulation icnrease response to most stimuli
what is involved in non-assicative learning in aplysia californica
the sea-slug show a grill withdrawl response when water is squirted at its syphon. repeated stimulation decreases in the size of the response thus habituation. a small shock to tell the tail enhances the size of the response to subsequent water squirts thus sensation
what is the theory involved with associative learning?
classical and operant conditioning
classical conditioning
a neutral stimulus is paired with another stimulus that elicits a response. eventually the neutral stimulus by itself will elicit the response. associative leanring because association is learned between two previously unrelated stimuli
who was responsible for classical conditioning?
PAVLOV
operant and instrumental condition,
where an association is made between behaviour and the consequence of the behaviour. it is a form of associative learning where an action is learned between an action and its consequence
what did pavlov believe?
conditioning strengthened connections between the CS and the UCS center in the brain
what is the switchboard metaphor?
new connections are plugged between differeny areas
what did karl lashley do?
set out to test whether new connections are plugged in between differeny areas by searching for engrams, pr physical representations of what had been learnt in rat brain
what did karl lashley hypothesize?
that a knife cut should abolish newly learned response
what were the results of karl lashley’s experunent?
not consistent with switchboard metaphor. i.e location of cute did not matter. what did matter was the extent of lesioning and the complexity of the task
what did karl lashley propose in regards to his findings?
the mass action principle
what is the mass action principle?
suggests that the proportion of the brain that is injured is directly proportional to the decreased ability of memory functions. In other words, memory cannot be localized to a single cortical area, but is instead distributed throughout the cortex
what was involved in the stdy of how synaptic events underlie simple learning in invertebrates?
habituation and sensitization
what is habituations involvement in storing information in the neurons system of aplysia californica?
results in a change in the synapose between the sensory neurons and the motor neurons, sensory neurons fail to excite motor neurons as they did previously
what is sensitization involvement in storing information in the neurons system of aplysia californica?
changes as identified in synapse included:
serotonin release from a facilitating neuron blocks potassium channels in presynaptic neuron.
prolonged release of transmitter from that neuron results in prolonged sensitization
what did donald hebb say?
“cells that fire together wire together”
what is hebbian synapse?
occurs when the successful stimulation of a cell by an axon leads to the enhanced ability to stimulate that cell in the future.
why does the enhancement in the hebbian synapse occur?
becuase of simultaneous activity in the presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons
what are hebbian synapses critical for?
many kinds of assicative leanring