Week 9: Learning and Memory

Question 1

What are the 3 types of memory?

Answer 1

Sensory Memory (<1 sec)
Short-Term Memory (Working Memory) <1 min
Long-Term Memory (lifetime)

Question 2

All information enters ____ memory before it is consolidated into ____ memory.

Answer 2

short-term

long-term

Question 3

Long term memory can be classified into which 2 types of memory?

Answer 3

• Explicit memory (conscious)

- Implicit memory (unconscious)

Question 4

What is a type of implicit memory?

Answer 4

Procedural memory (skills and tasks)

Question 5

What is a type of explicit memory?

Answer 5

Declarative memory (facts, events)

• Episodic memory (personal experiences)
• Semantic memory (facts, concepts)

Question 6

What is priming?

Answer 6

An implicit memory effect in which exposure to one stimulus (ie. perceptual pattern) influences the response to another stimulus.

Question 7

What does classical conditioning involve? What kind of behaviour does it focus on?

Answer 7

Involves placing a neutral signal before a reflex

Focuses on involuntary automatic behaviours (reflexes)

Question 8

Describe the steps of classical conditioning.

Answer 8

Conditioned stimulus (CS) (eg. bell) → food (UCS) → unconditioned response (UCR) (eg. salivation)

After some repetitions,
CS → Conditioned Response (CR) (eg. salivation)

Form of very basic learning
Was revolutionary at that time because it helped us
understand memory in a scientific way

Question 9

What does operant conditioning involve? What kind of behaviour does it focus on?

Answer 9

Involves applying a reward or punishment after a behaviour.
Focuses on strengthening or weakening voluntary behaviours

Question 10

What is an engram?

Answer 10

Engram refers to the physical representation of what has been learned

Question 11

Which location in the brain explains the neural basis of classical conditioning? Which paradigm is used to test the location of learning?

Answer 11

Cerebellum. Eye-blinking paradigm. Rabbit wears headgear; puff of air to eye causes eye to blink. Pair air puff with tone, after many repetitions, tone alone comes to elicit a blink.

Question 12

Name the sequence of synapses and pathways in classical conditioning (implicit learning).

Answer 12

sensory input –> Lateral Interpositus nucleus of cerebellum (LIP) –> Red nucleus (motor nucleus) –> Sixth Cranial Nerve –> motor output

Question 13

Where is the location of learning in the cerebellum?

Answer 13

In the synapse between the LIP and red nucleus.

Question 14

If the delay between the conditioned stimulus (eg. bell) and unconditioned stimulus (eg. food) is longer than 2 seconds, which other brain structure is responsible for learning?

Answer 14

Basal Ganglia.

Question 15

If you temporarily block the pathways from sensory input to location of learning, what will occur?

Answer 15

No learning, no conditioned response

Question 16

If you temporarily block the pathways after the location of learning to the motor output, what will occur?

Answer 16

Learning, but no conditioned response

Question 17

Briefly describe the weather prediction task.

Answer 17

All participants (with or without basal ganglia damage) will be able to figure out the obvious association between certain cards with the weather, they followed these associations and can achieve 75% accuracy in prediction. However, for people who have basal ganglia impairment, even though they are
able to form the initial rule for the more obvious associations (i.e. triangles then rain), they
are unable to perform beyond that. Suggests their deficit in forming implicit memories.

Question 18

What does the weather prediction task show?

Answer 18

Show that basal ganglia is involved in implicit memory

Question 19

What disease is associated with basal ganglia impairment?

Answer 19

Parkinson’s disease

Question 20

To prevent epileptic attacks, which brain structure was removed in patient H.M?

Answer 20

Hippocampus; parahippocampal areas

Question 21

What was patient H.M’s behaviour like after the removal of hippocampus?

Answer 21

He does not consciously remember the researchers but has some subconscious record of the experiences based on habits, interactions, and emotions. Impaired declarative memory, especially episodic memory.

Question 22

What kind of learning and memory is the hippocampus possibly involved in?

Answer 22

1) Explicit learning
2) spatial memory (could play a role in creating cognitive or temporal maps)
3) transit working memory to long-term memory

Question 23

What are the 3 other effects of hippocampal removal?

Answer 23

1) Anterograde amnesia – inability to form memories after the brain damage
2) Retrograde amnesia – loss of memories for events before the brain damage, especially more recent events closer to the brain damage.
3) intact working memory

Question 24

What are the 2 types of cells in the hippocampus?

Answer 24

1) place cell - active as long as rat passes by the area that it responds to
2) grid cell - similar to place cells, but areas are regularly spaced

Question 25

What does the idea of hebbian synapses propose?

Answer 25

Proposed that if an axon has successfully stimulated another cell in the past, it becomes more successful in the future.

Question 26

What is sensitisation?

Answer 26

After a strong stimulus, a subsequent mild stimulus evokes a strong reflex

Question 27

What is habituation?

Answer 27

After a mild stimulus, a subsequent mild stimulus evokes a weaker reflex.

Question 28

What happens at the synapse during habituation?

Answer 28

Decreased release of neurotransmitter into the synapse

Question 29

What happens at the synapse during sensitization?

Answer 29

Increased release of neurotransmitter into synapse (note: number of action potentials does not change)

Question 30

Besides the hippocampus, what other regions are involved in explicit memory? (4)

Answer 30

1) Parietal cortex - linking one memory to another
2) Amygdala - fear memories
3) medial prefrontal cortex - learning about rewards and punishments
4) anterior temporal lobe - semantic dementia (not knowing what a zebra is)

Question 31

Comparing the basal ganglia and the cerebellum, how many trials are needed for learning?

Answer 31

Basal ganglia - integrates information over many trials

Cerebellum - can learn in a single trial

Question 32

What is the difference in type of feedback required by the basal ganglia and the cerebellum for learning?

Answer 32

basal ganglia - need immediate feedback (reward, punishment)
Cerebellum - can learn from delayed feedback

Question 33

What is the difference between sensatisation and LTP?

Answer 33

Sensitisation – increased release in neurotransmitters at the synapse
LTP – increased strength of synapse over time
Sensitization may or may not lead to LTP.

Question 34

What are the 3 properties of LTP?

Answer 34

1) Specificity - only active synapses will be strengthened
2) Cooperativity - simultaneous stimulation by 2 or more axons produces LTP more strongly than having repeated stimulation for just 1 axon
3) Associativity - Pairing a weak input with a strong input enhances later response to the weak input.