Wk10-12 VIGNETTES COPY

Question 1

What is memory

Answer 1

process by which that knowledge of the world is encoded, stored, and later retrieved.

Question 2

short term memory

Answer 2

last seconds to hours, vulnerable to disruption and readily lost.

Hippocampus

Question 3

long term memory

Answer 3

converted from short term by consolidation. Last longer with reconsolidation. Can last for years.

Question 4

working memory

Answer 4

Temporary form of information storage. Limited capacity and requires rehearsal to change to short term
memory

pre frontal cortex

Question 5

declarative (explicit) memory

Answer 5

Episodic: autobiographical info with temporal/spatial context (remember where you were at 9/11 due to trauma.

Semantic: memory for facts and events with no association (remember capital of Japan with no association to yourself)

Temporal lobes important, studied by taking lobe out = can’t form new memories

Question 6

What do the temporal lobes contain

Answer 6

Hippocampus
sibiculum
parahippocampus

Question 7

Nondeclarative (implicit) memory

Answer 7

Procedural: memory for skills and habits. Striatum

Classical conditioning: emotional responses

Non-associative: habituation, sensitisation (anxiety when thinking about exams), hippocampus +
spatial memory

Question 8

Different stages of memory formation

Answer 8

acquisition
retention/encoding
consolidation
retrieval

Question 9

What is the hebbian theory

Answer 9

Neurons that wire together fire together. Neurons out of sync lose their link.

neurons are connected, partial stimulus = some fire = all neurons fire due to connections

Question 10

What is synaptic plasticity

Answer 10

ability of the synapse to change in strength in response to either use or disuse

Question 11

What do LTP and LTD refer to

Answer 11

synaptic transmission in the hippocampus

Question 12

Outline steps of Long Term Potentiation (LTP)

Answer 12

1. AP comes down axon
2. Glutamate released activating excitatory AMPA receptors
3. Post synaptic membrane depolarises causing dissociation of Mg ions from the NMDA receptor, therefore allowing the NMDA receptor to be activated.
4. NMDA allows Ca to enter post synaptic membrane
5. Ca activated protein kinases causing phosphorylation of AMPA receptors not embedded into the membrane (still inside the cell).
6. AMPA receptor is then recruited to cell membrane.
7. Allows more response to glutamate resulting in LTP.

Question 13

Outline Long Term Depression (LTD)

Answer 13

• lack of depolarisation
• lack of Ca entering
• triggers protein phosphatase

dephosphorylising AMPA receptors causing depression

Question 14

LTP and LTD in dendritic spines

Answer 14

LTP = enlargement of spine heads

LTD = shrinkage

Question 15

Neurodegenerative disease characteristics

Answer 15

delayed onset (aged)

selective neuronal vulnerability

abnormal protein processing and aggregation

commonly Alzheimer’s (AD)

Question 16

acquisation

Answer 16

sensory info perceived

influenced by attention, motivation, ability to learn

Question 17

retention/encoding

Answer 17

first step to memory
perceived item

converted into brain storage construct

requires further consolidation for long term memory

Question 18

consolidation

Answer 18

synaptic + system consolidation stabilises and makes memories independent of hippocampus (weeks to years)

LTP

Question 19

retrieval

Answer 19

subsequent re-accessing info previously encoded in brain