13 Learning And Memory

Question 0

Stimulus-response learning

Answer 0

Learning to automatically make a particular response in the presence of a particular stimulus; includes classical instrumental conditioning.

Question 1

Perceptual learning

Answer 1

To recognize a particular stimulus.

Question 2

Classical conditioning

Answer 2

Learning procedure; when a stimulus that initially produces no particular response is followed several times by an unconditional stimulus (US) that produces a defensive or at appetitive response (the unconditional response – UR) the first stimulus (now called a conditional stimulus - CS) itself evokes the response (now called a conditioned response – CR).

Question 3

Hebb rule

Answer 3

Hypothesis proposed by Donald Hebb that the cellular basis of learning involves strengthening of a synapse that is repeatedly active when the postsynaptic neuron fires.

Question 4

Instrumental conditioning

Answer 4

Learning procedure whereby the effects of a particular behavior in a particular situation increase (reinforce) or decrease (punish) sees the probability of the behavior; also called operant conditioning.

Question 5

Reinforcing stimulus

Answer 5

Appetite of stimulus that follows a particular behavior and thus makes the behavior become more frequent.

Question 6

Punishing stimulus

Answer 6

Aversive stimulus that follows a particular behavior and thus makes the behavior become less frequent.

Question 7

Motor learning

Answer 7

Learning to make a new response.

Question 8

Long-term potentiation (LPT)

Answer 8

Long-term increase in the excitability of a neuron to a particular synaptic input caused by repeated high-frequency activity of that input.

Question 9

Hippocampal formation

Answer 9

Forebrain structure of the temporal lobe, constituting an important part of the limbic system; includes the hippocampus proper (Ammon’s horn), dentate gyrus, and subiculum.

Question 10

Population EPSP

Answer 10

Evoked potential that represents the EPSPs of a population of neurons.

Question 11

Associative long-term potentiation

Answer 11

Long-term potentiation in which concurrent stimulation of weak and strong synapses to a given neuron strengthens the weak one.

Question 12

NMDA receptor

Answer 12

Specialized ionotropic glutamate receptor that controls the calcium channel that is normally blocked by Mg2 ions; involved in long-term potentiation.

Question 13

AP5

Answer 13

2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoate, a drug that blocks and NMDA receptors.

Question 14

Dendritic spike

Answer 14

Action potential that occurs in the dendrite of some types of pyramidal cells.

Question 15

AMPA receptor

Answer 15

Ionotropic glutamate receptor that controls a sodium channel; when open, it produces EPSPs.

Question 16

CaM-KII

Answer 16

Type II calcium-calmodulin kinase, enzyme that must be activated by calcium; may play a role in the establishment of long-term potentiation.

Question 17

Nitric oxide synthase

Answer 17

Enzyme responsible for the production of nitric oxide.

Question 18

Long-term depression (LTD)

Answer 18

Long-term decrease in the excitability of a neuron to a particular synaptic input caused by stimulation of the terminal button while the postsynaptic membrane is hyperpolarized or only slightly depolarized.

Question 19

Short-term memory

Answer 19

Memory for a stimulus or an event that last for short while.

Question 20

Delayed matching-to-sample task

Answer 20

Task that requires the subject to indicate which of several stimuli has just been perceived.

Question 21

Ventral tegmental area (VTA)

Answer 21

Group of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral midbrain whose axons form the mesolimbic and mesocortical systems; plays a critical role in reinforcement.

Question 22

Nucleus accumbens (NAC)

Answer 22

Nucleus of the basal forebrain near the septum; receives dopamine-secreting terminal buttons from neurons of the ventral tegmental area and is thought to be involved in reinforcement and attention.

Question 23

Medial forebrain bundle (MFB)

Answer 23

Fiber bundle their runs in a rostral-caudal direction through the basal forebrain and lateral hypothalamus; electrical stimulation of these axons is reinforcing.

Question 24

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 24

Amnesia for events that occur after some disturbance to the brain, such as head injury or certain degenerative brain diseases.

Question 25

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 25

Amnesia for events that preceded some disturbance to the brain, such as a head injury or electroconvulsive shock.

Question 26

Korsakoff’s syndrome

Answer 26

Permanent anterograde amnesia caused by brain damage resulting from chronic alcoholism or malnutrition.

Question 27

Consolidation

Answer 27

The process by which short-term memories are converted into long-term memories.

Question 28

Declarative memory

Answer 28

Memory that can be verbally expressed, such as memory for events in a person’s past.

Question 29

Nondeclarative memory

Answer 29

Memory whose formation does not depend on the hippocampal formation; a collective term for perceptual, stimulus-response, and motor memory.

Question 30

Perirhinal cortex

Answer 30

Region of limbic cortex adjacent to the hippocampal formation that, along with the parahippocampal cortex, relays information between the entorrhinal cortex and other regions of the brain.

Question 31

Parahippocampal cortex

Answer 31

Region of limbic cortex adjacent to the hippocampal formation that, along with the perirhinal cortex, relays information between the entorhino cortex and other regions of the brain.

Question 32

Episodic memory

Answer 32

Memory of a collection of perceptions of events organized in time and identified by particular context.

Question 33

Semantic memory

Answer 33

Memory of facts and general information.

Question 34

Semantic dementia

Answer 34

Loss of semantic memories caused by progressive degeneration of the new cortex of the lateral temporal lobes.

Question 35

Place cell

Answer 35

Neuron that becomes active when the animal is in a particular location in the environment; most typically found in the hippocampal formation.

Question 36

Sharp-wave-ripple complex (SWRs)

Answer 36

Period of intense, high-frequency oscillation’s that originate in hippocampal fields CA1 and CA3 and propagate to the cerebral cortex; involved in replay of information from periods of waking during slow-wave sleep.

Question 37

Reconsolidation

Answer 37

Process of consolidation of a memory that occurs subsequent to the original consolidation that can be triggered by a reminder of the original stimulus; thought to provide the means for modifying existing memories.