14.1

Question 1

What is learning?

Answer 1

A relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior as a result of experience

Question 2

What is dyslexia?

Answer 2

An impairment in learning to read and write; probably the most common learning disability; associated with reduced activity in the left temporoparietal, occipitotemporal, and inferior frontal cortex

Question 3

What is memory?

Answer 3

The ability to recall or recognize previous experience; implies a mental representation of a previous experience

Question 4

What is Pavlovian conditioning? (aka respondent conditioning, classical conditioning)

Answer 4

Learning achieved when a neural stimulus comes to elicit a response after its repeated pairing with some event

Question 5

What is eyeblink conditioning?

Answer 5

Experimental technique in which subjects learn to pair a formerly neutral stimulus with a defensive eye blinking response

Question 6

What is a conditioned stimulus?

Answer 6

An originally neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, triggers a conditioned response

Question 7

What is an unconditioned stimulus?

Answer 7

A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers an unconditioned response

Question 8

What is an unconditioned response?

Answer 8

Unlearned, naturally occurring response to an unconditioned stimulus, such as salivation when food is in the mouth

Question 9

What is a conditioned response?

Answer 9

The learned response to a formerly neutral conditioned stimulus

Question 10

What is fear conditioning?

Answer 10

Conditioned emotional response between a neutral stimulus and an unpleasant event, such as a shock, that results in a learned association

Question 11

What formation of the brain mediates eyeblink conditioning?

Answer 11

The cerebellum

Question 12

What formation of the brain mediates fear conditioning?

Answer 12

The amygdala

Question 13

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 13

The learning procedure in which the consequences of a particular behavior increase of decrease the probability of the behavior occurring again; also called instrumental conditioning

Question 14

What are the two categories of memory outlined in the text?

Answer 14

Implicit and explicit

Question 15

What is priming?

Answer 15

Using a stimulus to sensitize the nervous system to a later presentation of the same or a similar stimulus

Question 16

What is implicit memory?

Answer 16

Unconscious memory: subjects can demonstrate knowledge, such as a skill, conditioned response, or recall of events on prompting but cannot explicitly retrieve the information

Question 17

What is amnesia?

Answer 17

The partial or total loss of memory

Question 18

What category of memory tends to be preserved in patients with amnesia?

Answer 18

Implicit memory

Question 19

What is explicit memory?

Answer 19

Conscious memory: subjects can retrieve an item and indicate that they know the retrieved item is the correct one

Question 20

What is declarative memory?

Answer 20

The specific contents of specific experiences that can be verbally recalled; conscious memory

Question 21

What is procedural memory?

Answer 21

The ability to perform a task; unconscious memory

Question 22

What is a learning set?

Answer 22

An implicit understanding of how a problem can be solved with a rule that can be applied in many situations

Question 23

What is encoding?

Answer 23

The process in which information is changed into a form that can be stored in the brain

Question 24

What neural processes appear to be part of the process of encoding?

Answer 24

Modification of synapses, creation on new synapses, changes in gene expression, modification or creation of proteins.

Question 25

How is implicit information encoded?

Answer 25

Bottom-up. Information enters the brain through sensory receptors and then is processes in a series of subcortical and cortical regions; example: visual information -> photoreceptors -> thalamus -> occipital lobe -> ventral stream -> temporal lobe where object is recognized

Question 26

How is explicit memory encoded?

Answer 26

Top-down; example: temporal lobe forms an image that influences how incoming visual information is processed and, in turn, greatly influences information recall later

Question 27

What regions in the left-hemisphere are involved in storing semantic memory?

Answer 27

Parietal lobe, temporal lobe, prefrontal cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex; important to note: not all regions are active at once

Question 28

How is the network involved in semantic memory processing related to the default network?

Answer 28

They are very similar which points to semantic processing making up a large component of the cognitive activity that occurs during passive states

Question 29

What is episodic memory?

Answer 29

Autobiographical memory for events pegged to specific time and place contexts; includes a record of our presence and role in the events

Question 30

What are the key regions involved in the storage of autobiographical memories?

Answer 30

Ventromedial prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and the pathways between them

Question 31

Damage to what structure can result in poor episodic memory?

Answer 31

The hippocampus (increased vmPFC activity in these cases)

Question 32

What does it mean for someone to have highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM)?

Answer 32

They display virtually complete recall for events in their lives, usually beginning around age 10

Question 33

What lobes of the brain have increased gray matter in people with HSAM?

Answer 33

Temporal and parietal lobes

Question 34

Where do people with HSAM have increased size in fiber projection?

Answer 34

Between the temporal and frontal lobes.

Question 35

An organism learns that some stimulus is paired with a reward. This is _________ conditioning

Answer 35

Classical

Question 36

After learning that consequences follow its behavior, an organism modifies its behavior. This is _________ conditioning

Answer 36

Operant

Question 37

Information that is unconsciously learned forms _______ memory, whereas specific factual information forms ________ memory

Answer 37

Implicit; explicit

Question 38

__________ memory is autobiographical and unique to each person

Answer 38

Episodic

Question 39

Where is memory stored in the brain?

Answer 39

Memory is not localized to any particular brain circuit or region. Rather, multiple memory circuits vary with the requirements of the memory task