chapter 13: memory and learning

Question 1

The most striking impairment suffered by Henry Molaison (patient H.M.) was

Answer 1

anterograde amnesia

Question 2

Nondeclarative memory is said to deal with _______ questions.

Answer 2

“how” questions

Question 3

Knowing the meaning of word, without knowing where or when you learned it, describes _______ memory.

Answer 3

semantic memory

Question 4

Patients with Korsakoff’s syndrome may _______ in an attempt to conceal gaps in their memory.

Answer 4

confabulate

Question 5

The three successive systems that are necessary for recall of a past event are encoding, ________, and retrieval.

Answer 5

consolidation

Question 6

Place cells, which are located in the _______, become active when an animal moves through its spatial environment or toward a particular location.

Answer 6

hippocampus

Question 7

After a tetanus there are _______ AMPA receptors, and these receptors are _______ effective, so the synaptic response to glutamate is _______.

Answer 7

more; more; strengthened

Question 8

NMDA receptors are gated by…

Answer 8

the ligand glutamate and a strong depolarization of the membrane

Question 9

After a brief tetanus, the excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) response increases significantly and remains high. This greater responsiveness is called

Answer 9

long-term potentiation (LTP).

Question 10

learning

Answer 10

process of acquiring new information

Question 11

memory

Answer 11

the ability to store and retrieve that information

Question 12

amnesia

Answer 12

severe impairment of memory, usually as a result of accident or disease

Question 13

retrograde amnesia

Answer 13

loss of memories prior to an event (such as surgery or trauma)

Question 14

Patient H.M. (henry molaison)

Answer 14

unable to encode new declarative memories because of surgical removal of medial temporal lobe structures

Question 15

anterograde amnesia

Answer 15

inability to form new memories after an event

Question 16

hippocampus

Answer 16

a medial temporal lobe structure that is important for spatial cognition, learning, and memory

Question 17

declarative memory

Answer 17

facts and information acquired through learning (“what” questions)

Question 18

nondeclarative memory

Answer 18

procedural memory; memory about perceptual or motor procedures showed by performance (“how” questions)

Question 19

delayed non-matching-to-sample-task

Answer 19

a test in which the individual must respond to the unfamiliar stimulus in a pair of stimuli

Question 20

Patient N.A.

Answer 20

unable to encode new declarative memories, because of damage to the dorsomedial thalamus and the mammillary bodies

Question 21

Korsakoff syndrome

Answer 21

a memory disorder, caused by thiamine deficiency, that is generally associated with chronic alcoholism; damage to mammillary bodies and dorsomedial thalamus but not temporal lobe structures, fail to recognize familiarity with items

Question 22

confabulate

Answer 22

fill a gap in memory with a falsification that they seem to accept as true

Question 23

Patient K.C.

Answer 23

sustained damage to the cortex that rendered him unable to form and retrieve episodic memories

Question 24

episodic memory

Answer 24

(autobiographical memory) memory of a particular incident or a time and place

Question 25

semantic memory

Answer 25

knowing the meaning of a word without knowing where or when you learned it

Question 26

skill learning

Answer 26

process of learning how to perform a challenging task simply by doing it over and over

Question 27

basal ganglia

Answer 27

crucial for skill learning

Question 28

priming

Answer 28

exposure to a stimulus facilitates subsequent responses to the same or similar stimulus

Question 29

associative learning

Answer 29

learning that involves relations between events

Question 30

instrumental conditioning

Answer 30

(operant conditioning) an association is formed between a behavior and its consequences

Question 31

cognitive map

Answer 31

a mental representation of the relative spatial organization of objects and information

Question 32

place cells

Answer 32

a neuron in the hippocampus that selectively fires when the animal is in a particular location

Question 33

sensory buffers

Answer 33

a very brief type of memory that stores the sensory impression of a scene

Question 34

short-term memories

Answer 34

usually lasts only seconds or as long as rehearsal continues

Question 35

long term memories

Answer 35

enduring form of memory that lasts longer

Question 36

encoding

Answer 36

information entering sensory channels is passed into STM

Question 37

consolidation

Answer 37

information in STM is transferred to LTM

Question 38

retrieval

Answer 38

stored memory in LTM is used in STM or working memory

Question 39

memory trace

Answer 39

a persistent change in the brain that reflects the storage of memory

Question 40

reconsolidation

Answer 40

return of a memory trace to stable long-term storage after it has been temporarily made changeable during the process of recall

Question 41

neuroplasticity

Answer 41

ability of the nervous system to change in response to an experience or the environment

Question 42

habituation

Answer 42

decrease in a response to a stimulus as it is repeated

Question 43

Hebbian synapses

Answer 43

a synapse that is strengthened when it successfully drives the postsynaptic cell

Question 44

tetanus

Answer 44

in intense volley of action potential

Question 45

long-term potentiation

Answer 45

a stable and enduring increase in the effectiveness of synapses following repeated strong stimulation

Question 46

dentate gyrus

Answer 46

a strip of gray matter in the hippocampal formation

Question 47

NMDA

Answer 47

a glutamate receptor that also binds the glutamate agonist NMDA and that is both ligand-gated and voltage sensitive

Question 48

AMPA receptors

Answer 48

a fast acting ionotropic glutamate receptor that also binds the glutamate agonist AMPA

Question 49

retrograde transmitter

Answer 49

a neurotransmitter that is released by the postsynaptic neuron diffuses back across the synapse and alters the functioning of the presynaptic neuron

Question 50

nonassociated learning

Answer 50

involves only one stimulus

Question 51

long-term depression

Answer 51

synapses with low levels of stimulation reduce EPSP