Learning about Learning - Exam 5 Flashcards
(115 cards)
1
Q
Define learning
A
A relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience
2
Q
We learn through _____
A
association
3
Q
Describe generally how association works
A
1) When two events occur together we learn that one event predicts the other event.
2) The impact of our behavior is rewards and punishments. We learn that when we do A, then B will happen and we’ll either like it (reward) or hate it (punishment)
4
Q
Define associative learning
A
Certain events occur together
5
Q
Define classical conditioning and give an example
A
Two stimuli occur together (ex: can opener = food, phone beep = notification)
6
Q
Define operant conditioning and give an example
A
The relationship between behavior and consequence (ex: doing chores = allowance (reward))
7
Q
Pavlov’s dog experiment is an example of what kind of conditioning?
A
Classical conditioning
8
Q
What are the four elements of classical conditioning?
A
Unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response
9
Q
In classical conditioning, which stimulus is the originally neutral stimulus?
A
The conditioned stimulus
10
Q
Define unconditioned stimulus
A
A stimulus, which can be a thing or event, that naturally elicits a response
11
Q
Define unconditioned response
A
The natural response to the stimulus (thing or event) that was presented
12
Q
Define conditioned stimulus
A
An originally neutral stimulus (doesn’t naturally elicit a response) that, through repeated pairing, will eventually elicit a conditioned response
13
Q
Define conditioned response
A
A learned response to a previously neutral stimulus
14
Q
True or false: the conditioned response (CR) and unconditioned response are the same behavior
A
True
15
Q
Learning through operant conditioning is sometimes called what?
A
Instrumental learning
16
Q
When we learn through operant conditioning, we are learning to associate our ____ with ____
A
actions; consequences
17
Q
Behaviors/ actions followed be reinforcements _______ in frequency
A
increase
18
Q
Behaviors/ actions followed by punishments _____ in frequency
A
decrease
19
Q
True or false: both reinforcers and punishers can be positive or negative
A
True
20
Q
Reinforcers always ____ a behavior to reoccur, whereas punishers always _____ a behavior to reoccur
A
encourage; discourage
21
Q
Describe the difference between positive and negative reinforcers
A
Positive reinforcers will always add something pleasant to a person’s usual experience while negative reinforcers will always take away something unpleasant from a person’s usual experience
22
Q
Describe the difference between positive and negative punishers
A
Positive punishers will always add something unpleasant to a person’s usual experience, while negative punishers will always take away something unpleasant from a person’s usual experience
23
Q
Give two examples of positive reinforcement
A
Giving an allowance for doing chores or giving a child a smartie for using the toilet
24
Q
Give an example of positive punishment
A
Giving an earlier bedtime to a child when they’re disrespectful
25
Give two examples of negative reinforcement
Stop nagging your roommate when they do the dishes or stopping a headache when you take tylenol
26
Give an example of negative punishment
Taking away a kid's dessert when they don't eat their veggies
27
Pavlov suggested a ____ to explain how learning via classical conditioning occurs in the brain
theory
28
What was Pavlov's theory about how learning via classical conditioning occurs in the brain?
He suggested that any part of the brain that controls/ processes an UCR is necessarily connected via neural pathways to the part of the brain that controls/ processes the UCS.
He further suggested that when we experience a CS just before a UCS, a new connection/ pathway is created between it (CS) and the UCR via the UCS.
Therefore, if we excite the CS, the excitation would continue to create excitation in the UCS and therefore the UCR
29
Define engram
Physical proof of learning occuring in the brain
30
Describe the results of Lashley's experiment to determine if he could prove Pavlov's theory
```
He conducted a study on animals to
determine what would happen if he
severed the theoretical pathway.
• His results indicated that simply
severing the pathway did not result in
any deficit in learning – the rats
whose pathway was severed,
continued to learn
So then did a follow-up and instead of
just severing the pathway, he damaged a
much larger area.
• His results indicated that the brain
damage hurt all areas of functioning,
not learning selectively.
```
31
What were Lashley's principles?
Equipotentiality and mass action
32
Describe equipotentiality
All parts of the brain contribute to complex behavior
- If one part is damaged or severed, another part can sub-in and take over
- THE BRAIN HAS REDUNDANCY
33
True or false: the brain doesn't have redundancy
FALSE, it has redundancy
34
Describe mass action
The brain works best as a team (a whole) – more brain is better.
35
True or false: Lashley was completely wrong
False, Lashley was partly right
36
What are of the brain is necessary for learning by classical conditioning?
The cerebellum
37
What was Lashley wrong about?
There's a place in the brain that appears necessary for learning by classical conditioning (the cerebullum)
38
Thompson conducted a study where be used classical conditioning to teach rabbits to blink when they heard a particular sound. Describe it.
Thompson blew air into rabbits’ eyes at the same time as playing a tone.
The air caused them to blink. (UCS caused UCR). Eventually, the rabbits began associating the tone with blinking their eyes (CS caused CR).
Group 1 – rabbits in this group had a region of their cerebellum frozen
for a short period of time, that region was the lateral interpositus nucleus
2. Group 2 - rabbits in this group had a region of their midbrain frozen for a
short period of time, that region was the red nucleus
Thompson chose to freeze those areas because previous research had
shown that they were both involved somehow in learning /
demonstrating the blink response.
hompson found
that the lateral interpositus nucleus
(LIP) is essential for learning.
When the rabbits’ LIP was inhibited/frozen,
there was no response (blinking to the tone) during the training.
After the LIP recovered, the rabbits started the learning process all over again. They acted as if they had never had previous training.
Thompson found that the Red
Nucleus was essential for
demonstrating the blinking behavior –
but not for learning it.
When the rabbits’ red nucleus was
inhibited/frozen, there was no response
(blinking to the tone) during the training.
After the Red Nucleus recovered, the rabbits were able to pick back up where they left off before the “freezing”. In other words, even when they couldn’t demonstrate the blinking behavior, they continued to learn the association between the tone, the puff of air, and the blink response.
39
Thompson found that ______ is essential for learning
the lateral interpositus nucleus (LIP)
40
Describe what the the lateral interpositus nucleus (LIP) is needed for
It is essential for learning
41
Thompson found that ____ was essential for demonstrating the blinking behavior, but not for learning it
the red nucleus
42
What is the red nucleus necessary for?
It was essential for demonstrating the blinking behavior (but not for learning it)
43
People with damage to the cerebellum show decreased learning via what method?
Classical conditioning
44
People with damage to the basal ganglia show decreased learning via what method?
Operant conditioning
45
The basal ganglia is necessary for what things?
```
Necessary for gradual
learning
Necessary for learning
habits and creating
implicit memories
```
46
What's another name for explicit memories?
Declarative memories
47
How are explicit memories stored in the brain?
They're not stored in any one location in the brain, instead, they're encoded through the connections between a number of brain regions
48
What is the hippocampus important for?
Processing information you want to remember and storing that information in the brain in places that make sense
49
The process of ‘storing’ explicit memories makes use of ___________
Long-term potentiation.
50
How does long-term potentiation with the hippocampus occur?
It occurs when one or more axons bombard a dendrite with stimulation via glutamate.
This recurrent and strong stimulation leaves the synapse “potentiated” (depolarized) for a period of time (minutes, days, weeks) and the neuron is more responsive to even small amounts of stimulation
51
What is glutamate?
An amino acid and it is the brain’s main excitatory neurotransmitter.
52
During LTP, glutamate affects 3 types of
| receptors. Name them
AMPA glutamate receptors, NMDA glutamate receptors, and dopamine receptors
53
Describe AMPA glutamate receptors
They're ionotropic receptors that are
| specialized for fast excitation, permeable to sodium. Important for early stages of LTP.
54
What is important for early stages of LTP?
AMPA glutamate receptors (NMDA glutamate receptors are also involved)
55
Describe NMDA glutamate receptors
They're ionotropic receptors that
| are permeable to calcium. Involved for early stages of LTP.
56
What are the two types of ionotropic receptors?
AMPA glutamate receptors and NMDA glutamate receptors
57
Describe dopamine receptors
They're metabotropic receptors. Involved in
| later stages of LTP. Involved in the structural changes in the brain that are necessary for long-term memory formation.
58
What types of receptors are involved in later stages of LTP?
Dopamine receptors
59
What type(s) of receptors are metabotropic receptors?
Dopamine receptors
60
Describe the early stages of LTP
High-frequency glutamate stimulation opens AMPA receptors leading to depolarization.
• This dislodges Magnesium from the NMDA glutamate channels, and Calcium also enters the cell.
Overall this makes the resting potential of the neurons along the pathway of excitation moderately depolarized for a significant period of time. As a result, stronger synapses along this particular pathway are formed.
In effect it creates a path of “least resistance” and make the memory more easily retrievable.
61
What are the two properties of LTP?
Specificity and cooperativity
62
What do specificity and cooperativity suggest about LTP?
That it's a cellular basis of learning and memory
63
Define the idea of specificity
Only synapses onto a cell that have
been highly active become strengthened –
important in creating “networks”
64
Define the idea of cooperativity
Simultaneous stimulation by two or
| more axons produces LTP much more strongly than does repeated stimulation by a single axon
65
LTP depends on _____
glutamate
66
Does glutamate excite or inhibit?
Excite
67
Overall, when LTP happens there is a:
1) Decrease in action potential threshold (easier to trigger an action potential)
2) Increase in neurotransmitter release (more chemical gets released)
68
Being able to remember something requires what 3 things?
Encoding, storage, and retrieval
69
Define encoding
The process of getting information into memory
70
Define storage
How information is represented and kept in memory
71
Define retrieval
Getting information out of memory
72
What are the 6 types of memory?
Sensory memory, short term memory, long term memory, implicit memory, explicit memory, and working memory
73
Describe implicit memory and give an example
Memories you can retrieve without consciously doing so
| Ex: Remembering the lyrics to a song without really thinking about it
74
Describe working memory
Holding information in mind and using it to solve a problem, make a decision, or learn new information
75
Describe explicit memory and give an example
Intentionally/ consciously remembering information that was purposefully learned at a certain point in time
Ex: trying to remember someone’s phone number
76
Describe sensory memory
Photographic memory; only lasts seconds.
77
Describe short term memory. How many items can it store?
Memory that has a limited duration and a limited capacity (7 +/- 2 items)
78
Describe long term memory
Memory that has an unlimited duration and capacity.
79
In order for short term memories to become stored in the long term memory (LTM) the memories must be ______.
Consolidated
80
Consolidation involves a “dialogue” between what things?
The hippocampus and other areas of the brain; the hippocampus sends the information to another part of the brain. (ex: parietal lobe for where my keys are; information gets sent to part of the occipital lobe to remember someone’s face.)
81
What types of memories are consolidated quickly?
Emotionally significant memories
82
What impairs the consolidation process?
Prolonged stress
83
Consolidation requires the ________
hippocampus
84
Describe the findings of Brenda Milner about HM
Neuroscientist/ neuropsychologist who came across HM who had severe epilepsy until he had surgery to remove his medial temporal lobe to reduce seizures.
She found that when his medial temporal lobe was removed, so was his hippocampus, which affected his ability to remember things. He is no longer able to remember new things, and he couldn’t recall much information from a period of roughly 1-2 years before his surgery.
He had a little bit of retrograde amnesia and a lot of anterograde amnesia.
85
HM had what kind(s) of amnesia?
He had a little bit of retrograde amnesia and a lot of anterograde amnesia.
86
What are two disorders of memory?
Retrograde and anterograde amnesia
87
What is retrograde amnesia?
The inability to access stored information that happened before the trauma.
88
What is anterograde amnesia?
The inability to create new memories following a trauma.
89
What do retrograde and anterograde amnesia have in common?
Both are associated with the hippocampus.
90
What happens when the hippocampus is removed?
- Working memory is intact
- Long term explicit memory is severely impaired
- The hippocampus must be necessary for forming explicit LTM
- Episodic memory is impaired (a type of episodic memory, The ability to remember events)
- Procedural memory is intact (a type of implicit memory; how to use a tool, how to make breakfast, etc.)
- Sensory memory is perfect, STM is perfect, implicit is perfect, working memory is perfect.
91
Damage to the hippocampus impairs recent learning more than older learning . Why?
The more consolidated a memory becomes, the less it depends on the hippocampus.
92
Describe Korsakoff's syndrome
Brain damage caused by thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency
Impedes the ability of the brain to metabolize glucose
Leads to a loss of or shrinkage of neurons in the brain
Often due to chronic alcoholism
Symptoms include apathy, confusion, forgetting, and confabulation (taking guesses to fill in gaps in memory)
93
Describe Alzheimer's disease
A gradual, progressive decline in memory (mostly explicit)
At first, there’s a decline in memory for recent events
Later, there’s a decline in memory for even the distant past
This is because of the hippocampus; with alzehimer’s, hippocampus cells actually decay and disappear. The hippocampus first loses its ability to consolidate new memories, then it eventually forgets how to retrieve memories
Disorientation to place and time, spatial disorientation
Deficits in learning, attention, judgement, and communication
Progression tends to be faster and more dramatic for those diagnosed at an earlier age.
Loss of gray matter in the brain, particularly in the medial temporal lobes where the hippocampus is and in the frontal lobes.
Sulci of an Alzheimer’s brain actually look deeper because the gyri are made up of fewer healthy gray matter cells.
94
What causes Alzheimer's disease?
Accumulation and clumping of amyloid beta protein
Creates amyloid plaques which produce widespread atrophy of the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and other areas.
Plaques accumulate and kill the healthy cells around them.
Neurofibrillary tangles- degenerating structures within a neuronal body
We all have beta amyloid, it’s a good thing
In people with AD, the beta amyloid clumps together into oligomers and they don’t have the protein needed to break it down
Also, in AD the tau proteins tangle up
Overall, tau makes more amyloid, amyloid plaques hurt neurons, then the neurons die.
95
True or false: definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer's can only happen during autopsy
True
96
```
As a mother nurses her infant, she gently strokes the side of his head. Over time, gently stroking the side of his head, in the absence of nursing, causes him to calm down when upset. In this case, the stroking of the side of his head in the absence of nursing is the:
neutral stimulus.
unconditioned response.
conditioned response.
conditioned stimulus.
```
conditioned stimulus.
97
In contrast to operant conditioning, classical conditioning:
involves an association between a behavior and a consequence.
was discovered later than operant conditioning.
involves learning that happens only among animals, not humans.
involves an association between two distinct stimuli.
involves an association between two distinct stimuli.
98
```
Jules experiences a stroke that affects her ability to remember her family and friends. However, she still remembers how to play the piano - even though she has no memory of ever learning how to play. It appears that Jules' ___________ memory is still intact.
semantic
declarative
episodic
implicit
```
implicit
99
One striking aspect of H.M.'s memory deficit is that he:
showed signs of confabulation.
only remembered recent facts.
could learn new tasks, but was unaware of having learned them.
said he remembered things he had never actually seen.
could learn new tasks, but was unaware of having learned them.
100
According to Lashley, which brain damage would create more deficits in learning?
Two small pieces of cortex being removed.
A small piece of cortex being removed.
Lashley was wrong about everything
A large tumor destroying a great area of cortex.
A large tumor destroying a great area of cortex.
101
What is an incorrect assumption made by Lashley?
Rat brains work the same as human brains.
An engram can only be found in the corpus callosum.
Studying one type of learning is equivalent to studying all learning.
Running the maze requires little brain power from a rat.
Studying one type of learning is equivalent to studying all learning.
102
Every time Rose starts to tell a story about Saint Olaf, Sophia smacks her with a newspaper and Dorothy witholds cheesecake for dessert. Sophia is using _____ _______ while Dorothy is using ______ ________ to reduce Rose's story-telling.
Negative Punishment; Positive Punishment
Negative Reinforcement; Postive Reinforcement
Positive Punishment; Negative Punishment
Negative Reinforcement; Negative Punishment
Positive Punishment; Negative Punishment
103
```
Blinking after a puff of air is blown into your eye is an example of a(n):
conditioned stimulus
unconditioned stimulus
unconditioned response
conditioned response
```
unconditioned response
104
```
The puff of air is a(n):
unconditioned response
conditioned response
conditioned stimulus
unconditioned stimulus
```
unconditioned stimulus
105
```
If you repeatedly hear a tone before the puff of air is blown into your eye. Blinking to the tone WITHOUT the puff is an example of:
conditioned stimulus
conditioned response
unconditioned response
unconditioned stimulus
```
conditioned response
106
```
Receptors for ________ are involved in long-term potentiation.
acetylcholine
GABA
glutamate
serotonin
```
glutamate
107
Ginny was involved in a car accident in January of 2014. Her doctors think she suffered a brain injury as a result of the car accident. In fact, Ginny is not able to remember anything that happened before the car accident. This brain damage is characteristic of:
damage to the lateral interpositus nucleus
retrograde amnesia
anterograde amnesia
Korsakoff's syndrome
retrograde amnesia
108
Which of the following is false regarding Alzheimer's disease (AD)?
Oligomers of amyloid beta are found in the brains of people with AD.
Only people with a blood relative who has AD are at risk of this disorder.
Currently, AD can only be definitively diagnosed with an autopsy.
Neurofibrillary tangles are formed by faulty tau proteins in the neurons.
Only people with a blood relative who has AD are at risk of this disorder.
109
```
Elton has recently been struggling with certain aspects of his memory. For example, he remembers walking down the yellow brick road when he was a child, but he cannot remember who the great wizard was in 1982. In this example, Elton's ____________ ____________ are intact, but his _________ _________ are deficient.
explicit memories; implicit memories
episodic memories; semantic memories
semantic memories; episodic memories
implicit memories; explicit memories
```
episodic memories; semantic memories
110
```
Elton may have issues remembering facts, but he can still sit at a piano and play "Levon" as if he just wrote the song. Which type of memory category has NOT been affected?
Semantic
Procedural
Explicit
Declarative
```
Procedural
111
```
Which area of the brain is most important for explicit memories?
striatum
anterior temporal cortex
amygdala
hippocampus
```
hippocampus
112
Which is not a type of memory associated with the hippocampus?
implicit
episodic
declarative
implicit
113
```
Which memory disorder is most known for confabulation?
Korsakoff's syndrome
Anterograde Amnesia
Semantic Dementia
Alzheimer's disease
```
Korsakoff's syndrome
114
Long term potentiation involves:
leaving synapses slightly depolarized for a significant amount of time.
bombarding certain dendrites with stimulation. iochemical changes to dopamine, AMPA, and NMDA receptors along certain pathways of neurons
all of the answers listed are true.
biochemical changes to dopamine, AMPA, and NMDA receptors along certain pathways of neuron
all of the answers listed are true.
115
The principle of cooperativity suggests that simultaneous stimulation by two or more axons produces long term potentiation much more strongly than does repeated stimulation by a single axon.
true
false
true
