Learning and Memory Flashcards

1
Q

What is the definition of learning?

A

→ Acquisition of new information

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2
Q

What is the definition of memory?

A

→ Retention of learned information

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3
Q

What is declarative memory and what part of the brain is responsible for it?

A

→ Facts and events

→ Hippocampus

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4
Q

What is non declarative memory and what part of the brain is responsible for it?

A

→ Procedural memory (motor skills, habits)

→ Striatum

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5
Q

What 2 things come under classical conditioning?

A

→ Skeletal musculature (cerebellum)

→ Emotional responses (amygdala)

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6
Q

What is working memory?

A

→ Temporary storage that lasts seconds

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7
Q

What is short-term memory?

A

→ Facts and events are stored in short-term memory

→ Subset are converted to long-term memories

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8
Q

What is long-term memory?

A

→ Recalled months or years later

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9
Q

Where can sensory information go?

A

→ Long or short-term memory

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10
Q

What are the functions of the pre frontal cortex?

A

→ Self awareness

→ Capacity for planning and problem solving

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11
Q

Describe the delayed response task?

A

→ place food in one of two wells
→ put a screen between the monkey and the wells
→ after a delay the screen is lifted
→ the monkey has to remember where the food is

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12
Q

What is associated with the visual cortex?

A

→ Lateral intraparietal cortex

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13
Q

What is an engram?

A

→ a collection of neurons that are responsible for the storage of a memory

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14
Q

What is the substrate where a memory is going to be stored?

A

→ A group of neurons that have reciprocal connections

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15
Q

Describe how an engram is formed

A

→ An external stimulus is presented
→ Activation of the cell assembly occurs
→ The combined activity creates a network that continues activation even after the stimulus has been removed
→This results in strengthening of certain connections between certain neurons
→ The strengthened connections of cell assembly contain the engram for the stimulus
→ even after learning partial stimuli lead to a whole representation of the stimulus

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16
Q

What is a Hebbian modification?

A

→ Strengthens the reciprocal connections between neurons that are activate at the same time

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17
Q

Where is the hippocampus located?

A

→ In the medial lobes

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18
Q

What kind of information comes to the hippocampus?

A

→ Sensory information

19
Q

What does the hippocampus do with the information it receives?

A

→ Sensory information comes in

→ It is sent to the cortical association areas

20
Q

What kind of tissues are capable of forming engrams?

A

→ Any neuronal tissue

21
Q

What is the output pathway of the hippocampus?

A

→ the fornix

22
Q

Where does the fornix output to?

A

→ The thalamus and the hypothalamus

23
Q

What does the thalamus act as?

A

→ The post office sorting room for the brain

24
Q

What does the hippocampus feed back to and why is this important?

A

→ Feeds back to the cortical areas

→ Important for consolidation

25
Q

Describe the pathway that sensory information takes

A

→ Sensory information goes to the cortical association areas
→ Parahippocampal and rhinal cortical areas
→ Hippocampus
→ Fornix
→ Hypothalamus and thalamus

26
Q

What is amnesia?

A

→ Serious loss of memory and/or ability to learn

27
Q

What are the 5 causes of amnesia?

A
→ Concussion
→ Chronic alcoholism 
→ Encephalitis
→ Brain tumour
→ Stroke
28
Q

What is retrograde amnesia?

A

→ Severe decrement in memories that they have before the trauma

29
Q

What is anterograde amnesia?

A

→ Inability to form memories after the trauma

30
Q

What happened to Henry Molaison?

A

→ The surgeon removed his medial temporal lobes

→ lost the ability to make new long term memories

31
Q

Why was Henry Molaison able to learn new motor skills?

A

→ Hippocampus was removed - declarative memory

→ his non declarative memory - striatum - was still intact

32
Q

How does a Morris water maze work?

A

→ Submerged platform in a wading pool
→ let mouse find the platform
→ make the water cloudy
→ let mouse find the platform again

33
Q

When do place cells fire?

A

→ When animals are in certain areas

34
Q

What are the 2 models of memory consolidation?

A

→ Standard model

→ multiple trace model

35
Q

What is the standard model of memory consolidation?

A

→ Information from neocortex areas associated with sensory systems are sent to the medial temporal lobe for processing
→ synaptic consolidation - within the hippocampus
→ post consolidation - the hippocampus is not necessary

36
Q

What is the multiple trace model?

A

→ Hippocampal involvement is continued
→ multiple memory traces
→ Pathways can be continually modulated by continued experience

37
Q

What is synaptic plasticity?

A

→ Biological process by which specific patterns of synaptic activity results in changes in synaptic strength

38
Q

What does the model of distributed memory show?

A

→ Instead of three individual responses by three different neurons when you see 3 faces
→ there are changes in all 3 neurons when you see 1 face

39
Q

Describe the trisynaptic circuit?

A

→ Input from the entorhinal cortex next to the hippocampus
→ this comes into the perforant pathway
→ synapse onto granule cells
→ Granule cells synapse further onto Schaffer collaterals
→ they synapse onto CA1 pyramidal neurons

40
Q

What kind of stimulation is needed for long term potentiation?

A

→ High frequency rapid stimulation

41
Q

What receptors are located on the CA1 neurons?

A

→ Glutamate

→ NMDA and AMPA

42
Q

Describe how long term potentiation works in CA1 neurons?

A
→ AMPA receptors get stimulated 
→ CA1 neurons gets depolarised 
→ NMDA receptors open 
→ Ca2+ floods in 
→ Calmodulin kinases are activated
→ AMPA responsivity is increased 
→ more AMPA receptors added onto the post - synaptic membrane (CA1).
→ more responsive CA1
43
Q

What are the physiological changes in the dendrites after long term potentiation?

A

→ They swell because there are more receptors