Learning and Memory

Question 1

Habituation

Answer 1

Repeated exposure to a stimulus results in a weaker response

Question 2

How does Habituation happen

Answer 2

Less dendritic connection

Excitatory Postsynaptic potentials (EPSP) become smaller

motor neuron receives less neurotransmitter from sensory neuron

Takes place in axon terminal of sensory neuron

Ca2+ influx decrease and reduced sensitivity of Ca2+ channels and decreased release of neurotransmitter

Question 3

Sensitization

Answer 3

Repeated exposure to a stimulus results in a strengthened response

Question 4

How does Sensitization Happen

Answer 4

More dendritic connection

K+ channels are slow to open and can’t depolarize the membrane quickly -> action potential lasts longer

Prolongs inflow of Ca2+ and more transmitter release

Question 5

what are Classical conditioning

Answer 5

Conditioning a neutral stimulus to give a conditioned response -> playing a sound to alert dog to food

Question 6

What is Hebb’s idea of Cells that fire together wire together

Answer 6

When axon of cell A fires near enough to excite Cell B and repeatedly -> growth process happens in one or both cells such that A’s efficiency is increased

Question 7

What is LTP (long term potentiation)

Answer 7

changed amplitude of EPSP that lasts hours, to days long in response to simulation at synapse

Question 8

T/F Strong Burst of electrical stimulus applied to presynaptic neuron produces increase in amplitude of EPSP in postsynaptic neuron

Answer 8

True

Question 9

What is instrumental conditioning

Answer 9

learning guided by consequences

response followed by reinforcers or punishments

reinforcers increase probability it will happen again

and

punishments decrease probability of happening again

Question 10

How does EPSP increase in size

Answer 10

More neurotransmitter must be release from presynaptic membrane

postsynaptic membrane must become more sensitive to the amount of transmitter

Question 11

Which two receptors does glutamate act on in the postsynaptic membrane

Answer 11

AMPA - Na+ channel

NMDA - Double gated by glutamate channel, blacked by Mg2+

Question 12

Which two events need to occur together for NMDA receptors to open

Answer 12

Depolarization of postsynaptic membrane-> Displaces Mg2+ from pore

Activation by glutamate from the presynaptic neuron

Question 13

Give a step by step of exciting NMDA Receptors

Answer 13

Repeated Glutamate excitation of AMPA receptors depolarizes membrane

depolarization displaces Mg2+ that were blocking NMDA

Glutamate excites NMDA and opens channel for calcium ions to enter

Question 14

Which ion serves as a second messenger in this process

Answer 14

Calcium

Question 15

Activation of protein CaMKII set what series of event to happen

Answer 15

More AMPA are built and dendritic branching increase and increase sensitivity to glutamate

postsynaptic neurons releases retrograde messengers that trigger more glutamate receptors from presynaptic neuron

Question 16

What are the two categories of memories

Answer 16

Implicit and Explicit

Procedural and Declarative

Question 17

What are implicit memories

Answer 17

Unconscious memories
knowledge such as skills, conditioned responses, recalling events on prompting, but cannot explicitly retrieve these memories

Question 18

What are explicit memories

Answer 18

Conscious memories
can retrieve an item and indicate that they retrieved the right item

Question 19

What Declarative memories

Answer 19

Ability to recount what one knows, Time place and circumstances of events often lost in amnesia

Question 20

What are procedural memories

Answer 20

Ability to recall a movement sequence or how to perform some act or behaviour

Question 21

Differences between Short term and Long term memories

Answer 21

ST - few minutes -> info held briefly then discard; involves the frontal lobes
fades without rehearsal

LT - indefinte duration -> info is held for potenitaly a lifetime; involves the temporal lobe

LT can be stimulated with a cue or hint

ST cannot

Question 22

What is amnesia

Answer 22

memory loss

different kinds of amnesia;
two most common types related to disorders:

Korsakoff’s syndrome

Alzeheimer’s disease

Question 23

What are the two major types of amnesia

Answer 23

Anterograde and Retrograde

Question 24

What is anterograde amnesia

Answer 24

Loss of ability to form new memories after brain damage

Question 25

What is retrograde amnesia

Answer 25

Loss of memory of event prior to the occurrence of brain damage

Question 26

What were H. M.'s condition like

Answer 26

serve amnesia, lacking any new explicit memories (Couldn't recall anything after the surgery) above average IQ, performed well on perceptual test and could recall childhood implicit memories were left intact

Question 27

What are the primary structures for Explicit memories

Answer 27

Medial Temporal region - Hippocampus - Amygdala - Entorhinal Cortex - Parahippocampal cortex - perirhinal cortex Frontal Cortex

Question 28

What is the role of the parahippocampal cortex in memory

Answer 28

Receives connections from the parietal cortex visuospatial processing

Question 29

What is the role of the Perirhinal cortex

Answer 29

Receives connections from the visual regions of the ventral stream Visual object memory

Question 30

What is the role of the Entohinal Cortex in Memory

Answer 30

Receives projections from parahippocampal and perirhinal cortices first area to show cell death in Alzheimer

Question 31

Difference between Semantic and Episodic memories

Answer 31

SM - Memories of factual information EM - Memories of personal events autobiographical memory for event pegged to specific place and time

Question 32

What type of memory is bike riding

Answer 32

Implicit but procedural

Question 33

symptoms of episodic amnesia

Answer 33

Inability to recall personal experiences frontal lob injury

Question 34

What is Highly Superior Autobiographical Memories (HSAM)

Answer 34

Complete recall fro events in their lives beginning usually at the age of 10 Can describe any episode with day of the week and date increased grey matter in temporal and parietal lobes increased size in finer projections between temporal and frontal lobes

Question 35

What is probabilistic learning

Answer 35

habits or learning what will or will not likely happen under a set of circumstances relies on the basal ganglia

Question 36

What can a lesion to the striatum cause

Answer 36

cannot anticipate things bad probablistic learning

Question 37

When newly learning a task which activates first

Answer 37

Hippocampal learning at the beginning of a task, once the task becomes automatic then more emphasis on striatum

Question 38

Differences between hippocampal learning and striatum learning

Answer 38

Hippocampal - learn in a single trial - flexible; can change and add memories - long term - explicit - impaired declarative memory and episodic memory when damaged Striatum - Gradual learning over trials - Creates Habits - implicit - impaired learning of - skills and habits when lesioned

Question 39

What is Korsakoff's syndrome

Answer 39

Thiamine deficiency -> can't metabolize glucose -> shrinkage of neurons -> damage to mammillary bodies due to chronic alcoholism symptoms: confabulation (taking guess at gaps in memory) apathy, confusion, memory loss, language impairment: Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome

Question 40

what is Alzheimer's disease

Answer 40

accumulation and clumping of Amyloid Beta Protein and Abnormal Form of Tau proteins ABP creates plaque from damaged axon and dendrites Tau creates tangles