Learning and Memory Flashcards
Immediate Memory
Sum of all sensory input currently being processed; rapidly lost if not converted
Mirror Tracing
Pt. must solve a maze by only looking in a mirror
- Pts w/ declarative memory deficits improve performance after repeated attempts, but may not remember doing so
Short-term memory
Formed by conscious attention on immediate memory; size only holds 5-9 pieces of information
-Dependent upon more than one structure in the brain
Long-term memory
Formed by consolidation of short-term memory; resistant to forgetting
-Requires storage in multiple arease (Visual/Auditoy, somatosensory)
Retrograde amnesia
Loss of preformed memories
Anterograde amnesia
Inability to form new memories
Procedural memory
“Motor memory”
Formed by the cerebellum, basal ganglia
Declarative Memory
Stored by the medial temporal lobe portion of limbic system, limbic cortex, and sensory cortical areas
Acquired by the hippocampus
Central Executive Function of short-term memory
Takes place in dorsolateral frontal cortex;regulates the entry of info from immediate to short-term memory
*Lesions will produce poor planning, memory
Medial temporal lobe damage
Damages the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex
=>global anterograde amnesia
4 Major areas in hippocampal formation
dentate gyrus, CA3, CA, subiculum
-Damage to any area will disrupt information flow thru the hippocampus
Medial diencephalon damage
Damages mammillary bodies, anterior thalamus
=>global anterograde amnesia
Long-term potentiation
Repeated activation of a glutamate synapse leads to opening of NMDA receptors
-Ca2+ flows thru activating enzymes that increase the post-synaptic response to glutamate
LTP effects on post-synaptic cells
- Phosphorylation of AMPA receptors enhancing response to glutamate
- New AMPA receptors are inserted into the membrane
Retrograde messenger in LTP
Nitric oxide
-Acts to alter fnxn in pre-synaptic terminal
