4. BIOL257 > Learning and memory > Flashcards

Learning and memory Flashcards

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1
Q

define learning:

A

acquisition of knowledge that will modify subsequent behaviours

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2
Q

define memory:

A

ability to recall or express past experiences

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3
Q

list some types of learning:

A
  • non-associative learning
  • associative
  • observational
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4
Q

learning: non-associative types

A
  • sensitisation

- habituation

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5
Q

learning: non-associative sensitisation

A

enhanced behavioural response following noxious stimulus

- unpleasant

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6
Q

learning: non-associative habituation

A

decreased behavioural response following repeated presentation of neutral stimulus

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7
Q

learning: associative types

A
  • classical conditioning

- operant conditioning

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8
Q

learning: associative classical conditioning

A
  • eg. Pavlov’s dog (salivation when bell is rung)
  • involuntary reflexive behaviour
  • animal ‘learns’ that conditioned stimulus (CS: bell) precedes ‘unconditioned’ stimulus (US: food)
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9
Q

learning: associative operant conditioning

A
  • eg. Skinner box
  • voluntary behavioural outcome
  • animal learns to associate behavioural choice (coloured light) with outcome/ consequence (punishment/ reward)
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10
Q

learning: observational learning

A
  • learning by observing others

- not necessarily require reinforcement

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11
Q

memory classified functionally depending on:

A
  • duration
  • context
  • level of top-down control/ conscious awareness
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12
Q

memory pathway: information into

A
  • short term (working memory)

- long term

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13
Q

memory pathway: long term into

A
  • explicit

- implicit

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14
Q

memory pathway: explicit (declarative) into

A
  • episodic (events)
  • semantic (facts)
  • spatial (places)
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15
Q

memory pathway: implicit (non-declarative) into

A
  • procedural (motor tasks)
  • priming (associations)
  • associative learning
  • non-associative learning
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16
Q

short term memory: features

A
  • last few secs
  • store info temporarily for subsequent recall
  • eg. remembering telephone no.
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17
Q

working memory: features

A
  • store info temporarily while executing a task
  • eg. remembering set of no. when doin sum
  • represents framework where prefrontal cortex controls 2 neural loops that serve to hold data ‘in mind’ while task is performed
    1. visual loop (PFC and visual cortex ‘scratch pad’
    2. phonological loop (PFC, Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas)
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18
Q

long term memory: define

A

explicit (declarative) memory- conscious effort needed to retrieve memories of past events

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19
Q

long term memory eg: episodic

A
  • relate to experiences in your life

- eg. holiday, first kiss

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20
Q

long term memory eg: semantic

A
  • facts or general knowledge

- eg. knowing roughly 90 billion neurons in brain

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21
Q

long term memory eg: spatial

A
  • orientation and navigation

- eg. knowing where you are/ how to get somewhere

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22
Q

long term memory: neocortex

A

memories transferred from hippocampus during sleep

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23
Q

long term memory: hippocampus

A

= archicortex in medial temporal lobe

- storage and indexing of memories for later recall

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24
Q

long term memory: amygdala

A

influences strength of memories due to emotional salience (prominent)

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25
long term memory: implicit (non-declarative) memory define
automatic recall wit lil/ no conscious effort
26
long term memory: implicit memory types
- procedural - priming - associative learning - non-associative learning
27
long term memory: implicit memory procedural
- automatic motor task | - eg. driving car, riding a bike
28
long term memory: implicit memory priming
- activating an association in memory (semantic, perceptual, conceptual) - eg. showing someone word 'yellow' generate faster response to banana vs 'phone'
29
long term memory: implicit memory - priming brain part used
- neocortex | - especially PFC and extrastriate cortex
30
long term memory: implicit memory - procedural memory brain part used
- dorsal striatum (caudate, putamen) | - cerebellum
31
long term memory: implicit memory associative learning
- classic conditioning, operant conditioning
32
long term memory: implicit memory associative learning - skeletal musculature?
cerebellum
33
long term memory: implicit memory associative learning - emotional response
amygdala
34
long term memory: implicit memory associative learning - reward
ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens)
35
long term memory: implicit memory non-associative learning part of brain
- sensitisation, habituation | reflex pathways
36
neuroplasticity: short term memory
- synaptic plasticity (eg. presynaptic facilitation) | - changes in release and function of NTs
37
neuroplasticity: long term memory
- synaptic plasticity (eg. long term potentiation) - structural plasticity= rewriring/ new synapses/ new neurons - synthesis of new proteins (eg. receptors), formation or elimination of synapses
38
sensitisation of gill withdrawal reflex in Aplysia: brief description
- apylsia withdraws gill when siphon is touched - if noxious stimulus to another part of body, gill withdrawn rapidly - next time siphon touched again, gill withdrawn faster and longer - tail shock lasts mins, repeated even longer-lasting sensitisation
39
sensitisation of gill withdrawal reflex in Aplysia: what type of learning
non-associative learning
40
action potential in Aplysia: distal end of siphon sensory neuron
identical before/ after sensitisation
41
action potential in Aplysia: axon terminal of siphon sensory neuron
lasts longer after sensitisation
42
action potential in Aplysia: prolonged glutamate release causes
stronger response (depolarisation) in gill motor neuron
43
long term learning: rabbit hippocampus after intense/ repeated stimulation of presynaptic neuron
- amplitude of postsynaptic potential increased
44
long term potentiation (LTP): define
long term strengthening of synaptic activity
45
long term potentiation (LTP): induced by
- brief (secs) high frequency (100Hz) bursts/ tetanus of action potentials
46
long term potentiation (LTP): hippocampus importance
responsible for formation and retrieval of long lasting explicit (declarative) memories (facts/ events)
47
long term potentiation (LTP): damage to hippocampus
prevent formation of new explicit memories
48
long term potentiation (LTP): unaffected memory by hippocampus
implicit (procedural) memory (things done unconsciously)
49
long term potentiation (LTP): also observed where
- involved in forming memories | - neocortex
50
long term potentiation (LTP): not observed where
- areas not involved in memory formation | - eg. brainstem
51
long term potentiation (LTP): role of hippocampus in explicit (spatial) memory
- rodents in Morris water maze - control rats after 10 trials swam straight to second platform using environmental cues - rats w hippocampal lesions still could not remember where to find platform
52
long term potentiation (LTP): types of ligand (glutamate) ion channels (ionotropic) receptors
- AMPA (permeable to Na and K) | - NMDA (permeable to Na, K, and Ca- normally blocked by Mg ions)
53
long term potentiation (LTP) mechanism: weak stimulus
- single AP in presynaptic terminal causes limited glutamate release - NMDA receptors blocked by Mg ions - Na influx generates depolarisation and small EPSP
54
long term potentiation (LTP) mechanism: strong stimulus
- multiple APs in presynaptic cell - larger glutamate release - AMPA channels open - Na influx depolarises - spatial and temporal summation of EPSPs generates large depolarisation (grand PSP) in postsynaptic cell - Mg ion forced out of NMDA receptors - influx Ca
55
long term potentiation (LTP) mechanism: Ca importance
- intracellular signalling molecule | - tiggers many mechanisms to increase synaptic strength
56
long term potentiation (LTP) mechanism: rapid and large increase of Ca activates enzymes (kinases) causing
- phosphorylation (modification) of AMPA receptors: stay open and let in more Na - insert more AMPA receptors into membrane (upregulation of gene expression and protein synthesis) - release 'retrograde messengers' (eg. nitric oxide): presynaptic neuron release more glutamate when active - physical changes to neurons (eg. synapses get bigger)
57
long term potentiation (LTP) mechanism: all activity due to Ca is to
- bring postsynaptic Vm closer to threshold when synapse is active in future
58
long term potentiation (LTP): characteristics critical for selective strengthening of particular synapses during formation of memories
- specificity | - associativity
59
long term potentiation (LTP): characteristics specificity
- high activity in pathway 1 induces LTP in that synapse, but not at other inactive synapses from different pathways (2) that converge on same cel
60
long term potentiation (LTP): characteristics associativity
- weak stimulus in pathway 2 does not produce LTP | - but strong stimulus to pathway 1 at same time as weak stimulus at 2, both synapses show LTP and are strengthened
61
long term depression (LTD): features
- enhance synaptic transmission and strengthens important neural pathways - need mechanism to weaken synapses for extended durations - help efficient functioning of procedural (implicit) memory: unconscious tasks - may help weaken synapses which lead to errors when learning motor behaviours
62
long term depression (LTD): observed where
- cerebellum (motor learning) - visual cortex - hippocampus (memory decay) - corpus striatum
63
long term depression (LTD): triggered by
- low frequency (1-5Hz) stimulation of presynaptic neuron
64
long term depression (LTD): Ca conc.
- slow, small and long lasting rise of Ca
65
long term depression (LTD): in cerebellum
- slow increase activate kinases -> phosphorylate AMPA receptors = internalised (removed) from membrane
66
long term depression (LTD): in hippocampus
- slow increase activates phosphatases -> dephosphorylate AMPA = internalised
67
long term depression (LTD): both mechanisms cause
- reduced permeability of postsynaptic membrane to NA - fewer AP generated in postsynaptic cell when presynaptic cell is active - synapse gets weaker
68
structural plasticity: addition/ removal of synapses - dendritic spines
- predominant site of excitatory synaptic input to many neurons in CNS - hippocampus, cerebellum etc
69
structural plasticity: addition/ removal of synapses - dendritic spines importance
- formation/ elimination of dendritic spines (and synapses) responsible for neural connectivity changes underlying storage of memories - dendritic spines= structural units of memory
70
structural plasticity: addition/ removal of synapses -mouse motor cortex
- addition of new spines following motor learning - neurons activated during learning and reactivated in REM sleep - sleep disruption prevents new spine formation - sleep crucial for promoting synaptic plasticity underlying memory formation
71
structural plasticity: addition/ removal of neurons - post hippocampus importance
- spatial navigation
72
structural plasticity: addition/ removal of neurons eg. London black-cab drivers
- enlarged post hippocampus - correlated w time spent driving - not in bus drivers - 2-4 yrs training - 25000 streets
73
memory and limbic system: storage of memories dependent on
- salience of experience/ association | - eg. level of attention/ emotional context (pleasure, fear)
74
memory and limbic system: involves
- cortex | - limbic structures (hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus etc)
75
memory and limbic system: to be stored as long term memory must pass and why
circuit of Papez - associations formed in cortex pass repeatedly through circuit -> consolidation of memories stored in modality specific areas of cortex
76
memory and limbic system: damage to hippocampus
- prevents forming new memories | - doesn't affect old memories
77
memory and limbic system: limbic system involved in
learning and forming memories concerning emotional stimuli
78
memory and limbic system: amygdala influences
our response to emotional stimuli - esp aversive/ fearful ones implicit (unconscious) emotional memory
79
memory and limbic system: hippocampus encodes
- semantic and episodic context associated w emotional stimulus explicit (conscious) emotional memory
80
memory and limbic system: emotional stimuli reach amygdala by
- direct (fast/ short) but imprecise | - indirect (slow/ long) but precise
81
memory and limbic system: direct route to amygdala
thalamus -> amygdala | - subcortical route
82
memory and limbic system: indirect route to amygdala
thalamus - cortex - amygdala/ hippocampus -> amygdala | - cortical route
83
how does cortex moderate responses: brief
exerts executive control
84
how does hippocampus moderate responses: brief
provides context
85
maturation: amygdala
matures earlier in life
86
maturation: hippocampus
- slower and continues into teen yrs - conscious recall of childhood experiences poor - early childhood traumas stored in amygdala may subconsciously influence mental/ behavioural function in adults
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