Week 14

Question 1

Unipolar

Answer 1

• cycling between feeling normal and depressed

Question 2

Bipolar I disorder

Answer 2

full blown episodes of mania w/ bouts
of depression

Question 2

Bipolar

Answer 2

cycles between two extremes, generally mania
and depression

Question 3

Mania

Answer 3

Restless activity

Question 3

Bipolar II disorder

Answer 3

milder episodes of mania, also w/
bouts of depression

Question 4

valproate

Answer 4

also enhances GABAergic transmission through a mechanism that
is not well understood

Question 4

Symptoms of mania:

Answer 4

– Sustained over-activity
– talkativeness
– grandiosity
– increased energy

Question 4

mood stabilizers

Answer 4

are used more frequently today and work better (or at least
they have less dangerous side-effects), e.g., valproate, carbamazepine

Question 5

Lithium

Answer 5

has been most common treatment and works relatively well;
was discovered by accident decades ago as a control treatment from a
drug different trial
* its mechanism is poorly understood, but has wide-ranging effects; e.g.,
alters circadian mechanisms, increases BDNF activity
* Clinically speaking, lithium treats manic episodes, prevents manic
relapses, treats depressive stages (esp. decreases incidence of
suicide)
* Problem is that side-effects are very severe

Question 6

What makes learning and memory special?

Answer 6

It is a fundamental property of our nervous system; and makes us who we are

Question 6

all bipolar drugs decrease….

Answer 6

the effects of AMPA-Rs in cortex and lower
glutamate activity
* Excessive glutamate activity linked to mania

Question 6

Plasticity

Answer 6

“changeability” of neurons; not just
functional, but structural modifications underlie learning and memory

Question 7

mass action –

Answer 7

the cortex functions as a
whole, such that lesion effects on function
require sufficiently large portions (i.e.,
larger lesions = greater deficits)

Question 7

This idea of a physical representation of the memory is called
…..

Answer 7

an engram

Question 7

Learning and memory - Definition –

Answer 7

an experientially induced change in
the nervous system that may be expressed in
future behaviors

Question 7

Concept of “release” –

Answer 7

i.e., that focal brain damage decreased some
functioning, but in certain instances actually enhances other functions
(Jackson, c. 1890)

Question 8

Holism

Answer 8

movement in 19th century neurology; the idea that the whole is
more important than individual parts; very similar in theme to the Gestalt
movement

Question 8

equipotentially –

Answer 8

all parts of the cortex
contribute equally to complex behaviors,
such as learning, and one part of the cortex
can substitute for any other

Question 9

Therefore, Lashley agreed with Franz, that…..

Answer 9

lesion size,
not locus, was more important for impacting intellectual
function!!

Question 9

Lashley’s “laws”

Answer 9

1. equipotentially – all parts of the cortex
   contribute equally to complex behaviors,
   such as learning, and one part of the cortex
   can substitute for any other
2. mass action – the cortex functions as a
   whole, such that lesion effects on function
   require sufficiently large portions (i.e.,
   larger lesions = greater deficits)
   Dr. Karl Lashley

Question 9

Temporal divisions

Answer 9

Senses to Sensory Buffer to Working memory/Short-term memory to Long-term memory

Question 10

Consolidation

Answer 10

putting memories into longer-term storage form;
more resistant to disruption or forgetting

Question 10

Korsakoff’s syndrome –

Answer 10

involves damage to mammillary bodies and to
basal frontal cortex
* Results from a chronic thiamine deficiency – typically from chronic
alcoholism

Question 10

Stages of Memory

Answer 10

1) Aquisition
2) Consolidation
3) Storage
4) Retrival

Question 10

Why isn’t all information stored?

Answer 10

there is likely too much information to store; most of it would probably be irrelevant and unnecessary

Question 10

How are memories “selected” for long- term storage?

Answer 10

Rehearsal – simply going over information multiple times – massed vs. spaced training * Connecting with old information * Emotional arousal

Question 11

Declarative memory -

Answer 11

Things you know that you can tell others (HM didn't have)

Question 11

Why do we have multiple stages of memory?

Answer 11

we can sift information for value and, therefore, store only the most important/ relevant information for longer periods of time

Question 11

Why isn’t information immediately put into long-term storage?

Answer 11

achieving long-term/ permanent storage requires processes in the brain that are more effortful and take longer

Question 11

Patient H.M. (Henry Molaison, died in 2008) – most well- known case in history of memory research

Answer 11

* His case taught us that different processes exist for memory consolidation and storage * HM had bilateral medial temporal lobectomy – included hippocampus, amygdala, and cortices around hippocampus * This resulted in anterograde amnesia – HM could not form new memories; whereas old memories from before surgery remained intact

Question 11

Donald O. Hebb and the “Hebbian” synapse model

Answer 11

theory proposing that neuronal activity changes during learning – led to the idea that synaptic plasticity is involved to strengthen connections where the memory is stored -Hebb proposed that a presynaptic cell’s repeated and persistent stimulation of a post-synaptic cell enhanced the relationship between these cells

Question 11

Nondeclarative (procedural) memory

Answer 11

Things you know that you can show by doing (HM had this through mirror tracing)

Question 11

sensitization

Answer 11

increase in response to mild stimuli, as a result of previous exposure to more intense stimuli

Question 11

Patient N.A. –

Answer 11

damage to left dorsal thalamus and mammillary bodies * N.A. also has robust anterograde amnesia, very similar to Henry Molaison * The similarity of damage in these patients suggests that a larger circuit is important in declarative memory than just hippocampus and adjacent cortical fields

Question 11

Kandel and colleagues have also shown that .....

Answer 11

long-term memory for sensitization involves increases in protein synthesis and new synapse formation

Question 11

Animal studies have shown that the hippocampus is critically important for a type of spatial learning, called.....

Answer 11

place learning

Question 11

confabulation –

Answer 11

which means that they often provide a narrative of events that never happened, or when trying to recall information will fill in details of a story with fictitious information * These observations add support for the role of mammillary bodies and thalamus as part of an extended system for declarative memory

Question 11

Patient K.C. –

Answer 11

brain damage to fronto-parietal areas * He could not retrieve personal memories from past, but had a good general knowledge of recent events and factual information; i.e., he showed impaired episodic memory

Question 11

Place learning is mediated by

Answer 11

the hippocampus

Question 11

Other cells that input to hippocampus

Answer 11

– the entorhinal cortex -show different spatial selectivity: “grid cells” show firing properties that form a grid-like pattern in space

Question 11

habituation

Answer 11

decrease in response to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly

Question 11

Hippocampus –

Answer 11

contains “place cells”; these are cells that can be recorded from while the animal is running around a maze, and will become active selectively during a certain place on the maze

Question 11

response learning is mediated by the

Answer 11

striatum

Question 12

Tail shock induces cellular changes in the interneuron, increasing the amount of 5-HT release in subsequent stimulation of siphon/ gill .....

Answer 12

 thus increasing synaptic strength

Question 12

Bliss and Lømo (1973) discovered the phenomenon of long-term potentiation (LTP)

Answer 12

* LTP is a stable and enduring increase in the activity of synapses that results from a specific type of stimulation