Bio 38 important terms

Semantic memory

Factual knowledge not tied to specific experiences.

Episodic memory

Autobiographical events with specific time, place, and emotional context.

Procedural memory

Motor skill and habits acquired through practice.

Priming & perceptual learning

Enhanced processing of stimuli based on prior exposure.

Associative learning

Forming connections between two stimuli or stimulus and response.

Nonassociative learning

Changed response to single stimulus after repeated exposure.

Recognition tasks

Subject identify previously encountered stimuli among distractors

Recall tests

Subjects retrieve specific information without cues

California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT)

Assess verbal memory through word list.

Morris Water Maze

Animals locate hidden platform in water to test spatial memory.

Fear conditioning

Measures memory of adverse stimuli through physiological responses.

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

Enhanced signal transmission between neurons.

Long-term depression (LDT)

Weakened signal transmission between neurons.

Spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP)

Timing of pre- and post-synaptic activity determines strengthening or weakening.

Encoding (remembering)

Information conversion to neural representation.

Consolidation (remembering)

Stabilization of memories over time.

Retrieval (remembering)

Accessing stored information.

Decay theory (forgetting)

Neural traces fade without reinforcement.

Interference (forgetting)

New information disrupts existing memories.

Retroactive interference

New learning impairs old memories.

Proactive interference

Old learning impares new memories

Active inhibition (forgetting)

Prefrontal mechanism suppress unwanted memories.

Adaptive forgetting (forgetting)

Removal of irrelevant information to optimize system.

Axon

Conducts electrical signals (action potentials) away from cell body toward target cells.

Axon terminal

Where neurons send messages to other neurons.

Cell body

Maintains cell metabolism, synthesizes proteins, integrates incoming signals from dendrites.

Dendrite

Receive chemical signals from other neurons, conduct electrical signals toward the cell body.

Dendritic spine

Where neurons receive messages from other neurons.

Synaptic plasticity

Activity dependent capacity of synapses to strengthen or weaken over time in response to increases or decreases in their activity.

AMPA receptors

Open when glutamate binds and cations flow in; mediate fast excitatory synaptic transmission.

NMDA receptor

Open when glutamate binds AND postsynaptic neuron is already depolarized; requires glutamate bindings AND postsynaptic depolarization.

Input specificity

Property of LTP where only active synapses undergo strengthening.

Hebbian plasticity

Neurons that fire together, wire together.

Hippocampus

Rapidly encoding associations between elements of an experience.

Item familiarity

Sense of knowing you’ve encountered something before without retrieving specific contextual details.

Recollection

Retrieval of specific details and contextual information about a previous experience.

Pattern separation

Process of distinguishing similar experiences by creating distinct neural representations.

Pattern completion

Retrieving complete memories from partial cues.

Context dependent

Memories are more accessible when the retrieval context matches the encoding context.

Primacy and recency effect

Items at beginning and end of sequences are typically better remembered.

Temporal contiguity

Memories encoded close in time tend to cue each other during retrieval.

Forward asymmetry

Forward recall (A → B) is generally stronger than backward recall (B → A)

Highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM)

Condition where individuals possess an extraordinary ability to recall specific details of autobiographical events.

EEG

Electrical activity (neuron communication) in brain.

Intracranial recordings

Placing electrodes inside the brain to directly monitor electrical activity in specific areas.

Functional MRI

An imaging scan that shows activity in specific areas of the brain.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

Electrical current passed through coil placed close to scalp, translated into magnetic field that penetrate skull, field is translated into electric current, impacting brain activity.

Independent variable

Factor that researchers manipulate or control to see effect on another variable.

Dependent variable

What we measure.

Confounding factors

Alternative explanation for results.

Memory consolidation

Active offline process that memories undergo to remain accessible.

Memory reactivation

Spontaneous or induced replay of neural activity patterns that occurred during initial learning.

Memory suppression

When enhancing activity in the cortex, forgetting increases.

Retrieval induced forgetting

Retrieving one memory can harm another memory.

Childhood amnesia (infantile amnesia)

Inability of adults to retrieve episodic memories (situations or events) before age 10.

Retrograde amnesia

Can’t recall memories that occur BEFORE event.

Anterograde amnesia

Can’t recall memories that occur AFTER event.

Chunking

Condense several memory items into single item.

Method of loci (memory palace)

Place items into mental context then reinstating that context.