Learning, Memory, Amnesia

Learning

A change in our nervous system brought about by new experiences or A change wherein how your nerves talk or connect with each other brought about a new experience

Perceptual Learning

Changes in the Sensory System.

Motor Learning

Changes in the Motor System.

Stimulus-Response Learning

Changes in both Sensory and Motor System.

Relational Learning

Changes in the association and relationships of sensorimotor signals.

Memories

The changes in our nervous system brought about by learning. It changes the physical structure and connections of our brain, and thus how we behave and think.

Encoding

Committing the object or event to memory.

Storage

In which 'box' or 'storage' will the memory be saved in.

Retrieval

Searching and successfully recreating the object or event from memory.

Semantic Memory

General facts and information.

Explicit Memory

Consciously recalled memories.

Sensory Memory

Neural information about current sensations you are feeling which is typically only stored for a few minutes.

Short-Term Memory

Neural information stored for a few minutes for on-demand processing.

Episodic Memory

Events and episodes in one's life.

Implicit Memory

Unconsciously recalled memories.

Procedural Memory

Knowledge of how to do certain actions.

Amnesia

In general, the loss of memory.

Anterograde Amnesia

Difficulty in making new memories.

Retrograde Amnesia

Difficulty in recalling old memories.

Karl Lashley's Experiments

Started experiments in the 1920s with rats to search for physical manifestations of memories.

Engrams

Physical manifestations of memories as proposed by Karl Lashley. Later proven that they don't exist but led to the discovery of the different functions in the temporal lobe (encoding & retrieving)

Memory Deficit

The specific cause-effect relationship between a given brain structural lesion and a particular memory deficit cannot be determined.

Hippocampus

Located in the medial temporal cortex, the hippocampus has been found to be strongly related to episodic memory and is involved in the transfer of new information into long-term memory.

Damage to Hippocampus

Damage to this part of the brain leads to difficulty in remembering events, either long ago or recently.

Amygdala

Part of the basal ganglia, the _____ links memories with emotional significance.

Emotional Events and Amygdala

More emotionally charged events lead to greater activation of the amygdala in recall tasks.

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

A hypothesis by Hebb in 1949 that synapses between neurons that transmit with each other become stronger, summarized as 'Neurons that fire together, wire together.'

Mechanisms of LTP

More stimulation leads to more receptors in dendrites, more neurotransmitter release in axons, resulting in a stronger signal.

Inferotemporal Cortex

Close to the primary visual cortex, this part of the brain is believed to have a role in storing visual memory.

Prefrontal Cortex

Usually linked with higher cognitive processes and abstract thinking, damage to this part of the brain leads to difficulty in remembering the sequence of how events happen, and how to do certain actions.

Cerebellum

Thought to work with the storage of learned motor skills through neuroplastic mechanisms.

Korsakoff's Syndrome

Brain damage due to excessive alcoholism that appears to damage the areas of the medial thalamus and hypothalamus. The idea of not remembering past events everyday you wake up

Alzheimer's Disease

A more generalized form of amnesia that damages the basal forebrain responsible for creating acetylcholine, leading to physical changes in the brain.

Plaque and Neural Density in Alzheimer's

The presence of plaque and loss of neural density leads to physical change in the brain.

Treating Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's treatments work in two methods: older drugs slow the destruction of acetylcholine, and newer generation drugs inhibit the destruction of brain cells due to over-excitation.

Limitations of Alzheimer's Drugs

While both drugs can slow the progress of Alzheimer's, they cannot reverse it.

Priming

Something unconsciously affecting how we perceive or remember.

Antero

Forward.

Retro

Backward.

Classic Processes of Memory

Encoding. Storage. Retrieval

Types of Memory

Sensory. Short Term. Long Term

Long Term Memory

Neural patterns that have been strengthened enough to form more permanent connections in the brain, allowing for recall even after a longer period.

Subdivisions of Long-Term Memory

Explicit: Semantic and Episodic. Implicit: Procedural

Encoding Error

Either the nerve pathway or the memory did not become strong enough to encode the memory properly

Retrieval Error

When our nerves pathways deteriorated or not active enough to retrieve the memory

Decay

When nerve pathways weaken overtime

Elements of Forgetting

Encoding Error, Retrieval Error, Decay

Interference & Decay Theory in a Biological Sense

Happens when the myelin sheaths are not strong enough or the electrical or chemical signal was not strong enough