Learning and Memory Flashcards Lec 8 PSYCH 110

Flashcards covering key vocabulary related to learning and memory, including memory types, brain regions, and synaptic mechanisms.

Memory

The process of retaining information over time.

Classifying Memories – Time Course

Sensory memories last a few seconds, short term memories last a few minutes, intermediate term memories last hours to days, and long-term memory lasts for decades.

Sensory memory

Relies on transient activity in sensory pathways and decays if not moved further.

Short term memories

Used when needed and then discarded.

Memory Consolidation and Recall

Sorting out which memories have the highest emotional significance; memories are flexible before consolidation, and even long-term memories can be disrupted during recall.

Seizure

A sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain that can cause a wide range of symptoms.

Anterograde Amnesia

The inability to form new memories after the event that caused the amnesia.

Declarative (explicit) memory

Memories of facts and events we can consciously recall.

Semantic Memory

Knowledge about words, concepts, and language.

Episodic Memory

Information about events we have personally experienced.

Nondeclarative Memories

Memories that are not part of our consciousness, formed through behaviors.

Procedural Memory

Stores information about how to do things; skills and actions.

Emotional Memory

Learned through emotional conditioning; can be vivid and long-lasting.

Neurotransmitters involved in memory

Epinephrine, Dopamine, Serotonin, Glutamate, Acetylcholine.

Synaptic cleft

The space between the presynaptic and postsynaptic cells, which can be electrical or chemical.

Memory consolidation

Repeated neuron activity leads to increased neurotransmitters in the synapse, resulting in stronger synaptic connections.

Glutamate

The primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian brain, mediating around 70% of synaptic transmission in the CNS.

Synaptic Plasticity

The ability of the synapse to change in response to increases or decreases in its activity.

AMPA and Kainate receptors

Often coexist on the same neuron; fast action; sodium flows in = excitatory.

NMDA

Requires both glycine and glutamate to be present; slow action; blocked by magnesium, opening depends on membrane voltage.

Early LTP

Lasts for about 1-3 hours and involves increases in AMPA receptors; strengthens already existing synapses.

Late LTP

Lasts for days to weeks (long-term memory); involves the growth of dendritic spines on dendrites by synthesizing new proteins; results in the formation of new synapses.

Parts of the Brain Involved In Memory

Prefrontal cortex, Dorsal striatum, Amygdala, Cerebellum, Hippocampus.

Hippocampus

Recognition memory and spatial memory, involved in memory consolidation.

Subregions of the Hippocampus

Dentate gyrus, Hippocampus proper, Subiculum.

Hippocampal flow of information

Entorhinal cortex → Dentate gyrus → CA3 → CA1 → Subiculum.