Learning, Memory, and Amnesia Review

A set of flashcards to review key concepts related to learning, memory, and amnesia.

Learning

A change in our nervous system brought about by new experiences, resulting in changes in behavior.

Memory

The changes the physical structure and connections of our brain, and thus how we behave and think

Perceptual Learning

The changes in the sensory system

Simulus-Response Learning

Changes in both sensory and motor system

Relational Learning

Changes in the association and relationships of sensorimotor signals

Explicit Memory

Consciously recalled memories, which include Semantic and Episodic Memory.

Semantic Memory

General facts and information that can be consciously recalled.

Episodic Memory

Memories of specific events and episodes in one's life.

Implicit Memory

Unconsciously present memories, such as Procedural Memory.

Procedural Memory

Knowledge of how to perform certain actions or skills.

Sensory Memory

The neural changes brought about by the current sensations you are feeling now. These disappear the moment you take focus away from it.

Short-Term Memory

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

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.

Encoding Error, Retrieval Error, & Decay

How do we forget?

Anterograde Amnesia

[antero : “forward”] → difficulty in forming new memories after a traumatic event.

Retrograde Amnesia

[retro : “backward”] → difficulty in recalling memories formed before a traumatic event.

Hippocampus & Declarative Memory

A brain structure located in the medial temporal cortex is related to episodic memory and involved in the transfer of new information into long-term memory.

Amygdala & Emotions in Memory

Part of the basal ganglia (thalamus & friends), a brain region that links memories with emotional significance.

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

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) by Hebb in 1949

A process where synapses strengthen due to repeated stimulation; 'neurons that fire together, wire together.'

more stimulation → more receptors in dendrite → more neurotransmitter release in axon → stronger signal

Inferotemporal Cortex

Part of the brain close to the primary visual cortex involved in storing visual memories.

Prefrontal Cortex

Involved in higher cognitive processes and abstract thinking; damage here affects memory sequencing and how to do certain actions

Cerebellum

Works with the storage of learned motor skills through neuroplastic mechanisms.

Korsakoff’s Syndrome

Amnesia caused by brain damage in the areas of medial thalamus and hypothalamus due to excessive alcohol consumption

Alzheimer’s Disease

A generalized form of amnesia which damaged the basal forebrain responsible for acetylcholine.

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

Plaque

Abnormal clusters of protein fragments that lead to brain changes in Alzheimer's patients.

Neuroplasticity

The brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new connections.

Acetylcholine

A neurotransmitter that is critical for memory and learning processes.

Priming

The process in which exposure to a stimulus influences a response to a later stimulus.

Alzheimer's 2 method treatments

◦ Older drugs slows the destruction of acetylcholine

◦ Newer generation drugs inhibit the destruction of brain cells due to over-excitation

Spatial Memory

Memory related to one’s environment and spatial orientation.

Memory Deficit

The impairment in ability to encode, store, or retrieve information.

Emotional Memory

Memories that are linked with emotional experiences.

The Experiments of Karl Lashley

• Started experiments in the 1920s with rats to search for physical manifestations of memories – which he called “engrams”

• Removing various parts of rat brains yielded little effect – while they performed worse in mazes, they still remembered how to find the exit