Memory & memory loss

Engram

Physical representation of what has been learned

Equipotentiality

Concept that all parts of the cortex contribute equally to complex behaviours ( learning) any part of the cortex can substitute for any other

Mass action

Concept that the cortex works asa whole & the more cortex the better

Lateral interpositus nucleus ( LIP )

Nucleus of the cerebellum that is essential for certain conditioned responses

Short term memory

Memory of events that have just occurred

Long-term memory

Memory of events that occurred further back in time

Consolidate

Strengthen a memory & make it more long lasting

Flashbulb memories

Explanation for flashbulbs memories

Synaptic tag-and-capture process

Brain tags a weak new memory for later stabilization if a similar, more important event soon follows it

Working memory

Storage of memory while one is working with it

Delayed response

Must respond on the basis of a signal that it remembers but is no longer present

During the delay

Cells in the prefrontal & parietal cortex increase their activity, and different cells become active depending on the direction the eye movement will need to take

Amnesia

Memory loss

Infant amnesia

Tendency to forget the experiences of early childhood

Anterograde amnesia

Inability to form memories for events that happened after brain damage

Retrograde amnesia

Loss of memory for events that occurred before brain damage

Semantic memory

Memory of factual information

Episodic memory

Memory of single personal events

Explicit memory

Deliberate recall of information that one recognizes as a memory

Implicit memory

Influence of experience on behavior even if the influence is not recognized

Procedural memory

Development of motor skills & habits

Classical conditioning

Result of the pairing of 2 stimuli, one of which evokes an automatic response

Tau protein

Part of the intracellular support structure of axons

Confabulation

Symptom of Korsakoff's syndrome in which patients fill in memory gaps with guesses

Instrumental conditioning

Result of reinforcing/punishing changing future probability of a given behaviour

Amyloid- ß

Protein that accumulates to higher than normal levels in the brain of people with AD

Reinforcer

Event that increases the future probability of the preceding response

Morris water maze

Procedure used to test for spatial memory in nonhumans

Habituation

Decrease in response to a repeatedly presented stimulus accompanied by no change in other stimuli

Punishment

Event that suppresses the frequency of the preceding response

Sensitization

Increase in response to mild stimuli as a result of exposure to more intense stimuli

Specificity

Tendency for highly active synapses to become strengthened while less active synapses do not

Cooperatively

Tendency for nearly simultaneous stimulation by 2 or more axons to produce long-term potentiation

Associativity

Tendency that pairing weak & stronger inputs enhances neuron response to the weaker input

AMPA receptor

Typical ionotropic receptor that opens sodium channels

NMDA receptor

Ionohropic receptor which permits ions to follow through it only if the magnesium leaves

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)

Neurotrophic released by dendrites when action potentials start in axons but back-propogate into the dendrites

Retrograde transmitter

Resulted release from extensive stimulation of a postsynaptic cell