physio learning and memory new

Stimulus Response Learning

learning to perform a particular behavior when a particular stimulus is present

Motor Learning

• acquisition and improvement of motor skills
• through practice and experience
• changes in neural Activity
• involves: motor cortex, cerebellum, basal ganglia

Perceptual Learning

experience can change the way we perceive:
sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touch
(ex: learning to read a radiology scan)

Relational Learning

creating relationships between brain areas that process the different senses (convergence regions).
(ex: spatial learning)

Classical Conditioning

(Stimulus Response Learning)
Related to amygdala
Before:

1. US (food) naturally triggers a response
2. UCR (dog salivating) response to the US
   Conditioning:
3. CS (bell) build association between a neutral stimulus and the US - causing a CR
4. CR (dog salivating at the bell)

Operant Conditioning

(Stimulus Response Learning)
Related to Basal Ganglia
behavior ---> reinforcement or punishment ----> increase or decrease in future behavior

Sensory Memory

short initial processing of sensory input (seconds)

Short-Term Memory / Working Memory

• limited capacity
• enhanced by rehearsal, chunking
• 7 +/- 2

Long-Term Memory

relatively permanent

Episodic Memory

(long term memory)
Events, experiences

Semantic Memory

(long term memory)
facts and concepts

nondeclarative memory

(long term memory)
automatic - does not require conscious thought
(ex - riding a bike)

Declarative / explicit memory

(long term memory)
episodic memory and semantic memory

Perceptual memory

learning to recognize things (new stimuli or variations in stimuli)

Parahippocampal cortex

spatial and contextual processing
ex: scenes, layouts, environments

Perirhinal cortex

object recognition and item memory
the "whats"

Entorhinal cortex

• hub between the hippocampus and the Parahippocampal and Perirhinal cortex
• needed for episodic memory and navigation

Hippocampus

(relational memory)

• the hippocampus receives inputs from the entorhinal cortex and fornix
• function: binding together elements of experience across time and space to support memory and prediction

1. episodic memory (ex: 5th birthday party)
2. spatial navigation
3. temporal and contextual coding - sequence of events
4. relational binding and inference - forming associations between items and experiences

Reconsolidation

memories can be updated, strengthened or disrupted upon retrieval
memory: reactivated --> unstable --> restored

How does Electroconvulsive Therapy affect memory?

can cause retrograde amnesia

Retrograde amnesia

memory loss - inability to retrieve information from the past

What is the role of hippocampal neurogenesis in memory consolidation?

• new neurons in the hippocampus help form and store memories
• make it easier to separate similar memories, strengthen memory connections, and support long-term storage
• Important right after learning

hippocampus neurogenesis process

stem cells in the hippocampus divide and create thousands of cells ----> go to the dentate gyrus ----> form connections with neurons in the dentate gyrus and CA3

semantic dementia

• memory of experiences intact, semantic memory not intact
• caused by: degeneration of the anterior temporal cortex, supporting the idea that this region stores semantic knowledge

hippocampal formation

formation and retrieval of declarative memory (not long-term semantic memories)

Anterolateral temporal lobe

storage of semantic memory

anterograde amnesia

cannot remember things that occur after damage
impaired: new episodic memory

Korsakoff's syndrome

• damage to the: Papez circuit
• anterograde Amnesia and Retrograde Amnesia
• intact procedural memory

patient H.M.

• removal of temporal lobe (no hippocampus)
• lost his memory from a few years prior to the surgery (retrograde amnesia) and couldn't hold new memories (anterograde amnesia)
• living in a perpetual present
• he could not remember personal experiences or factual information but his procedural memory was intact
• spatial memory damaged

Milner

scientist who viewed the hippocampus as the location of converting short term memories into long term memories

consolidation

turning short term memories into long term memories

patient R.B.

heart attack ---> no oxygen in brain ---> anterograde amnesia
why: lack of oxygen during cardiac arrest ---> high levels of glutamate ---> overactivation of NMDA receptors in CA1 neurons ---> cell damage in areas of hippocampus

what is not impaired in anterograde amnesia?

non-declarative learning intact:
stimulus response learning
Motor learning
Perceptual learning

Maguire

(researcher)
cab drivers in London - bigger hippocampus

place cells

• neurons in the hippocampus (CA1) that fire when an animal is in a specific location
• hippocampus gets spatial info from the parietal cortex via the entorhinal cortex
• catching birds have larger hippocampus

What did the T-maze experiment reveal about place cells?

place cells fire differently depending on the intended direction (left or right), showing they encode current location and intended destination

Border cells

fire when animal reaches border of its environment

grid cells

• form a map of the local environment
• fire in a hexagonal pattern that helps the rat track where it is in space
• involved in path finding and formation of new mental maps

head cells

• involved in internal sense of direction
• fire when an animal's head points in a specific direction relative to the environment, helping to anchor their orientation in space