Learning and the Brain Lecture Flashcards

VOCABULARY flashcards covering neural prediction error, memory structures (hippocampus vs. neocortex), and memory reconsolidation based on the provided lecture notes.

Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA)

A dopamine-rich area of the brain that acts as the hub of prediction error signals and feeds into the habit system.

Tonic Activity

The constant background firing of action potentials by neurons that maintains their health.

Phasic Response

A short, burst-like increase in action potentials, typically observed in dopamine neurons in response to unpredicted rewards.

Prediction Error

A computation signaled by neurons when there is a discrepancy between an expected reward and the actual reward received.

Negative Surprise Term

A signal of a negative prediction error, characterized by a dip in a neuron's baseline activity when an expected reward is omitted.

Hall-Spence Model

A learning model where the associative strength of a stimulus is updated by ignoring other stimuli present on that trial.

Rescorla-Wagner Model

A learning model that computes prediction error by taking into account the predictions of all stimuli present on a trial.

Catastrophic Interference

A concept in connectionist modeling where learning a new association causes an old association to be completely unlearned or extinguished.

Hippocampus

A brain structure that learns quickly and updates connections rapidly, but is prone to internal interference and memory overwriting.

Neocortex

A brain structure that acquires memories slowly and incorporates new knowledge with existing knowledge, making it resistant to interference.

Retrograde Amnesia

The loss of memories that occurred before brain damage, which is typically temporally graded, meaning older memories are more likely to be preserved.

Entorhinal Cortex

An area between the hippocampus and the neocortex that holds older memories as they become less reliant on the hippocampus.

Synaptic Plasticity

The process by which the efficacy of connections between neurons changes with experience, thought to be the basis of memory.

Memory Consolidation

The process of stabilizing a memory through protein synthesis, which takes minutes to hours to complete after an experience.

Memory Reconsolidation Theory

The theory that every time a memory is activated or remembered, it becomes labile and requires new protein synthesis to restabilize.

Labile

A vulnerable or unstable state that a memory enters for a short period after it has been reactivated.

Anisomycin

A protein synthesis inhibitor used to interfere with the reconsolidation of memories while they are in a labile state.

Propranolol

A drug used for heart disease that can attenuate the emotional edge of traumatic memories in PTSD patients by interfering with memory reconsolidation.

Saline

A placebo solution used in experiments to maintain the salt balance in natural cells without pharmacologically affecting the brain.

Corrugator EMG

A measure of muscle activity in the face used to detect distress or winced expressions during emotional memory testing.

Learning Rate

A parameter in learning models, arbitrarily set to $0.2$ in simple calculations, that determines how quickly associative strength is updated.