Neurobiology of Learning and Memory - Exam 4

Cue-Dependent Amnesia

Amnesia that results when a retrieved memory is followed by a disruptive event such as electroconvulsive shock.

Destabilization Function

The idea that when an existing engram or memory trace is activated, underlying synapses become unbound or weaken and this allows new information to be incorporated into the engram.

Encoding Specificity Principle

The idea that memories are best retrieved when environmental stimulation (internal state as well as the external environment) at the time of retrieval matches the conditions present at the time the memory was established.

Integration Theory

The idea that when an engram is activated, the information it contains can be integrated with new information contained in the present environment.

Integrative Function

The incorporation of new information into a retrieved memory trace.

Prediction Error Hypothesis

The idea that synapses become destabilized when the retrieved information does not match the actual outcome.

Reactivation Treatment

Similar to the idea of a retrieval test in which cues are presented for the purpose of retrieving or activating an existing engram or memory trace.

Reconsolidation Theory

A theory that assumes that the retrieval of a memory itself can disrupt an established memory trace but that the retrieval also initiates another round of protein synthesis so that the trace is “reconsolidated.”

State-Dependent Learning

The idea that internal cues present at the time of learning become associated with the target memory and can contribute to memory retrieval.

Declarative Memory

A category of memory that includes both episodic and semantic memory.

Delayed Nonmatching to Sample (DNMS)

A memory testing procedure used to study recognition memory in primates.

Episodic Memory System

The memory system that extracts and stores the content of personal experiences.

Familiarity

A process that can support recognition memory without recollection of the time or place of the experience.

Medial Temporal Hippocampal (MTH) System

The region of the brain composed of the perirhinal, parahippocampal, and entorhinal cortices and the hippocampal formation, which is composed of the hippocampus proper (CA1 and CA3 regions), subiculum, and dentate gyrus.

Modular View

The theory that only episodic memory depends on the entire medial temporal hippocampal system and that semantic memory does not require the hippocampus to contribute.

Multiple Memory Systems

A theory that different kinds of information are acquired and stored in different parts of the brain.

Recognition Memory Tasks

A category of tasks that are used to access recognition memory, including object recognition, object place location, and object in context.

Recollection

A retrieval process that produces information about the time and place of an experience.

Semantic Memory

A category of memory that is believed to support memory for facts and the ability to extract generalizations across experiences.

Unitary View

The theory that both semantic and episodic memory depend on the entire medial temporal hippocampal (MTH) system.

Conscious Recollection

The intentional initiation of a memory with an awareness of remembering.

As subjective feeling that is a product of the retrieval process.

Context Preexposure Facilitation Effect

The enhancement of contextual fear by exposure to the conditioning context prior to immediate shock.

Green Flourescent Protein (GFP)

A protein derived from jellyfish that exhibits green fluorescence when exposed to light.

False Memory

When what is remembered is different from what actually happened or when what is remembered never happened.

Indexing Theory

A theory that assumes that the hippocampus stores an index to cortical patterns of neural activity that were generated by an episode.

Hippocampal Formation

A region of the brain composed of the dentate gyrus (a subregion of the hippocampus), the hippocampus proper (CA1 and CA3 fields), and the subiculum.

Pattern Completion

A process assumed to be supported by the hippocampus by which a subset or portion of an experience that originally established the memory trace can activate or replay the entire experience.

Pattern Separation

A process assumed to be supported by the hippocampus that enables very similar experiences to be segregated in memory.

Subiculum

The output component of the hippocampal formation.