UCLA Cluster 73A

What is the main conclusion of Descartes Meditations?

All we can know is that we are thinking things while we are thinking.

What is Descartes' view on the soul?

He concludes that the soul is distinct from the body.

What is Dualism?

Belief that the mind and body are two separate substances.

What is Substance Dualism?

Descartes' belief that the mind is immaterial and distinct from the physical body.

What is Property Dualism?

Belief that there is only one kind of stuff divided into two types of properties: physical and mental.

What is Physicalism?

Also known as materialism, it is the belief that there is only one kind of stuff explainable in physical terms.

What is the Global Workspace Theory?

Part of physicalism, it suggests that conscious mental content is information broadcasted to the brain for use.

What is Functionalism?

Part of physicalism, it is the belief that mental states are defined by their functional role in the system.

What is the Hard Problem?

A debate between physicalists and dualists about how we understand consciousness. Dualists believe that consciousness cannot be understood solely from a physical standpoint because the mind is made up of other thinking stuff. Physicalists say there is no hard problem.

What does Nagel write/argue?

Nagel writes What it is Like to be a Bat. Argues that you can never truly understand what it is like to be another organism.

Who is Noe?

Noe is an enactivist, who discusses the impact of the environment on individuals. He discusses the 4Es approach to the mind.

What are Noe's 4Es?

Embodied: involving body parts beyond the brain.

Embedded: situated within the environment.

Enacted: involving activity with the environment.

Extended: incorporating things from the environment.

What are the components of a neuron?

Dendrites, axon terminal, axon, myelin sheath, nodes of Ranvier

What is the function of dendrites?

Receive signals

What is the function of myelin sheath?

insulates axon; speeds up transmission of impulse

What are nodes of Ranvier?

Breaks in the myelin that allow action potential to be refreshed

How is resting potential maintained?

Sodium potassium pump. Two potassium in and three sodium out makes the cell more negative relative to the exterior.

What is the refractory period?

Period where another action potential cannot happen

What are EPSPs?

Excitatory postsynaptic potentials that make the cell more positive

What are IPSPs?

Inhibitory signals that trigger the influx of negative ions into the cell.

What is spatial summation?

Simultaneous EPSPs from multiple presynaptic neurons

What is temporal summation?

High rate of firing from one presynaptic neuron

What is Multiple Sclerosis?

Degradation of the myelin sheath, motor deficits, extreme fatigue

What is epilepsy?

Caused by synchronized electrical energy, can be treated by removing part of the brain.

What is Parkinson's disease?

Cell death in substantia nigra, leading to dopamine deficiency and movement difficulties.

What is saltatory conduction?

Rapid conduction of electrical signals along myelinated axons.

How does myelin help in saltatory conduction?

Insulates the axon and prevents charge dissipation.

What are the nodes of Ranvier?

Gaps in the myelin sheath where action potential is renewed.

What are the primary types of Myelin cells?

Schwann cells (peripheral nervous system) and oligodendrocytes (central nervous system)

What did Otto Loewi's experiment demonstrate?

Chemical messaging between neurons. His experiment used two frog hearts and shows that the neurotransmitters flowed through the fluids to stimulate the second heart.

What controls neurotransmitter release?

Calcium ions.

What happens when the action potential reaches the terminal?

Depolarization opens voltage-gated Calcium channels.

What are ionotropic receptors?

Receptors where neurotransmitter bind directly to the receptor and cause a channel to open allowing the flow of ions. One-step process.

What are metabotropic receptors?

Receptors where neurotransmitter binding activates a G protein and triggers a cascade reaction.

How can chemical messaging be better than electrical messaging?

It prevents overwhelming the system and allows for message modification.

What is the role of Calcium in neurotransmitter release?

It triggers synaptic vesicle fusion and neurotransmitter release.

What happens after a neurotransmitter binds to the postsynaptic cell?

The binding of the neurotransmitter will trigger the receptors to allow ions to flow into the postsynaptic cell.

What is one advantage of metabotropic receptors over ionotropic receptors?

Metabotropic receptors provide longer and stronger signals through a cascade reaction.

Who is Henry Moliason?

Also known as HM, he is one of the most famous patients in neuroscience. He suffered from severe epilepsy and ultimately had his medial temporal lobe removed, which caused amnesia.

What part of H.M.'s brain was removed?

His medial temporal lobe (including hippocampus and surrounding cortexes) were removed, causing amnesia.

What type of memory did Henry Moliason lose?

He lost the ability to make new declarative memories

What type of memory is still intact for Henry Moliason?

Non-declarative skill learning.

What is episodic memory?

Personal history, memory of events.

What is semantic memory?

General knowledge of facts. This can be shared across people (ex. capital of France is Paris).

What is declarative memory?

Memory that can be expressed verbally.

What is the role of the hippocampus?

Declarative memory and learning.

What is short-term/working memory?

Temporary storage of information in the brain. Can usually only hold a few pieces of information and is only retained while rehearsing.

What are flashbulb memories?

Highly emotional memories - a type of episodic memory.

What is priming?

Faster processing due to recent exposure.

What is perceptual learning?

The ability to distinguish small differences in sensory stimuli.

What is the mere-exposure effect?

Preference for familiar stimuli.

What are the two parts of the self according to Schechtman?

You in the moment and you in the past/future

What are the four things needed to establish the performance of sharing memories?

Taken for granted setting, implied values, ritual, naturalized

Give an example of Pavlovian conditioning.

Eye-blink conditioning: associating a tone with an air puff.

Where do the signals converge in eye-blink conditioning? (Hint: what part of the brain is important for this circuit?)

Cerebellar nuclei.

How is fear measured in rats?

Fear-potentiated startle or freeze.

What brain structure is fear dependent on?

Amygdala.

How can rats be conditioned to freeze?

By associating a tone with an expected shock.

What is fear-potentiated startle?

Increased startle response due to conditioning to another stimulus. For example if rats are shocked in association with a light, they will be more startled by a loud sound in a light environment than the same loud sound in a dark environment.

What is habit learning?

Learning through repeated actions and associations. Ex. making a right turn automatically in the maze.

How is habit learning tested?

Using a cross maze to differentiate habit from goal-oriented learning.

What brain region is needed for developing habits?

Striatum. This is shown with the cross-test in rats. Those with a damaged striatum will learn the place but can never develop the right turn habit.

What effect does damage to the hippocampus have on learning?

Makes goal-oriented learning harder, but habit learning is still possible.

What is the role of the medial temporal lobe in memory?

Critical for declarative memory.

What happens when the hippocampus is damaged?

Processed information from other brain regions cannot come together to form new memories.

Who is HM?

A famous amnesiac patient with medial temporal lobe damage.

What is the working memory like in EP?

Fine, unaffected by amnesia.

What can EP remember and what does he struggle with?

He can remember old memories but has difficulty forming new ones.

How do sea slugs demonstrate non-associative learning?

Sea slugs show habituation, a type of non-associative learning. When the siphon is repeatedly sprayed with water, it begins to retract its gill less.

What happens to synapses in the sea slug associative memory example?

Neurotransmitter release decreases over time, leading to synapse withdrawal.

What is habituation?

Decreased response to a stimulus over time.

What is long-term potentiation?

Increased synaptic strength after strong stimulation, important for memory storage.

What is the role of magnesium in NMDA receptor activation?

Blocks NMDA receptor until cell becomes positive, preventing Calcium from entering the cell through the channel.

In terms of LTP, what happens when the cell becomes positive?

Magnesium leaves the NMDA receptor, allowing calcium ions to flow into the cell.

How does NMDA receptor activation affect AMPA receptors?

Triggers more AMPA receptors to open up

What is the effect of AMPA receptor activation?

Allows more NA+ to enter the cell for future action potentials. This triggers a postsynaptic response faster, making the signal stronger.

How are Alzheimer's and dementia related?

Alzheimer's is a type of dementia

What is the main risk factor for Alzheimer's disease?

Increasing age

What happens in the brain during Alzheimer's disease?

Loss of neurons, tangles, and beta-amyloid plaques

What are the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease?

Cognitive impairment that impedes daily life

What are some risk factors for Alzheimer's disease?

APOE-4 gene, ABCA7 gene, head injury

How does the APOE-4 gene increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease?

the APOE-4 variation of APOE is less efficient at breaking down beta-amyloid than other versions, leading to more plaques.

Which gene is more of a risk for Alzheimer's in African Americans?

ABCA7 gene

What is a protective factor against Alzheimer's disease?

Education - has been shown to be significant even after removing other confounding variables.

What is the Nun-study?

A study that followed nuns in a covenant to understand Alzheimer's risk factors. This allowed them to remove other confounding variables in the process.

Why is the Nun-study helpful?

It removes some environmental factors as all nuns experience the same conditions

How did the Nun-study predict Alzheimer's risk?

Based on the complexity of entrance essays - more complex essays indicated lower risk

What is cognitive reserve (relating to Alzheimer's)?

Starting with higher intelligence delays Alzheimer's symptoms and allows for a longer lifespan

Can cognitive reserve delay death from Alzheimer's?

Yes, it may allow individuals to die from other causes before Alzheimer's progresses

Who is Schechtman?

The author of Glad it Happened reading, which discusses episodic selves and the connection of an individual throughout time.

In Glad it Happened, who is Strawson and what does he believe?

Strawson is an episodic that the author refers to. He believes that you only exist in the present moment.

What do episodics believe?

They believe that the present self is not connected to the past or the future.

What is Schechtman's view?

She believes in a multi-perspectival viewpoint. She argues that there are two parts, the you in the moment and the you of the past and future. These two parts battle to make a decision.

What is narrative identity?

A type of autobiographical memory that is influence by social and cultural interactions

What is "Depth of processing"?

Depth of processing is the understanding that deep encoding is when we process something for memory and shallow encoding happens when we process information just in terms of physical characteristics.

What experiment shows depth of processing?

Learning a list of words by rating them vs learning them by counting the number of syllables.

What is the best way to study?

Spaced learning with an increased amount of time between each session to allow for more forgetting.

What was Karpicke and Roediger's study?

Their study with Swahili words found that the difference in performance is due to testing yourself on what you are learning.

What does it mean that memory is competitive?

The neural pathways go over each other, so when you have to remember a name it strengthens the path to that name, writing it over other names you know.

What do Bjork and Bjork argue for?

Desirable difficulties when learning in order to make you encode it better.