learning / memory study guide

Habituation

Decrease in response to a repeated, non-threatening, or irrelevant stimulus.

Sensitization

Increase in response to a stimulus, often due to it being intense, harmful, or arousing.

Kandel’s Hypothesis 1

Sensory neurons become less responsive after repeated stimulation.

Kandel’s Hypothesis 2

Motor neurons become fatigued during repeated stimulation.

Kandel’s Hypothesis 3

Changes occur between sensory and motor neurons.

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

A long-lasting increase in synaptic strength thought to be associated with memory formation.

Long-Term Depression (LTD)

A long-lasting decrease in synaptic strength that is associated with learning.

AMPA receptors

Receptors that, when added to the membrane, allow for a larger response to glutamate.

NMDA receptors

Receptors typically involved in the process of LTP and learning.

Retrograde amnesia

Loss of memories from the past.

Anterograde amnesia

Inability to form new memories.

Patient H.M.

Had retrograde/anterograde amnesia and explicit memory issues after the removal of parts of his hippocampi and temporal lobes.

Explicit memory

Memory of facts and events that can be consciously recalled.

Procedural memory

Type of long-term memory related to skills and procedures.

Korsakoff’s Syndrome

Memory disorder caused by thiamine deficiency, associated with alcoholism.

Delated Non-Matching to Sample Task

Task requiring transfer of memories from short-term to long-term systems.

Prefrontal Cortex

Damage causes short-term memory issues and difficulty with the Wisconsin Card Sorting task.

Basal Ganglia

Lesions impact procedural memory, impaired in Huntington's and Parkinson's Disease.

Cerebellum

Region of the brain possibly key to motor learning and procedural memory.

Papez’s Circuit

Network connecting thalamus, mammillary bodies, and hippocampus, critical for long memories.

Cortisol

Hormone that may damage the hippocampus and affect memory.

Gill-withdrawal reflex

A reflex shown by Aplysia, demonstrating habituation and sensitization.

Long-term changes in Aplysia

Changes in axon terminals after habituation (800) or sensitization (2800).

Memory formation and synaptic strength

Long-term potentiation strengthens the synapse, aiding in memory.

Hebbian theory

Neurons that fire together wire together, a principle relating to LTP.

Memory consolidation

The process by which short-term memories are converted into long-term memories.

Right Hippocampus

Active during spatial memory processing.

Left Hippocampus

Active during verbal memory tasks.

Stress

Impacts the amygdala and hippocampus.