Neuroscience Learning and Memory Concepts

Learning in neuroscience

Learning is how experience changes the brain.

Memory in neuroscience

Memory is how changes from learning are stored and subsequently reactivated.

Severe anterograde amnesia

Patient H.M. could not form new long-term memories.

Medial portion of temporal lobes

This part of the brain was removed in H.M.'s surgery.

Mirror-Drawing Test

This test required H.M. to trace a shape in a mirror and showed improvement despite no memory of the task.

Implicit memory

This type of memory is assessed in repetition priming tasks like the mirror-drawing test.

Types of amnesia

The two main types of amnesia are retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia.

Explicit (declarative) memory

This type of memory includes facts and events and requires conscious recall.

Cerebellum and striatum

These parts of the brain are primarily involved in storing implicit memories.

Korsakoff's Syndrome

This memory disorder is associated with chronic alcohol use and involves damage to multiple brain areas.

Hebb's Theory of Memory Consolidation

This theory suggests that short-term memory is maintained through neural reverberation in closed circuits.

Reconsolidation Theory

This hypothesis states that memories become labile when retrieved and must be reconsolidated.

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

A persistent strengthening of synapses based on recent patterns of activity, key to learning and memory.

Phases of LTP

The three phases of LTP are Induction, Maintenance, and Expression.

Delayed Nonmatching-to-Sample Test

This test measures a monkey's ability to distinguish a novel object after a delay.

Place Cells

These cells in the hippocampus activate when in specific locations.

Grid Cells

These cells in the entorhinal cortex form a grid-like spatial pattern.

Amygdala's role in memory

It stores the emotional significance of experiences.

Morris Water Maze Test

This memory test involves rats finding a hidden platform in a pool.

Mnemonic for amnesia

Retrograde = can't Recall past; Anterograde = can't form memories After injury.