Learning and Memory

This flashcard set contains extensive definitions and examples of learning and memory, as well as the neural circuits involved in neuroplasticity. Taken from Breedlove & Watson (2023), these flashcards were created as a study guide for the Unit 4 Exam in Behavioral Neurobiology at BYUI-I.

Learning

Acquiring new and (relatively) enduring information, behavior patterns, or abilities, characterized by modifications of behavior from practice, study, and experience

Memory

The ability to store, retain, and retrieve information based on the mental process of encoding

Amnesia

Severe impairment of memory resulting from accident or disease

Retrograde amnesia

Difficulty in retrieving memories formed before amnesia onset - before an event such as a surgery or head injury

Anterograde amnesia

The inability to form new memories beginning with the onset of a disorder

Patient H.M.

A patient unable to encode new declarative memories (anterograde amnesia) due to damage to medial temporal lobe structures

Declarative memory

Facts and information acquired through learning that can be stated or described

Nondeclarative (procedural) memory

Memory of perceptual or motor procedures shown by performance rather than conscious recollection

Delayed non-matching-to-sample task

A test in which, on each trial, the participant must select the stimulus that was not presented previously

Patient N.A.

A person unable to encode new declarative memories due to damage to the dorsal thalamus and mammillary bodies

Korsakoff’s syndrome

A memory disorder related to thiamine deficiency, associated with chronic alcoholism, shrunken mammillary bodies, and damaged dorsomedial thalamus

Patient K.C.

A person who sustained damage to the cortex that rendered him unable to retrieve autobiographical (episodic) memories while having intact semantic memories

Episodic memory

A declarative memory of a particular incident, time, and place

Semantic memory

Generalized declarative memory - knowing the meaning of a word without knowing the context of when or where it was learned

Three types of nondeclarative memory

Skill learning, priming, associative learning

Skill learning

Learning to perform tasks that require motor coordination, like reading mirror-reversed text or riding a bike

Priming (repetition priming)

The phenomenon by which prior exposure to a stimulus facilitates responses to the same or a similar stimulus

Associative learning (conditioning)

A type of learning in which association is formed between two stimuli or between a stimuli and response, including classical and operant conditioning

Operant (instrumental) conditioning

A form of associative learning in which associations are formed between an individual’s behavior and the consequences of that behavior

Classical (Pavlovian) conditioning

A type of associative learning in which, after pairing, originally neutral stimuli elicit responses normally elicited by an unconditioned stimuli

Cognitive map

A mental representation and understanding of the relative spatial organization of objects and information

Place cells

Hippocampal neurons that selectively fire when the animal is in or moves toward a particular location within a room

Grid cells

Neurons that selectively fire when an animal crosses intersection points of an abstract grid map of the local environment

Border cells

Neurons that selectively fire when an animal arrives at the perimeter of a local spatial cognitive map

Species of food-caching birds have larger ______ than their noncaching cousins

Hippocampi

Sensory buffers

An element of the type of briefest memory that stores sensory impressions of a scene

Short-term memories (STMs)

A form of memory that usually lasts only for seconds or as long as rehearsal continues, especially while being used during performance of a task

Working memory

A type of short-term memory that holds limited information for ready access during task performance - the manipulation and processing of information in STM

Intermediate-term memory

A form of memory lasting longer than STM but not as long as LTM

Long-term memories (LTMs)

Enduring, high-capacity declarative and nondeclarative memories that last days, weeks, months, or years

Processing steps of memory

Encoding, consolidation (into engrams), retrieval, reconsolidation

Encoding

A stage of memory formation in which information entering sensory channels is passed into STM

Consolidation

The conversion of memories from STM (or intermediate-term memory) into LTM

Engrams (memory trace)

The physical basis of a memory in the brain, possibly involving circuits rather than individual neurons

Retrieval

A memory process in which a stored memory is used for future behavior under the direction of cognitive processes like attention

Reconsolidation

The process by which retrieved, plastic memories are strengthened or altered and returned to LTM

Neuroplasticity

The ability of neurons and neural circuits to be remodeled by events

Standard condition (SC)

The usual environment for lab rodents: housed in small groups in standard lab cages with adequate food

Impoverished condition (IC, or isolated condition)

A condition in which lab rodents are housed alone in a small cage without complex stimuli

Enriched condition (EC, or complex environment)

A condition in which lab rodents are housed in groups with wide varieties of stimuli such as toys and other interesting features

Plastic changes of brains in EC animals

Heavier and thicker cortex, more dendritic branches

Nonassociative learning

Learning in which presentation of a stimulus alters the strength or probability of response according to the strength/timing of that stimulus

Three types of nonassociative learning

Habituation, dishabituation, sensitization

Habituation

A form of nonassociative learning in which an organism becomes less responsive following repeated presentations of a stimulus

Dishabituation

A restoration of response amplitude following habituation, often caused by strong stimuli (of the same sort or even another sensory modality)

Sensitization

A type of nonassociative learning in which an organism becomes more responsive to most stimuli after being exposed to unusually strong/painful stimulation

Unconditioned and conditioned eye-blink responses both involve neurons that synapse in the _______ of the _______

Interpositus nucleus, cerebellum

Hebbian synapse

A synapse that is strengthened when it successfully drives the postsynaptic cell

Cell assemblies

A group of cells (linked via Hebbian synapse activity) that tend to be activated simultaneously or in close succession

Tetanus (tetanic stimulation)

An intense volley of action potentials, which seems to strengthen synapses

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

A stable, enduring increase in the effectiveness of synapses following repeated strong stimulation

Dentate gyrus

A strip of gray matter in the hippocampal formation associated with LTP

AMPA receptors

Glutamate receptors that bind the glutamate agonist AMPA, being the only activated receptors in a CA1 synapse during normal, low-level activity

In low-level synaptic activity, ________ cannot respond to glutamate because ___ ions block their Ca++ channels

NMDA receptors, Mg++

Protein kinases

Intracellular enzymes that alter or activate various proteins

CREB (cAMP responsive-element-binding protein)

A transcription factor activated by kinases that impacts the expression of genes involved in encoding various proteins and therefore neural plasticity

Conditional knockout

A gene selectively deactivated in specific tissues and/or at specific stages of development

Nootropics

A class of drugs that enhance cognitive function