Study Guide for Exam 3 Key terms from study guide are bolded Lectures 5 14 5 15 5 19 Chapter 13 Parts I and II Learning and memory We discover about learning and memory by examining how they fail We use animal models and brain imaging technology to get a comprehensive picture of the brain s mechanism of learning and memory Learning and memory are often paired Learning the process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information behavior patterns or abilities characterized by modifications of behavior as a result of practice study or experience Memory 1 the ability to retain information based on the mental process of learning or encoding retention across some interval of time consolidation and retrieval or reactivation of the memory 2 the specific information that is stored in the brain o Amnesia forgetfulness is a severe impairment of memory usually as a result of accident or disease amnesia Retrograde amnesia difficulty in retrieving memories formed before the onset of after an accident that damages the brain people often have retrograde amnesia with regard to events that happened a few hours or days before the accident Anterograde amnesia difficulty in forming new memories beginning with the onset of a disorder Hippocampus a medial temporal lobe structure that is important for learning and memory responsible for converting short term memories into long term memories Hippocampus neurogenesis and forgetting Neurogenesis leads to forgetting new neurons new memories but also leads to forgetting Cellular memory more neurogenesis more forgetting infants have more neurogenesis than adults and thus forget more exercise decrease memory retention or increase forgetting Patient H M a patient who because of damage to medial temporal lobe structures was unable to encode new declarative memories Most old memories remained intact but he had difficulty recollecting any events that took place after his surgery unable to retain any new material for more than a period of time His surgery removed the amygdala most of the hippocampus and some surrounding cortex from both temporal lobes the memory deficit seemed to be caused by loss of the hippocampus He is able to form nondeclarative procedural memory he learned the skill of mirror tracing but he is not able to form declarative memory Learned to form associations between the Doctor s first and last name Mammillary bodies damage of it can also cause amnesia one of a pair of limbic system structures that are connected to the hippocampus a Patient N A a patient who is unable to encode new declarative memories because of damage to the dorsomedial thalamus and the mammillary bodies dorsomedial thalamus a limbic system structure that is connected to the hippocampus Patient N A shows normal short term memory and can gain new nondeclarative memories but he is impaired in forming declarative long term memories similar to Patient H M s case Korsakoff s syndrome a memory disorder related to a thiamine deficiency that is generally associated with chronic alcoholism Involves damage in some parts of the limbic system eps The mammillary bodies and dorsomedial thalamus but not in temporal lobe structures like the hippocampus b Patient K C a patient who sustained damage to the cortex that renders him unable to form and retrieve new episodic memories Can acquire new semantic knowledge but cannot acquire new episodic knowledge Unlike patients with retrograde amnesia he knows his name and recognizes his family although he can t remember any particular events with those people His inability to recall any autobiographical episodic memory may be a consequence of injuries to frontal and parietal cortex Different parts of the brain are activated if the story you are listening to is about yourself as opposed to someone else s story suggesting that autobiographical memories are processed in different parts of the brain from other memories greater activation of right frontal and temporal lobe regions There are three different stages of memory the briefest iconic sensory memory somewhat longer STM and long lasting LTM Also refer to Fig 13 12 o Long term memory modification of network strength i e LTP I Declarative memory a memory that can be stated or described things you know that you can tell others the memory that we use to answer the what question hard to test in animals facts and information acquired through learning the type of memory we are aware of accessing which we can declare to others the type of memory that was so profoundly impaired by Henry s surgery Delayed non matching to sample task a way to measure declarative memory a test of object recognition memory that requires monkeys to declare what they remember the monkey is initially presented with a sample object when he displaces it he finds food underneath it after a variable delay the monkey is presented with the original object and another object over a series of trials with different pairs of objects the monkey learns that food is present under the object that differs from the sample the monkey declares his memory of the key by not choosing it a Semantic memory generalized declarative memory such as knowing the meaning of a word without knowing where and when you learned that word general knowledge about the world memorized facts i e presidents of the U S Information stored in the cortex b Episodic memory also called autobiographical memory Memory of a particular incident or a particular time and place i e individual experience anecdotes life events birthdays graduation information stored in cortex II Nondeclarative Procedural memory a memory that is shown by performance rather than by conscious recollection memory about perceptual or motor procedures the type of memory we use to answer the how questions a Skill learning the process of learning how to perform a challenging task simply by repeating it over and over i e mirror tracing task performed by Henry Molaison learning to read mirror reversed text everyday skills physical abilities ride a bike play the piano basal ganglia cerebellum and motor cortex are important for sensorimotor skill learning in normal people basal ganglia a group of forebrain nuclei found deep within the cerebral hemisphere that is crucial for skill learning b Priming also called repetition priming The phenomenon by which exposure to a stimulus facilitates subsequent responses to the same or a similar stimulus recently encountered things are more likely to be recalled a change