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Conditioning and Learning Test 2 Chapters 9 11 6 16 15 Manipulating Memory Now that we have gotten through the anatomy of the brain and the way that neurons change anatomically to reflect learning we start to look at behavioral indicators of learning and memory Before we make this shift we have to ask the question how is information contained within a specific experience encoded in the brain o This requires a discussion of some important conceptual and methodological issues For example since we know about LTP isn t that all we need Well no because it is not memory itself the experience used to induce it bypasses all the sensory inputs that normally bring information in LTP is not real there is much more to memory o So some reminders are needed to conceptualize this process Memories occur when organisms interact with their environments in specific ways Memory is a concept that explains why our experiences at one point in time can influence our behavioral responses later it is in itself a hypothesis to explain these processes in the brain No one has directly observed a complete memory in the human brain so we rely on human or animal behavior to INFER that a specific memory exists Knowing this concept s existence and its role we want to link it to what we already know of the physical properties of the brain We use the idea of a memory trace to connect anatomical and behavioral aspects of memory o Train observable experience Memory trace inferred can t be seen Test behavioral change observable the behavioral examination gives a window to the memory trace We look at behavior to see if an event has changed the response can t directly be measured but behavior gives a glimpse it s the best tool available o Learning and memory from a behaviorists perspective Learning is a change in capacity for behavior due to particular kinds of experience Memory is when that change in capacity persists over time The Learning Performance Distinction o Learning can happen without a change in performance there may be no observable behavior change E g latent learning episodic memory these are both a change in the capacity for behavior learning happened but it isn t observed o There are also behavior changes from experience that are NOT learning E g sensory adaptation not all experiences are learning and not all learning shows up with experience SO there is a separation between the two though we use performance as an indicator there are problems there o Traditional Types of Learning Associative Pavlovian stimulus to stimulus and Instrumental Operant response to outcome Non Associative Habituation and Sensitization no connection between stimuli But not all learning fits into these traditional categories real learning in the wild is often messy compared to lab forms Other examples imprinting social learning latent learning insight Humans are better at learning through imitation than almost any other species we also us vocal learning by imitation in a special way we use it to share the contents of our memory SO this is just another way that memory is messy and comes in many forms so LTP makes it easier we explain it in a simplistic unidirectional format BUT we need more to understand memory o Behavior is determined by multiple factors and memory is just one of them so if we want to show that memory can be inferred from behavior you have to run A LOT of control groups to rule out other factors Why is the distinction important o There are a whole lot of ways to study memory but they could influence behavior by affecting some component process other than memory this possibility must be ruled out by other experiments through control groups o Furthermore there are things we can have used the behavioral level to help us identify events within the brain memory failure from storage vs retrieval is on example 2 different types of memory disruption that we can look at experimentally when trying to produce a net result of no behavior from memory you have to look at the time span of induced amnesia Storage is permanent retrieval is temporary long term memory and short term memory Our understanding of memory at the behavioral level comes like HM from someone that suffered some sort of physical problem informs our understanding of human memory trace o Looking at effects on STM and LTM when some sort of injury is endured like a head trauma STM is more vulnerable to disruption this is how we learned to separate them o Over time the memory trace enters the long term state we learned this from concussion a circuit breaking experience victims who cannot recall information from the short term state This finding suggests that memories may become resistant to disruption over time a process called consolidation o The other way we look into the structural complexity of the brain is through ECS electroconvulsive shock therapy In 1937 2 Italian psychiatrists Cerletti and Bini applied electrical current across the brain to treat severe psychiatric disorders They induced seizures because they felt they were protective against mental illness those with epilepsy did not have disorders in their hospital BUT this led to the experimental study of memory when it was discovered rom clinical reports that patients who received ECS had impaired STM o Carl Duncan in 1949 used ECS to experimentally induce amnesia in animals when given it within a minute after training it produced amnesia but this did not happen if given more than an hour after training As time passed it was harder to disrupt the memory and consolidation occurred Traumatic Brain injuries TBI and ECS suggest two distinct dimensions of memory o STM requires neural activity has rapid decay and is vulnerable to disruption o LTM does not require neural activity has slow decay and is less vulnerable to disruption o As such memory traces can differ on at least three dimensions duration state vulnerability to disruption Behavioral Dimensions of Memory Traces o STM can be seen as LTP induction it is vulnerable to disruption and decays if not o LTM is like maintenance of LTP it is resistant to disruption and does not require active o Consolidation is seen as protein synthesis what is required to turn learning into maintained work memory Retrieval of the memory is akin to pulling it back into STM for use and awareness you can reconsolidate it into LTM again though where you are unaware of it IF a memory is retrieved and some sort of disruption occurs you could lose it while its in STM and


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