Learning and Memory

Learning is the process of acquiring new information. Memory is: The ability to store and retrieve information. The specific information stored in the brain.

Function
Provides flexibility and adjusts the behavior of an individual to a specific local environment.

Outline
Aspects of memory
- Temporal aspects - Contents/Types

- Brain areas
Cellular basis - Synaptic plasticity

Memory has different

- temporal aspects time course - contents types of memory

- neural bases brain areas

Time Course

Iconic memories are the briefest and store sensory impressions.

 Short-term memory or working memory usually last only for seconds, or throughout rehearsal. Rehearsal Mechanisms: Phonological loopcontains auditory information. Visuospatial sketch padholds visual impressions. Episodic buffercontains more integrated information.

Memory demonstration

Short-term/Working memory
Capacity: 7 2 items [Chunking]
Duration: As long as attention, rapid decay

Long-term memories (LTMs) last for days to years.

A functional memory system has three aspects: Encodingsensory information is encoded into short-term memory. Consolidationinformation may be consolidated into long-term storage. Retrievalstored information is retrieved.

Patient H.M.

Loss of hippocampus, amygdala and part of temporal lobe.

Amnesia (Impairment of memory)

X
surgery

Retrograde

Anterograde

Patient H.M.
Problem consolidating memories. Short term memory was fine. Long term memory was fine.

Testing memories in monkeys: Delayed non-matching-to-sample task must choose the object that was not seen previously. Medial temporal lobe damage causes impairment on this task.

Figure 17.9 The Delayed Non-Matching-to-Sample Task

Figure 17.10 Memory Performance after Medial Temporal Lobe Lesions

Imaging studies confirm the importance of medial temporal (hippocampal) and diencephalic regions in forming long-term memories. Both are activated during encoding and retrieval, but long-term storage depends on the cortex.

Memory Demonstration

Figure 17.6 Serial Position Curves from Immediate-Recall Experiments

Mechanisms differ for STM and LTM storage, but are similar across species. The primacy effect is the higher performance for items at the beginning of a list (LTM). The recency effect shows better performance for the items at the end of a list (STM).

Long-term memory has a large capacity, but can be altered. The memory trace, or record of a learning experience, can be affected by other events before or after. Each time a memory trace is activated and recalled, it is subject to changes.

Reconsolidation
Previously consolidated memories are stabilized after retrieval: Memory maintenance is a dynamic process

Updating old memories Disrupting old memories False memories

Consolidation and sleep

Hippocampus is activated during sleep in trained subjects

Overnight improvement is correlated with hippocampus activation during sleep

Long-term memory
Capacity: Unlimited
Duration: Days to years Location: Multiple areas

Types of Memory

Declarative memory

Nondeclarative memory How Skills Unconscious Implicit

What Facts, events Conscious Explicit

Patient N.A. Damage to medial diencephalon

Impaired in forming declarative memories. Normal STM. Similar impairments to H.M.

Declarative memory
- Consolidation Hippocampus, cortex, medial diencephalon - Retrieval Hippocampus (sometimes), cortex

Episodic vs. semantic memories

Episodic and semantic memories are processed in different areas. Episodic (autobiographical) memories cause greater activation of the right frontal and temporal lobes.

Nondeclarative memory (Implicit memory) Skill learning (Procedural)

Basal ganglia

Motor cortex

Cerebellum

Patient H.M.

Patient H.M. has normal non-declarative memory!

Loss of hippocampus, amygdala and part of temporal lobe.

Not required for consolidation of non-declarative memories.

Nondeclarative memory
Priming

Basic Priming Example

Subject is presented with a list of words: Stamp Fish Table An intervening task usually occurs. . . Then in an unrelated task, the . subject is asked to complete a list of words, e.g. STA-

Priming outside awareness

Experiment
Control: Priming: Priming and reward: string of random letters vigorous exert .. paired with good

Subliminal perception increases performance

Nondeclarative memory
Conditioning Classical (Pavlovian) conditioning

Operant Conditioning

An association is formed between behavior and consequences of that behavior.

Types of memory

Different types: temporal domain, content Different brain areas Similar processes on cellular level: Plasticity

Memory at the cellular level

How are memories stored in the brain? How do we get from neurons firing to being able to remember something? What kinds of long term changes are found in neurons and synapses?

Historical Perspective
Donald Hebb How do independent cells become networked?
Hebbian Learning: Coactivation is key Cells that fire together wire together

relevant to this day

Historical Perspective
Eric Kandel
What are the neural circuits? Use aplysia to work it out

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Synaptic Plasticity
The ability of synapses to change in response to an experience. Simple forms of memory
- habituation: becoming less responsive following repeated presentations of a stimulus. -long term potentiation (the opposite): enhancement of synaptic transmission following repeated strong presentations

Tetanus:

Brief high frequency burst of electrical stimuli

Before

After tetanus

Long Term Potentiation (LTP)

An increase in the magnitude of the response of the postsynaptic neuron after the presynaptic neuron has been stimulated.
Cellular basis in the hippocampus can involve glutamate signaling.

Long Term Synaptic Changes

Longer term structural changes

In the long term, LTP causes changes in protein synthesis and in the structure of the dendrite

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Long Term Synaptic Changes

Longer term structural changes

Presynaptic: - sustained transmitter release

Postsynaptic
- more receptors - larger postsynaptic areas - changes in dendritic spines

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But what about behavior?

1.In rats, learning (enriched environments) causes postsynaptic changes similar to LTP
2.Rats without NMDA receptors (knock out) are impaired at learning

Cellular Memories: Summary

Co-activation - Hebbian learning - can provide an efficient learning mechanism. Simple organisms provide a powerful model for studying memory at the synaptic level Synaptic plasticity: the structure and strength of the synapse is altered Long Term Potentiation and long term habituation are examples of synaptic plasticity and possibly a mechanism for behavioral learning