Learning & Memory
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abhishekgowdar2006Learning & Memory
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abhishekgowdar2006LEARNING & MEMORY
Learning…
Neural mechanism by which an individual
changes his or her behavior on the basis of
past experience
1. Reflex learning
◦ Immediate behavioral change
2. Incidental
◦ Acquire information about the world while
attending incidentally to sensory inputs and
develop potential to behave differently
Reflex learning
I. Non Associative II. Associative
1. Habituation 1. Classical
2. Sensitization 2. Operant
Non Associative
learning
Habituation…
Decrease in response to a benign stimulus
when the stimulus is presented repeatedly
“What is it” response / Orientation reflex
Eg - New Clock- Difficulty in sleeping
Cellular basis…
Gill withdrawal reflex
Siphon of the snail is touched repeatedly
The snail doesn’t withdraw its gill anymore
Habituation
Decreased neurotransmitter release –
decreased Ca2+ influx at the axon ending
Sensitization…
Repeated application of pleasant or unpleasant
stimulus produces greater response.
Responds vigorously to mild tactile response
after a painful pinch
◦ Opposite of habituation
◦ ↑ release of neurotransmitter
◦ Facilitatory neuron, 5 HT,
Associative learning
Associative Learning…
Subject learns about relation between 2
stimulus or between stimulus and behavior
2 forms Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
Classical conditioning…
Learning a relationship between 2 stimuli
Pavlovian conditioning / conditioned reflex type I
/ respondent conditioning / type S conditioning
Reflex response to stimulus that previously
elicited little or no response – acquired by
repeatedly pairing the stimulus with another
stimulus
Pavlov’s Classic Experiment
Before Conditioning
UCS (food
in mouth)
Neutral
UCR stimulus No
(salivation) (tone) salivation
During Conditioning After Conditioning
UCS (food
in mouth)
Neutral CS
stimulus UCR (tone)
(tone) (salivation) CR (salivation)
Prerequisites for conditioned reflex
1. Alertness and good health
2. Timing of US and CS
3. Duration of CS
4. Reinforcement
5. No External inhibition
6. Type of US- diff with motor response
7. Pleasant/ Unpleasant/ Neutral US
Physiological basis…
Formation of new functional connection in
the nervous system
Pavlov’s experiment - new functional
connection – between auditory pathway
and the autonomic centers controlling
salivation
Memory…
Acquisition, storage & retrieval of sensory
information
I. Physiologically
1. Implicit memory
2. Explicit memory
II. Permanency of storage
1. Short term (seconds – hrs)
2. Intermediate long term (days – weeks)
3. Long term (recalled years later or lifetime)
Implicit memory…
Non declarative / reflexive memory
Refers to information about how to perform
something
Not associated with awareness & not processed in
hippocampus
Eg: riding motor cycle- initially remembers steps of
changing gear, till it becomes a reflexive habit.
Once skill is acquired, act becomes unconscious.
Most of implicit memory are acquired
through different forms of reflexive learning
I. Non associative
1. Habituation
2. Sensitization
II. Associative
1. Classical conditioning
2. Operant conditioning
Explicit memory…
Declarative / recognition memory
Refers to factual knowledge of people, places
and things and what these facts mean
Associated with consciousness & depends on
hippocampus & other parts of medial temporal
lobe
1. Semantic memory – memory of facts
2. Episodic memory – memory of events or personal
experience
Semantic memory
Long term memory
Factual memory
Knowledge of objects, facts, words & meaning
Stored - different association areas
◦ Visual memory
◦ Auditory memory
◦ Somatosensory memory
Damage to a specific cortical area leads to
loss of specific information
◦ Associative visual agnosia – damage to posterior
parietal cortex – cannot name objects but can
draw
◦ Appreciative visual agnosia – damage to occipital
lobe – unable to draw but can name objects
Episodic memory
Autobiographical memory
Memory of events and personal experience
Stored in association areas of prefrontal
cortex
Source amnesia
Intermediate long term - explicit
Temporary chemical or physical changes in
presynaptic or post synaptic membrane –
lasts for few minutes to weeks
Stored information – still labile in this stage
Consolidated to long term memory
Long term - explicit
Consolidation – process that alter the newly
stored and still labile information so as to make
it more stable for long term storage
5 – 10 mins for minimum consolidation
One or more hrs for strong consolidation
Rehearsal mechanism
Memories codified into different classes of
information
Process of consolidation
Expression of genes
Synthesis of new proteins
Structural changes that store memory stably
1. Increase in number of synaptic vesicle release sites
2. Increase in number of available synaptic vesicles
3. Increase in number of synaptic terminals
4. Changes in shape & number of post synaptic
spines
Storage of memory…
Short term – hippocampus
Long term – parts of neocortex
Retrieval of memory…
Processes that permit the recall & use of
stored information
Constructive process – subject to distortion
Retrieval cues – presence of same cues
help in acquiring information
Multiple routes or keys to each stored
memory
Working memory…
Both initial encoding and ultimate recall of
explicit memory are thought to require
recruitment of stored information into a special
short term memory store – working memory
Attentional control system – prefrontal cortex
Rehearsal system
◦ Articulatory loop Posterior
association areas
◦ Visuospatial sketch pad
Applied aspects…
Drugs facilitation memory
CNS stimulants – caffeine, amphetamine,
physostigmine, nicotine, strychnine
Mechanism of action
Facilitate consolidation of memory
Amnesia…
Loss of memory
1. Anterograde – inability to establish new
long term memories – hippocampal lesion
2. Retrograde – inability to recall past –
temporal lobe
Senile dementia…
Clinical syndrome in elderly people
Progressive impairment of memory & cognitive
capacities
Causes
1. Alzheimer’s disease
2. Cerebrovascular disease
3. Lewy body dementia
4. Parkinsonism
5. Prion disease
Alzheimer’s disease
Prototypical neurodegenerative disease
Series of abnormalities that affect neurons of
neocortex, entorhinal area, hippocampus,
amygdala, nucleus basalis, anterior thalamus
Accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles in the
neuronal cytoplasm
Features
1. Loss of recent memory
2. Cognitive impairment –language, problem
solving, judgment
3. Psychiatric symptoms
4. Extrapyramidal & hyperkinetic symptoms
5. Loss of spatial orientation
No effective treatment
Physostigmine – can improve
Art of Memory
Improve memory
1. Memory exercise
2. Healthy eating, physical fitness
3. Stress reduction
4. Practice time- distribute study time, spend
“quality time’’ studying
5. Mnemonics