Psych 335 Final Exam Questions CHAP 13

Which of the following was a spared memory ability for Patient H.M. after his brain damage?

a. Recall of memories for events prior to 1953

Which of the following is true of learning

Learning involves the modification of the nervous system by experiences.

Which of the following is true of learning and memory?

The capacity to learn allows an organism to profit from experience.

Your ability to recognize a series of photos that you looked at a month ago is an example of

perceptual learning

The primary function of perceptual learning is to

identify and categorize objects

Your ability to recognize a series of tones, such as the opening notes of "The Star Spangled Banner," is an instance of ________ that likely involves the ________.

perceptual learning; auditory association cortex

Stimulus-response learning involves the ability to

exhibit a specific behavior in the presence of a specific stimulus

In classical conditioning, an organism

shows a species-typical behavior in response to a previously unimportant stimulus

Classical conditioning is considered to be a form of

stimulus-response learning

The________ states that a weak synapse will be strengthened if its activation occurs at the same time that the postsynaptic neuron fires

Hebb rule

The key function of instrumental conditioning is to allow the organism to

adjust behavior according to its consequences

An instrumental response that produces a favorable consequence

will occur more frequently

Your dog bites your best friend Mark each time Mark tries to pet her. Mark stops petting your dog. This is an example of

instrumental conditioning.

Which of the following is true of motor learning

Motor learning involves changes in the motor pathways

Relational learning involves changes in

connections between different regions of sensory association cortex

________ is an example of motor learning

Learning to swing a golf club

An example of relational learning is

forming a mental map of a room based on your experience in the room

Your ability to recall a series of events you have witnessed is referred to as

episodic learning.

Intense electrical stimulation of axons within the hippocampal formation results in

long-term potentiation of postsynaptic neurons

The primary input to the hippocampus is from the

entorhinal cortex.

Associative long-term potentiation requires ________ occur about the same time as ________.

activation of a strong input to a given synapse to; a weak input is activated

Receptors for ________ are involved in long-term potentiation.
a. serotonin

glutamate

The NMDA receptor is unusual in that it is ________-dependent and ________- dependent.

voltage; neurotransmitter

The induction of long-term potentiation in the hippocampus would be blocked by

a drug such as AP5 that blocks NMDA receptors

The pyramidal cells of hippocampal field CA1 are unique in that

axon firing results in action potentials along the dendrites

An action potential that occurs in a dendritic branch after an action potential in a pyramidal cell is termed

the dendritic spike

Associative long-term potentiation reflects increased ________ produced by changes in ________.

calcium entry; NMDA receptors

The increase in synaptic strength that occurs in long-term potentiation is due to a modification of the cell that includes

more postsynaptic AMPA receptors

Which factor below normally prevents the calcium channel of the NMDA receptor from opening in response to only glutamate

The channel is blocked by Mg2+ ions

Long-term potentiation is associated with the movement of ________ to the _______.

AMPA receptors; tip of dendritic spines

Inactivation of type II calcium calmodulin kinase would be expected to

block the formation of long-term potentiation

A key structural change that accompanies long-term potentiation is the
a. decreased size of dendritic spines

formation of new synaptic contacts

Long-term potentiation may involve the formation of ________ within the postsynaptic dendrite, which then acts on the presynaptic element to increase the release of ________

nitric oxide; glutamate

________ is a strong candidate to act as a retrograde messenger from the dendrite to the terminal button

Nitric oxide

Long-lasting, long-term potentiation

requires protein synthesis

Persistence of long-term potentiation for more than an hour requires

increased protein synthesis within the postsynaptic dendrite

The formation of long-term potentiation requires the production of the protein

PKN-zeta

Which of the following is true of long-term depression (LTD)?

LTD is associated with a decrease in the number of AMPA receptors in the postsynaptic neuron

Long-term potentiation (LTP) can be produced in areas CA1 and CA3 of the hippocampus. Which of the following is strong evidence that non-NMDA mechanisms can mediate LTP?

NMDA receptors are sparse in area CA3

Simple perceptual learning involves

the recognition of particular stimuli or categories of stimuli

The ventral stream of visual association cortex continues into the ________ and carries information relating to ________.

inferior temporal cortex; object recognition

Damage to human visual association cortex would be expected to impair the ability to

recognize familiar objects

The MT/MST region of the visual association cortex is key for the

perception of movement

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can disrupt neural circuits in awake humans. The notion that short-term memory (STM) for a visual stimulus involves continued activation of the appropriate visual association cortex is supported by studies in which

TMS applied to the ventral stream disrupted STM for a visual pattern

The ________ plays a key role in short-term memory for all sensory systems.

prefrontal cortex

In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus

is paired repeatedly with a stimulus that evokes a reflexive response

In a conditioned emotional response (CER) study, a tone is paired with a foot shock for a rat. After several trials, the tone alone is a CS that can elicit fear emotional responses. Which of the following is true of the anatomy of this fear response?

The central nucleus of the amygdala integrates the pairing of tone and shock information.

In a conditioned emotional response (CER) study, a tone is paired with a foot shock for a rat. After several trials, the tone alone is a CS that can elicit fear emotional responses. Which of the following is true of the physiology of this fear response?

Damage to the lateral nucleus of the amygdala impairs CER learning.

The notion that learning a conditioned emotional response to a tone involves long-term potentiation is supported by studies in which

CER learning is blocked when a drug prevents the insertion of AMPA receptors into dendritic spines

A genetic manipulation of the lateral amygdala that inactivates PKM-zeta protein would be expected to

block the acquisition of a conditioned emotional response.

Instrumental conditioning involves strengthening connections between

circuits that detect a stimulus and motor control circuits that produce a response

Which of the following is important for the acquisition of complex behaviors that become routine?

As a person becomes proficient in the behavior, the control of the process is transferred to the basal ganglia

Damage to the ________ would be expected to impair instrumental learning in rats.

basal ganglia

The neostriatum is composed of the

caudate nucleus and the putamen.

Damage to the caudate nucleus/putamen in rats would be expected to

impair instrumental conditioning

The behavior of an animal is strongly reinforced by electrical stimulation of the

medial forebrain bundle

James Olds and Peter Milner reported that electrical stimulation of rat brain

could have reinforcing effects

The ________ pathway connects the ventral tegmental area with the nucleus accumbens

mesolimbic

Reinforcing effects of electrical brain stimulation and of drugs such as amphetamine reflect an action on ________ projections of the ________.

dopamine; mesolimbic pathway

An example of a natural reinforcer is

food for a hungry rat

Imaging studies indicate that neural activity within the ________ is increased ________.

nucleus accumbens; when men view pictures of beautiful women

Studies by Schultz and colleagues suggest that release of dopamine within the nucleus accumbens

does not occur for an expected reinforcing stimulus (fruit juice).

People with anterograde amnesia

show impairment of complex relational learning

People with retrograde amnesia cannot

recall events that occurred prior to the brain injury

The most profound symptom of Korsakoff’s syndrome is

severe anterograde amnesia.

Amnesia for events that occur after some disturbance to the brain is called

anterograde amnesia

Patient H.M. developed ________ following bilateral damage to his ________.

anterograde amnesia; medial temporal lobe

Based on the study of Patient H.M., it has been concluded that

the hippocampus converts immediate memories into long-term memories

Based on the study of Patient H.M., it has been concluded that the hippocampus is

not required for retrieval of long-term memories

________ is the process by which immediate memories are transformed into long-term memories

Consolidation

Patient H.M. was able to perform all of the following tasks quite well EXCEPT

consolidating information from short-term memory to long-term memory using rehearsal.

An example of a task that measures perceptual learning would be

recognizing broken drawings

One striking aspect of H.M.’s memory deficit is that he

could learn some new tasks, but was unaware of having learned them.

Memory for events and facts that we can think and talk about is referred to as

declarative memory

Which of the following terms are synonymous

declarative memory; explicit memory

The distinction between implicit and explicit memories is that

we are unable to talk about implicit memories

The most important input of the hippocampus is from

the entorhinal cortex

Patient R.B., who sustained brain damage while in cardiac arrest, exhibited profound anterograde amnesia. Which region of his brain was injured

field CA1 of the hippocampal formation

Which of the following is an explanation of hippocampal damage produced by anoxia?

Activation of NMDA receptors produces an accumulation of calcium ions, which is toxic to the neuron

The notion that episodic memories are distinct from semantic memories is supported by studies in which

persons with semantic dementia show loss of the lateral temporal lobe but not the hippocampal formation

The ________ hippocampal formation is activated by________.

right; spatial information

Damage to the hippocampus in rats would be expected to

impair episodic memory

A person with semantic dementia would be expected to show

difficulty in recalling factual information

During a PET scan, a London cabby is asked to describe the route she would take a fare from the West End theater district to Harrod’s department store. Her description would be associated with

increased activity of the right hippocampal formation

In which of the following would you expect to observe an enlarged hippocampal formation?

a London cabby who has 30 years of experience

The Morris water maze can be viewed as a test of ________ when the rats are _______.

relational learning; released from a different point of the maze on each trial

Damage to the ________ disrupts ________ in pigeon

hippocampus; spatial navigation

Neurogenesis is stimulated within the ______ for tasks that involve relational learning.

hippocampus

________ involves the modification of the nervous system by experiences

Learning

Your ability to recognize a series of photos that you looked at a month ago is an example of ________.

perceptual learning

________ learning involves the ability to exhibit a specific behavior in the presence of a specific stimulus

Stimulus-response

________ learning refers to your ability to recall a series of events you have witnessed.

Episodic

The ________ pathway interconnects the entorhinal cortex with the granule cells of the dentate gyrus

perforant

Learning to modify your golf swing is an example of ________ learning

motor

Induction of long-term potentiation involves activation of receptors for ________.

glutamate

The ________ receptor is required to establish long-term potentiation

NMDA

The chemical ________ blocks NMDA receptors and the formation of LTP

AP5

________ are action potentials that occur along the dendites of a pyramidal cell in the hippocampus

Dendritic spikes

Long-term potentiation is associated with the movement of ________ receptors to the tips of dendritic spines

AMPA

________ is a strong candidate to act as a retrograde messenger from the dendrite to the terminal button in the LTP process

Nitric oxide

Long-lasting LTP requires the formation of the protein _______.

PKM-zeta

________ receptors are sparse in area CA3 of the hippocampus

NMDA

________ learning involves the recognition of particular stimuli or categories of stimuli.

Perceptual

________ cortex neurons play a key role in short-term memory for all sensory systems.

Prefrontal

________ memory lasts on the order of seconds

Short-term

The caudate nucleus and the putamen form the ________.

neostriatum

Food for a hungry rat is an example of a(n) ________ reinforcer

natural

Amnesia for events that occur after some disturbance to the brain is called ________.

anterograde amnesia