Deck 14: Memory, Learning, and Development

Question 1

The most striking impairment suffered by Henry Molaison (patient H.M.) was

A) prosopagnosia.
B) anterograde amnesia.
C) retrograde amnesia.
D) episodic amnesia.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

_______ amnesia is a loss of memories that formed prior to a brain damaging event.

A) Anterograde
B) Retrograde
C) Basal
D) Primed

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The delayed non-matching-to sample test assesses _______ memory in _______.

A) procedural; rats
B) semantic; Guinea pigs
C) priming; humans
D) declarative; monkeys

Answer 3

D

Question 4

In the delayed non-matching-to-sample task in monkeys, the subject

A) traces a picture while viewing it in a mirror.
B) reads mirror-reversed text.
C) identifies an unfamiliar object in a pair of objects.
D) searches for food hidden in a maze.

Question 5

Declarative memory is said to deal with _______ questions.

A) "how"
B) "why"
C) "where"
D) "what"

Question 6

Nondeclarative memory is said to deal with _______ questions.

A) "how"
B) "why"
C) "where"
D) "what"

Question 7

Henry Molaison's (patient H.M.) surgery involved removal of the most of the hippocampus, surrounding cortex from the temporal lobes, and the

A) amygdala.
B) dorsomedial thalamus.
C) mammillary bodies.
D) temporal stem.

Question 8

Patients like patient H.M. can learn to read mirror-reversed text even though they don't remember practicing it, which demonstrates that their problem is not in learning verbal material, but instead is in

A) confabulation.
B) long term memory.
C) forming new nondeclarative memories.
D) forming new declarative memories.

Question 9

What did Patient H.M.'s case, plus data from experiments with monkeys, prove about brain regions needed to make new declarative memories?

A) We need at least one intact medial temporal lobe (including hippocampus) in order to make new declarative memories.
B) We need both intact medial temporal lobes (but not hippocampus) in order to make new declarative memories.
C) We need both intact medial temporal lobes (including amygdala) in order to make new declarative memories.
D) The medial temporal lobe and hippocampus are not involved in making new declarative memories.

Question 10

Which brain area(s) is/are implicated in encoding new declarative memories, as demonstrated by the case of patient N.A.?

A) Dorsomedial thalamus and mammillary bodies
B) Basal ganglia
C) Amygdala
D) Medial cerebellum

Question 11

Which brain area(s) is/are implicated in patient K.C.'s inability to recall autobiographical details of his life from many years before his accident?

A) Medial cerebellum
B) Amygdala
C) Frontal and parietal cortex
D) Basal ganglia

Question 12

People with Korsakoff's syndrome often show damage in parts of limbic system, especially the

A) trigeminal nucleus and hippocampus.
B) mammillary bodies and dorsomedial thalamus.
C) cranial motor nuclei and frontal lobes.
D) fornix and hippocampus.

Question 13

The mirror-tracing task is classified as a _______ skill, whereas learning to read mirror-reversed text is an example of a _______ skill.

A) cognitive; semantic
B) associative; repetitive
C) motor; verbal
D) priming; cognitive

Question 14

Patient K.C.

A) could acquire new episodic knowledge with careful training.
B) could not access memories of his own past.
C) could not acquire new semantic knowledge, even with careful training.
D) suffered damage to the dorsolateral thalamus.

Question 15

Your friend asks you describe the house you grew up in and what the rooms looked like. Your recollection of your childhood house involves _______ memory.

A) episodic
B) associative
C) procedural
D) verbal

Question 16

Declarative episodic memory is also called

A) general knowledge.
B) nondeclarative information.
C) semantic information.
D) autobiographical memory.

Question 17

Knowing the meaning of word, without knowing where or when you learned it, describes _______ memory.

A) procedural
B) semantic
C) episodic
D) defining

Question 18

Patients with Korsakoff's syndrome may _______ in an attempt to conceal gaps in their memory.

A) confabulate
B) knowingly lie
C) end conversations abruptly
D) misdirect

Question 19

You see a scary movie and are frightened several times as the movie plot unfolds. Later that night, at home, you find you are scared by sounds that normally do not bother you. This is an example of

A) associative learning.
B) operant conditioning.
C) explicit learning.
D) priming.

Question 20

A change in the processing of a stimulus on the basis of prior exposure to the same or similar stimuli is referred to as

A) associative learning.
B) priming.
C) classic conditioning.
D) semantic memory.

Question 21

In classical conditioning, a previously neutral stimulus, when repeatedly paired with an another (important) stimulus, becomes the

A) conditioned stimulus.
B) unconditioned stimulus.
C) conditioned response.
D) unconditioned response.

Question 22

Imaging studies indicate that the learning of sensorimotor skills, perceptual skills, and cognitive skills are all affected by damage specifically to the

A) basal ganglia.
B) motor cortex.
C) hippocampus.
D) amygdala.

Question 23

Which type of nondeclarative memory is not affected by damage to the basal ganglia?

A) Sensorimotor skills
B) Perceptual skills
C) Cognitive skills
D) Priming

Question 24

People with damage to the _______ have trouble with tasks involving skill learning, such as the Tower of Hanoi problem.

A) amygdala
B) basal ganglia
C) hippocampus
D) extrastriate visual cortex

Question 25

You routinely order pizza from the same company, which is delivered in a red car with white stripes. After ordering pizza for a couple of years, you notice that any time see any red car with white stripes you feel hungry. For you, pizza delivery car has become a(n)

A) unconditioned stimulus.
B) conditioned stimulus.
C) unconditioned response.
D) conditioned response.

Question 26

Which scenario provides an example of instrumental (or operant) conditioning?

A) A mouse learns to associate the repeated sound of a bell with a food treat
B) A fearful dog learns that rain means there could be thunder
C) A cat learns that raising a paw to beg results in a dish of milk
D) A bird hides seeds and remembers the location it hid them

Question 27

As related to memory, which term does not belong with the others?

A) Semantic
B) Priming
C) Conditioning
D) Skill learning

Question 28

Which behavior would allow you to strengthen a memory (for example, while studying for exam)?

A) Focusing on the sensory buffers
B) Repeated retrieval of the information
C) Practicing operant conditioning
D) Drawing a cognitive map

Question 29

A friend gives you a phone number but you don't have your phone with you with so you concentrate on committing it to memory. As soon as you have called the number you forget it. The memory of the number would be classified as a _______ memory.

A) iconic
B) short-term
C) episodic
D) sematic

Question 30

If the process of encoding were prevented during learning, then _______ and _______ would also be disrupted.

A) performance; buffering
B) long-term memory; sensory buffers
C) consolidation; retrieval
D) iconic memory; short-term memory

Question 31

Which of the following is not a basic process in learning?

A) Consolidation
B) Encoding
C) Retrieval
D) Transduction

Question 32

The three successive systems that are necessary for recall of a past event are encoding, ________, and retrieval.

A) consolidation
B) buffering
C) rehearsal
D) performance

Question 33

You are riding on bus and catch a very brief glimpse of a ravine with rushing water as you pass over a bridge. The impression you have of the view is called an iconic memory, or

A) sensory buffer.
B) short-term sight.
C) working memory.
D) sensory vision.

Question 34

The _______ is not needed to encode sensory information into short-term memory or to retrieve that information from it, but is required to move information from short-term into long-term memory.

A) medial temporal lobe
B) hippocampus
C) amygdala
D) prefrontal cortex

Question 35

You have a distinct memory (memory trace) of falling off a slide when you were a child. You find this memory is getting more distant, and less vivid in your mind. What is most likely responsible for this change?

A) You memory is deteriorating due to the passage of time.
B) The memory is weakening due to interference from events that took place before and/or after the formation of your memory of falling off the slide.
C) The trauma of falling off the slide has caused you to forget it over time.
D) You don't recall this memory often enough for it to remain vivid.

Question 36

When information is retrieved from _______ memory, memories become temporarily unstable and are susceptible to alteration before they are _______ and are once again stable-sometimes leading to false memories.

A) short-term; encoded
B) long-term; reconsolidated
C) traumatic; encoded
D) habituated; reconsolidated

Question 37

In posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), when a traumatic memory is reactivated it returns to a labile state; it becomes even stronger when reconsolidated in the presence of

A) stress hormones.
B) beta-blockers.
C) dopamine.
D) benzodiazepines.

Question 38

A proposed treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder involves using beta-adrenergic antagonists drugs either just before or after the traumatic event. What is the effect of this treatment?

A) It acts on GABA receptors.
B) It blocks the effects of epinephrine in the amygdala.
C) It increases the effects of serotonin.
D) It increases the effects of dopamine.

Question 39

Bird species that cache food in many locations have a relatively large _______, which facilitates _______ learning, and allows the birds to find the food at a later time.

A) hippocampus; spatial
B) cerebellum; visual
C) amygdala; recall
D) medial temporal lobe; long-term

Question 40

Place cells, which are located in the _______, become active when an animal moves through its spatial environment or toward a particular location.

A) amygdala
B) caudate nucleus
C) hippocampus
D) extrastriate visual cortex

Question 41

Which statement about plastic changes at the level of the synapse is false?

A) A neural circuit that is used more often can lead to an increase of synapses.
B) The synapse enlarges presynaptically.
C) The postsynaptic membrane becomes more sensitive to transmitter.
D) Synapses of less active neural pathways start competing for neurotransmitter by engulfing neighboring synapses.

Question 42

Which statement about synapses is true?

A) Synaptic changes involved in memory are so small that they are impossible to observe, even with a microscope.
B) Once a synaptic pathway forms, it will remain indefinitely.
C) Unlike muscles, synapses don't respond to training and die back after a set period of time.
D) Just like muscles, synapses respond to training; they can form or die back depending on use.

Question 43

Adult rats living in enriched conditions have more neurons in the

A) cortex.
B) amygdala.
C) hypothalamus.
D) hippocampus.

Question 44

Research shows that rats living in enriched conditions have more dendritic branches on cortical neurons and enhanced activity of _______ neurons throughout the cortex.

A) cholinergic
B) GABA-ergic
C) serotonergic
D) glutamatergic

Question 45

Compared to animals placed in impoverished conditions, animals kept in enriched conditions have heavier, thicker cortices. This is evidence for the

A) effect of exercise on bone growth.
B) existence of brain growth factors.
C) effect of learning on ventricular size.
D) effect of experience and learning on brain plasticity.

Question 46

Information about corneal stimulation is transmitted to an area of cerebellar neurons via

A) climbing fibers.
B) cranial nerve motor nuclei.
C) auditory nuclei.
D) sensory neurons.

Question 47

Which structure is not required for the conditioned eye-blink response in the rabbit?

A) Cerebellum
B) Hippocampus
C) Cranial motor nuclei
D) Trigeminal nucleus

Question 48

In the simplest form of nonassociative learning,

A) an organism becomes less responsive following repeated presentation of a stimulus.
B) an organism becomes more responsive following repeated presentation of a stimulus.
C) an organism receives more and more transmitter at the synapse after repeated presentation of a stimulus.
D) there is an increase in the number of synapses over repeated presentation of a stimulus.

Question 49

Which form of habituation represents a faster and faster habituation response across days, eventually leading to no response at all?

A) Short-term habituation
B) Long-term habituation
C) Intermediate-term habituation
D) Permanent habituation

Question 50

After a tetanus there are _______ AMPA receptors, and these receptors are _______ effective, so the synaptic response to glutamate is _______.

A) more; more; strengthened
B) fewer; less; strengthened
C) fewer; less; weakened
D) the same number of; equally; unchanged

Question 51

Which statement about long-term potentiation (LTP) is false?

A) During normal, low-level activity, the release of glutamate at the synapse activates only the AMPA receptors.
B) NMDA receptors cannot ordinarily respond to glutamate because magnesium ions block the NMDA receptor's calcium ion channel.
C) NMDA receptors are fully active only when "gated" by a strong depolarization (via AMPA receptors) and the ligand calcium.
D) Strong stimulation of AMPA receptors depolarizes the postsynaptic membrane so much that the Mg²⁺ plug is driven from the central channels of the NMDA receptors.

Question 52

The natural ligand for the AMPA receptor is

A) Mg²⁺.
B) Ca.
C) glutamate.
D) Na⁺.

Question 53

NMDA receptors are gated by

A) the ligand glutamate only.
B) the ligand glutamate and a strong depolarization of the membrane.
C) the ligand glutamate and the ligand AMPA.
D) a strong depolarization of the membrane.

Question 54

LTP in the hippocampal formation depends on the excitatory neurotransmitter

A) GABA.
B) acetylcholine.
C) dopamine.
D) glutamate.

Question 55

In LTP formation, nitric oxide may serve as a(n)

A) synaptic transmitter.
B) inhibitor of protein synthesis.
C) synaptic modulator.
D) retrograde transmitter.

Question 56

After a brief tetanus, the excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) response increases significantly and remains high. This greater responsiveness is called

A) long-term potentiation (LTP).
B) short-term potentiation (STP).
C) habituation.
D) neuroplasticity.

Question 57

_______ LTP refers to the induction of LTP through training of an animal in a memory task.

A) Somatic
B) Correlational
C) Behavioral
D) Hebbian

Question 58

The observation that NMDA receptor blockade interferes with performance in the Morris water maze provides an example of a _______ supporting the connection between LTP and memory.

A) correlational observation
B) somatic intervention experiment
C) behavioral intervention experiment
D) classical conditioning

Question 59

The adage "cells that fire together, wire together" refers to a hypothesis proposed by

A) Charles Sherrington.
B) Alan Baddeley.
C) Raymond Kesner.
D) Donald Hebb.

Question 60

In _______ conditioning, an animal learns that a particular response to a specific stimulus is appropriate in a particular setting.

Question 61

The brain area particularly implicated in eye-blink conditioning is the _______.

Question 62

List the steps and brain regions involved in declarative memory formation, according to the most recent model.

Question 63

Define and describe declarative memory.

Question 64

Create a short paragraph using the following terms: Incoming information, sensory buffers, encoding, short-term memory, consolidation, long-term memory, retrieval.

Question 65

Which brain region would you predict to be larger in animals that cache food and search for mates? Support your answer with research evidence.

Question 66

Explain how the structure of synapses can change.

Question 67

Explain the neural basis of short-term habituation in Aplysia.

Question 68

What is a tetanus and what is its relevance to long-term potentiation (LTP)?

Question 69

Who was Henry Molaison (patient H.M.)? What happened to him and how has he contributed to our understanding of the neural basis of memory?

Question 70

Describe the different forms of nondeclarative memory and provide an example of each.

Question 71

Discuss the research that implicates medial temporal lobe structures in declarative memory.

Question 72

Describe the brain damage and memory problems experienced by patient N.A., and discuss the conclusions about the neuroanatomy of memory that were suggested by this case.

Question 73

Discuss research findings concerning the emotional attribute of memory in humans. How might treatments that involve altering this attribute be therapeutic in post-traumatic stress disorder?

Question 74

Outline the molecular mechanisms involved in the induction of long-term potentiation and the role of the NMDA and AMPA receptors.