A visual aid to accompany a 1 hour lecture on various topics in Physiological Psychology (a second year Canadian University course).
This document provides a brief overview of Learning, memory, the major sections of the brain recruited for these activities, and the most essential psychological concepts currently used to define these processes.
Slide 1: Title
Slide 2: Classical conditioning versus Operant conditioning. Classical conditioning results in a conditioned response from a particular stimulus, whereas Operant conditioning results in either strengthening or elimination of a preexisting behaviour pattern.
Slide 3: Schematic representation of the brain changes during Pavlov's classical conditioning
Slide 4: Definitions of key psychological concepts coined by Karl Lashley, including: engrams, equipotentiality and mass action. The figure shows brain lesions Lashely made in the brain of mouse that led him to believe that, since these lesions on their own did not disrupt brain functioning, but only as a whole did they negatively impact the mouse, that all parts of the cortex contribute equally and as a whole unit.
Slide 5: Lashley's study showing that number of brain lesions correlated positively with difficulty performing a maze task.
Slide 6: Diagram showing Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of Memory
Slide 7: Types of long-term memory, including explicit or declarative (Semantic memory and Episodic memory) and implicit or non-declarative (Procedural memory, Associative learning, and Nonassociative learning)
Habituation is the process of becoming desensitized to a repetitive harmless stimulus. Sensitization is the process of becoming more reactive to a repetitive, usually harmful stimulus.
Slide 8: Brain areas involved in Semantic versus Episodic memory, and their associated pathologies (Semantic dementia and Source amnesia, respectively)
Slide 9: Specific brain areas associated with semantic memories (of tools versus animals). Note how different areas of the brain are activated for recalling the names of two different kinds of semantic knowledge.
Slide 10: Figure demonstrating Greater brain activation occurs during the processing of Personal Episodic Memories, as opposed to the processing (in this case, listening) of someone else's episodic memories (in this case, their autobiography)
Slide 11: Types of Long-Term Memory
Slide 12: What happened after the surgical removal of the temporal lobe tissue of patient H.M. In the time before it was known what function the hippocampus area of the brain served, patient H.M. was experimented on. H.M. was experiencing extremely frequent seizures and since all other treatments failed, partial removal of his temporal lobe was performed in hopes of alleviating this issue. The seizures stopped, but apparently so did his ability to form new memories after the surgery (=anterograde amnesia).
Slide 13: H.M.'s ability to perform the Mirror-Drawing Task. This experiment showed that although damage to H.M.'s hippocampus damaged his explicit declarative memory, his implicit procedural memory remained intact. Although H.M. had no explicit memory of having ever performed this task, by Day 2 and 3 he showed significant improvement.
Slide 14: The Hippocampus and it's associated structures
This powerpoint presentation was prepared by Dr. Smilek of the University of Waterloo using figures and tables from "Biological Psychology 11th ed. by James Kalat" with permission from the author. I take no credit for this material.
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Transcript
Learning and Memory
Pavlovconditioning strengthened connections between the CS
center and UCS center in the brain.
Lashely
searched for engrams: physical representations of what had been
learnedproposed two key principles about the nervous
system:Equipotentiality all parts of the cortex contribute equally
to complex functioning behaviors (e.g. learning)Mass action the
cortex works as a whole, not as solitary isolated units.
Karl Lashley Observed the Results of Brain Lesions on
Maze-Learning Performance
Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of Memory
Types of Long-Term Memory
Semantic memoryanterior and inferior region of the temporal lobe
are involved in semantic memorysemantic dementia (loss of semantic
memory)
Episodic memoryAnterior prefrontal cortex and cingulate cortex
are important for episodic memorySource amnesia (loss of memory for
the specific episode in which something occurred)
Semantic Memories Are Widely Distributed
Greater Brain Activation Occurs During the Processing of
Personal Episodic Memories
Types of Long-Term Memory
Surgical Removal of Temporal Lobe Tissue in Patient H.M.H.M.
showed massive anterograde amnesia after the surgery.
Patient HM also displayed greater implicit than explicit
memory.
The Mirror-Drawing Task
The Hippocampus and Its Associated Structures
Reinforcement an event that increases probability of a
responsePunishment an event that reduces probability of a
response***Habituation - response to a repeated, harmless stimulus
becomes progressively weakerSensitization a type of learning in
which the experience of one stimulus heightens response to
subsequent stimuli******Input through the enterorhinal cortex, out
through fornix*