Chapter 9 - Making Memories - Conceptual Issues and Methods

What is time-limited retrograde amnesia?

A failure to remember an experience that happened just prior to the occurrence of the disrupting event while remembering older experiences

Why is test behavior considered the window to the memory trace?

Because without a measurable behavioral test response, there would be no evidence that the training phase produced a memory trace.

Channelrhodopsin can (*excite | inhibit*) neurons by (*hyperpolarizing | depolarizing*) them.

Channelrhodopsin can excite neurons by depolarizing them

What are the dependent variables in the water-escape task?

Escape latency, path length, percent time spent in the target quadrant on a probe trial.

(*T/F*) Memories are directly observable

FALSE

(*T/F*) Newly established memories are more resistant to disruption than older memories.

FALSE

(*T/F*) Old memories have a shorter decay time than new memories.

FALSE

(*T/F*) Short-term memory traces are in the inactive state and easy to disrupt

FALSE

(*T/F*) The concept of consolidation is supported by the fact that old events are more vulnerable to disruption than new memories.

FALSE

(*T/F*) Time limited retrograde amnesia is more likely to affect long-term memory

FALSE

(*T/F*) Intentionally damaging brain tissue can reveal valuable results about how the intact brain works.

FALSE (It shows how the brain works without that component)

What is the learning-performance distinction

It recognizes the problem that the researcher has to be sure that the treatment exerted its effect by its influence on the memory component and not on some other component process that could also influence performance.

(*T/F*) *Behavior* is the product of many subcomponent systems.

TRUE

(*T/F*) A feature of the place-learning task is that the platform remains in the same location in each trial

TRUE

(*T/F*) Behavior is the window to the mind

TRUE

(*T/F*) In inhibitory avoidance, as shock intensity increases so does response latency

TRUE

(*T/F*) In inhibitory avoidance, crossover latency is the dependent variable

TRUE

(*T/F*) In inhibitory avoidance, longer latencies reflect a stronger memory trace

TRUE

(*T/F*) Limited retrograde amnesia produced by a concussion likely affects only memories in the active state.

TRUE

(*T/F*) Long-term memory traces are in the inactive state and hard to disrupt

TRUE

Give two reasons why the following statement is problematic: "We already know how memories are made."

The information acquired by *studying LTP* comes from a *highly artificial* preparation, where (1) an electrical event is used to induce LTP which *bypasses all sensory inputs*; and (2) the *tissue is removed from the brain* and gone through many steps to remain functional

_________ is often used as a control task to evaluate alternative interpretations of the effect of some brain manipulation on performance in the place-learning task.

The visible-platform task

Memories are the product of organisms _______ with their _______ .

interacting;environments.

The spatial learning version of the water-escape task was developed to study how animals aquire ___________ of their environments,

map-like representations

In inhibitory avoidance conditioning, it is assumed that the strength of the memory trace is reflected in the ________.

response latency

The existence of a memory trace is inferred when ________ influences behavior.

the training experience

In viral vector systems, the desired new genetic material is the _______ and the promoter sequence is ________ that control he _______ .

the vector genome; the additional genetic elements; expression of the gene

List three differences between a short-term memory trace and a long-term memory trace?

(1) duration, (2) state, and (3) vulnerability to disruption/decay rate

What are three methods to influence brain function?

(1) experimentally damaging a particular region of the brain; (2) injecting drugs; (3) genetic engineering

Explain why genetic engineering is believed to be more precise than applying drugs in manipulating the molecules involved in memory?

*Drugs* are said to be *dirty*, meaning they are not highly selective to the intended target and it is hard to control for the spread of the drug to other regions. Moreover, by using *biotechnology* to directly *influence the genome*, it is possible to modify or delete *the gene of interest* for a particular protein or to transfer new genes into the genome.

(*T/F*) A feature of the place-learning task is that the platform is visible to the rodent

*FALSE* A feature of the place-learning task is that the platform remains in the same location in each trial

(*T/F*) A feature of the place-learning task is that the rodent is always released from the same location inside the pool

*FALSE* A feature of the place-learning task is that the platform remains in the same location in each trial

What is the dependent variable in inhibitory avoidance conditioning?

*crossover* latency

What is a transgenic animal?

An animal, in which a replacement gene is substituted for the original gene.

(*T/F*) An LTP inducing stimulus produces a memory

FALSE

(*T/F*) LTP is memory.

FALSE

Halorhodopsin can (*excite | inhibit*) neurons by (*hyperpolarizing | depolarizing*) them.

Halorrhodopsin can inihit neurons by hyperpolarizing them

How is the visible-platform task used to evaluate results observed in the place-learning task? Explain why.

If а treatment has no effect on performance on the visible-platform task, then one would be more confident about concluding that the treatment influenced some aspect of memory. This is because the task makes no demand on spatial memory of the platform location.

_______ allows scientist to control one type of cell without altering other types.

Optogenetics

(*T/F*) Memories in the active state are more vulnerable to disruption than memories in the inactive state.

TRUE

(*T/F*) Memories in the active state decay more rapidly than memories in the inactive state.

TRUE

(*T/F*) Memories result from behavioral experiences

TRUE

(*T/F*) Old memories are more resistant to disruption than new memories

TRUE

(*T/F*) Time limited retrograde amnesia is more likely to affect short-term memory

TRUE

What is the function of channelrhodopsin and halorhodopsins?

When activated by *blue* light, *channelrhodopsins* (channel proteins) could be stimulated to open and close with millisecond precision and conduct positive ions with the result of depolarizing the neuron. *Halorhodopsins*, when stimulated with *green* light, conduct negatively charged chloride ions and thereby *hyperpolarize* the neuron.

Explain the floor effect.

When а treatment is hypothesized to impair the memory processes that produce avoidance behavior, but the performance measure was too low to be further reduced by the drug.

The ECS methodology did not advance understanding of memory because it was already known that brain trauma can _______ .

disrupt recently established memories

What are the unconditioned stimulus, the conditioned stimulus, and the conditioned response?

electrical shock, auditor/ stimulus, freezing

The hippocampus is targeted because it is critical for _______ and the _______ is targeted because it is critically involved in the storage of emotional memories

episodic memory; amygdala

In fear conditioning, shocked rats display more ________ than rats that were not shocked.

freezing

What concept is evoked to explain the change from vulnerable to less vulnerable memory state?

memory consolidation

Forgetting the location of a book or a coffee cup, only to remember it later, is an example of ____________

retrieval failure

A blow to the head that produces amnesia for events experienced prior to the blow is an example of ________.

retrograde amnesia

When investigating a drug or some other manipulation that is hypothesized to strengthen a memory trace, researches should use lower intensify shock to avoid ________.

the ceiling effect

When the response measure is at its maximum, researches should be wary of _______ .

the ceiling effect

In *fear conditioning*, the duration of _______ is an indicator of the _______ of memory.

the freezing response; strength