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Behavioral Neuroscience Exam 3

Terms in this set (52)

Circadian rhythm
Bodily cycles that occur about every 24 hours
Free-running
when a rhythm continues (the body continues its cycle) without any external cues
Phase shift
when an external stimulus/cue causes re-synchronization of a circadian rhythm/biological activity.
-jet lag (stimulus being light)
Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)
Basically is our biological clock

-its located in the hypothalamus
-figured out by lesions and transplanting the "tau mutation" in hamsters
Retinohypothalamic pathway
consists of retinal ganglion cells that project to the SCN. (These retinal ganglion cells are contain melanopsin)
Melanopsin
The photopigment used in retinal ganglion cells to detect light
Slow-wave-sleep(SWS)
Characterized by delta waves and sleep spindles.
Electroencephalography (EEG)
records electrical activity in the brain.
Electro-oculography (EOG)
records eye movements.
Electromyography (EMG)
records muscle activity.
Brain circuits of sleep
forebrain- responsible for SWS
pons- puts you into REM
reticular formation (brainstem)- wakes you up
hypothalamus- manages the other three areas and transitions between states of sleep
Individual response stereotypy (IRS)
the tendency of individuals to show the same response pattern to particular situations throughout their life span
Facial feedback hypothesis
seeing emotional expressions can cause the emotions they represent
-stare at a happy cat, you will likely feel happier
Brain self-stimulation
animals perform actions that will lead to electrical stimulation to the brain
Medial forebrain bundle (MFB)
Tract through hypothalamus that contains many sites for self-stimulation. Contains nucleus accumbens which is related to the dopaminergic circuit.
Fear conditioning
classical condition where an experience is tied with shock/pain/unpleasant experience that causes the subject to act fearful to it
Learning
The process of acquiring new information
Memory
the ability to store and retrieve information
Declarative memory
"What" kinds of memories. Able to be described and stated (are learned)
-semantic memory
-episodic memory
Semantic memory
The type of declarative memory relating to general knowledge such as facts
-George Washington's birthday
Episodic memory
The type of declarative memory that contains information about events we have personally experienced (autobiographical memory)
Nondeclarative memory
"How" kind of memories, performance based
-also known as implicit/procedural memory
Skill learning
The nondeclarative memory related to gaining efficiency by repeatedly performing a task
Priming
The nondeclarative type of memory that is a change in a response to a stimulus due to prior exposure to it
-studying is priming
Conditioning
The nondeclarative type of memory that's a related to creating an association of two stimuli or a stimulus and a response.
Retrograde amnesia
loss of ability to recall memory from before the onset of amnesia
-often a result of physical injury
Anterograde amnesia
loss of ability to form memories after the onset of amnesia
-patient HM
Iconic memory
A momentary memory that lasts a maximum of a few seconds
Short term Memory (STM)
The memory that temporarily holds information while attention is being focused on it often for around 30 seconds
-called working memory
Intermediate Term Memory (ITM)
Memory that lasts longer than STM but isn't as long as LTM. Far from permanent.
Long Term Memory
The type of memory that is relatively permanently stored for days to years after. Longest type of memory.
-LTM is stored near where the memory was first processed/stored in STM
Endophenotype
genetic mechanism that contributes to the underlying problems causing the symptoms and difficulties experienced by people with psychological disorders
Encoding
Sensory information passed into STM
Consolidation
process of transferring STM to LTM
-involves hippocampus
Retrieval
Recalling stored information
Reconsolidation
Retrieving stored memories. Memories are temporarily volatile during recall, thus can result in alterations and disruptions of memories. Can be influenced by learned information or successively being remembered
Spatial learning
the memory that reflects the environment's spatial structure. Mental map.
-hippocampus responsible for it
-has grid cells for intersections. Border cells for edge/perimeter of the map.
Place cells
Cells in the hippocampus that become active when moving in or towards a particular location.
They reflect that place in memory.
Instrumental conditioning (operant conditioning)
When an individual learn to perform behaviors that produce positive outcomes and avoid those that yield negative outcomes
-reinforces increase likelihood
-punishers decrease likelihood
Classical Conditioning
a neutral stimulus is paired with another stimulus that elicits a response. Eventually, the neutral stimulus by itself will elicit the response.
Neuroplasticity
the ability within the brain to remodel neurons and neural circuits in response to experience/environment.
Cell assemblies
ensembles of neurons linked via Hebbian synapses that could store memory traces
- supported when researchers used tetanus (a brief increase of electrical stimulation
that triggers thousands of axon potentials) on the hippocampus.
Long-term potentiation
an increase in effectiveness of synapses
-Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.
Long term depression
A weakening of synaptic efficacy that can also lead to encoding information
Nonfluent aphasia (Broca's Aphasia)
The language impairment characterized by inability/extreme difficulty to properly form words. Can comprehend still.
-related to Broca/Broca's area(speech production)
-left anterior speech zone
Fluent aphasia (Wernicke's aphasia)
The language impairment characterized by losing the comprehension of language. Speech is fluent but meaningless and unintelligible
-generally seem unaware of having the disorder
-related to Wernicke
-left posterior speech zone
Broca's Area
Area of the brain related to speech production
Sensitive Period
A limited phase in an animal's development that is the only time when certain behaviors can be learned.
Example: Language
Aphasia
Impairment in language ability
Wernicke's Area
Area of brain related to perception and production of speech
Laterilization
-Hemispheres are specialized for specific types of functions.
-Left: Language, logic
-Right: Art, spatial processing
Split brain patients
People whose corpus callosum has been surgically severed.
-Words shown only got reaction in left hemisphere of brain, therefore believed that language is only in left hemisphere for the most part.
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