HC 10 learning and memory
Chapter 14
Learning and memory are two sides of the same medal.
(reads what’s on the slide)
Consolidation = what do we need to make
memories long-lasting?
Amnesia= when your memory fails, when you lack
memory.
(reads what’s on the slide)
You see
here the
picture of
a polar
bear. If
you come
across a
polar
bear you
can
maybe
memorize is. But you need to first encode it. Encode means you first need to actually see the polar
bear and somehow make it encoded, so you need to somehow know that this is a bear. If you don’t
1
,encode it, if you either walk past it and don’t see it or that you don’t recognize it then you have no
encoding. If you have no encoding then that leads to no memory on this side. If you first encode that
you have seen a polar bear, then you have two ways. You can either consolidate it, so that means
that you can see that you can maintain it through rehearsal for example. If you don’t consolidate it, if
you don’t rehearse it, then you have again no memory of having ever seen a polar bear. If you start
to encode it and you have consolidated this then there are also two ways that lead to a memory or
no memory. You can successfully retrieve that you have seen a polar bear, then you have a memory
of a polar bear. Or you have a retrieval failure, so you cannot retrieve this information then you have
no memory of having seen the polar bear.
So this is just a simple figure to see the different steps of an invent that produces a memory.
We talked a lot
about
neuroplasticity.
And learning are
experiences and
that lead to
changes in the
brain. So if we
learn something
and memorize it,
that leads to
changes in the
brain. So the brain
is plastic. Experiences can come from different domains. We have development, so children are born
and grow up and that development leads to changes in the brain because children will learn a lot of
things. But we also grow up in different cultures and that can also lead to differences in the brain.
Here you see a picture of a three house of the Korowai tribe in New Guinea. They live high up in the
threes to avoid danger from the ground. So children who grow up in such a culture needs to learn
and memorize completely different things than children who grow up in Nijmegen. Through this
culture we have different preferences. And we have something that is coping. So we need to deal
with different issues, we need to cope with different environments and different situations.
This are all different experiences that can lead to learning and to memory and that leads to changes
in our brain. So coming to neuroplasticity. So learning is common to all these different kind of
experiences. And neuroplasticity that is the nervous system’s potential for change.
2
, a bit of terminology.
(reads what’s on the slide)
Now we come to a type of learning
that’s called conditioning. And what is
called classical conditioning or Pavlovian
conditioning. It goes back to Ivan
Pavlov. He found out that his own dog
learns to connect to stimuli. So classical
conditioning is learning by a neutral
stimulus, elicits a response because of
its repeated pairing with an event. He
found out that a neutral stimulus, a
tone, elicits a response because of
repeated pairing with an event, that means the delivering of food. Having saliva is a typical event that
happens when you eat and when you have food. And later after repeated pairing his dog also had
more saliva without the food but only when he rang the tone.
3
Chapter 14
Learning and memory are two sides of the same medal.
(reads what’s on the slide)
Consolidation = what do we need to make
memories long-lasting?
Amnesia= when your memory fails, when you lack
memory.
(reads what’s on the slide)
You see
here the
picture of
a polar
bear. If
you come
across a
polar
bear you
can
maybe
memorize is. But you need to first encode it. Encode means you first need to actually see the polar
bear and somehow make it encoded, so you need to somehow know that this is a bear. If you don’t
1
,encode it, if you either walk past it and don’t see it or that you don’t recognize it then you have no
encoding. If you have no encoding then that leads to no memory on this side. If you first encode that
you have seen a polar bear, then you have two ways. You can either consolidate it, so that means
that you can see that you can maintain it through rehearsal for example. If you don’t consolidate it, if
you don’t rehearse it, then you have again no memory of having ever seen a polar bear. If you start
to encode it and you have consolidated this then there are also two ways that lead to a memory or
no memory. You can successfully retrieve that you have seen a polar bear, then you have a memory
of a polar bear. Or you have a retrieval failure, so you cannot retrieve this information then you have
no memory of having seen the polar bear.
So this is just a simple figure to see the different steps of an invent that produces a memory.
We talked a lot
about
neuroplasticity.
And learning are
experiences and
that lead to
changes in the
brain. So if we
learn something
and memorize it,
that leads to
changes in the
brain. So the brain
is plastic. Experiences can come from different domains. We have development, so children are born
and grow up and that development leads to changes in the brain because children will learn a lot of
things. But we also grow up in different cultures and that can also lead to differences in the brain.
Here you see a picture of a three house of the Korowai tribe in New Guinea. They live high up in the
threes to avoid danger from the ground. So children who grow up in such a culture needs to learn
and memorize completely different things than children who grow up in Nijmegen. Through this
culture we have different preferences. And we have something that is coping. So we need to deal
with different issues, we need to cope with different environments and different situations.
This are all different experiences that can lead to learning and to memory and that leads to changes
in our brain. So coming to neuroplasticity. So learning is common to all these different kind of
experiences. And neuroplasticity that is the nervous system’s potential for change.
2
, a bit of terminology.
(reads what’s on the slide)
Now we come to a type of learning
that’s called conditioning. And what is
called classical conditioning or Pavlovian
conditioning. It goes back to Ivan
Pavlov. He found out that his own dog
learns to connect to stimuli. So classical
conditioning is learning by a neutral
stimulus, elicits a response because of
its repeated pairing with an event. He
found out that a neutral stimulus, a
tone, elicits a response because of
repeated pairing with an event, that means the delivering of food. Having saliva is a typical event that
happens when you eat and when you have food. And later after repeated pairing his dog also had
more saliva without the food but only when he rang the tone.
3
