The presentation on Learning and Memory.pptx

Learning and Memory are fundamental cognitive processes that allow humans and other organisms to acquire, store, and utilize information from experiences. Learning refers to the process by which new knowledge, skills, behaviors, or attitudes are acquired through experience, practice, or study. Memory, on the other hand, is the ability to encode, store, and retrieve this acquired information over time. Together, these processes enable adaptation, problem-solving, decision-making, and the continuity of personal identity.

Learning can occur in multiple forms, including classical conditioning, operant conditioning, observational learning, and cognitive learning. Classical conditioning, first described by Ivan Pavlov, involves learning associations between stimuli, leading to reflexive responses. Operant conditioning, introduced by B.F. Skinner, focuses on learning through rewards and punishments, where behavior is shaped by its consequences. Observational learning, or social learning, as emphasized by Albert Bandura, involves acquiring new behaviors by watching and imitating others. Cognitive learning theories highlight the internal processes, such as thinking, understanding, and problem-solving, that underlie learning beyond mere stimulus-response associations.

Memory is commonly classified into three main stages: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Encoding involves transforming sensory input into a construct that can be stored in the brain. Storage refers to maintaining this information over time, which can occur in sensory memory, short-term memory, or long-term memory. Sensory memory briefly holds incoming information from the environment, allowing the brain to process it selectively. Short-term memory, often limited to 7±2 items, temporarily holds information for immediate use. Long-term memory is more permanent and has virtually unlimited capacity, encompassing explicit (declarative) memory, which includes episodic and semantic memory, and implicit (non-declarative) memory, such as procedural memory and conditioned responses. Retrieval is the process of accessing stored information when needed, which can be influenced by context, cues, and emotional states.

Several factors influence learning and memory. Attention, motivation, emotional state, prior knowledge, repetition, and sleep all play crucial roles. Neurobiologically, learning and memory involve complex interactions between neurons and synapses. Long-term potentiation (LTP), a process of strengthening synaptic connections, is considered a cellular mechanism underlying memory formation. Key brain structures involved include the hippocampus, critical for forming new declarative memories; the amygdala, important for emotional memory; the cerebellum, essential for motor learning; and the prefrontal cortex, involved in working memory and executive functions.

Understanding learning and memory has significant applications in education, clinical psychology, neuroscience, and everyday life.

1. Unit IV: Memory Types of memory, he brain areas, and/ or mechanisms associated with these different types of memory and amnesia.

2. Overview: Learning & Memory Experiences change us; encounters with our environment alter our behaviour by modifying our nervous system Learning allows us to acquire new information and refers to the process by which experiences change our nervous system and our behaviour . Memory is referred to as long-term changes in the nervous system following learning. Memories are formed when something is learned.

3. Neural changes in the brain Learning something new and creating a memory physically changes the structure of the nervous system. By altering neural circuits that participate in perceiving, performing, thinking, planning, and behaving Learning, memory, and their effects on behaviour are only possible through plasticity.

4. Information-processing model of memory Provides basic steps linking learning to memory .

5. Type of Learning Four types of learning are: Stimulus-response learning Motor learning Perceptual learning Relational learning.

6. STIMULUS-RESPONSE LEARNING The ability to learn to perform a particular behaviour when a particular stimulus is present. Establishment of connections between circuits involved in perception and those involved in movement. It can be an automatic response or a complicated sequence of movements Two categories: Classical conditioning and Operant conditioning

7. SRL: Classical Conditioning Classical conditioning is a  behaviourist  theory of learning . Classical conditioning was discovered by Ivan Pavlov , a Russian physiologist, who conducted a series of classic experiments with dogs. Classical conditioning is the process by which a naturally occurring stimulus is paired with a stimulus in the environment , and as a result, the environmental stimulus eventually elicits the same response as the natural stimulus.

8. SRL: Classical Conditioning It involves an association between two stimuli. Important elements of the CC: Unconditioned stimulus (US) Unconditioned response (UR) Conditioned stimulus (CS) Conditioned response (CR)

9. CC in everyday learning

10. Brain pathway for the CC Initial study based on the gill withdrawal reflex in Aplysia (a marine invertebrate) and the eyeblink reflex in the rabbit (Carew, 1989; Lavond et al., 1993). The brain anatomy involved: Emphasis on the role of Amygdala Emphasis on the role of Glutamate

11. Role of Amygdala The amygdala is important in classically conditioned emotional responses . An aversive stimulus such as a painful foot shock produces a variety of behavioural, autonomic, and hormonal responses: freezing, increased blood pressure, secretion of adrenal stress hormones, and so on The process involves the processing of CS by the auditory cortex, information about the CS (the tone) reaches the lateral nucleus of the amygdala. This nucleus also receives information about the US (the foot shock) from the somatosensory system.

12. The lateral nucleus of the amygdala contains neurons whose axons project to the central nucleus. Terminal buttons from neurons that transmit auditory and somatosensory information to the lateral nucleus form synapses with dendritic spines on these neurons. When there is a painful stimulus, somatosensory input activates strong synapses in the lateral nucleus. As a result, the neurons in the central nucleus begin firing, which activates neurons in the central nucleus, evoking an unlearned emotional response. These two sources of information converge in the lateral nucleus, which means that synaptic changes responsible for learning could take place in this location.

13. Brain pathway for the CC ROLE OF GLUTAMATE The changes in the lateral amygdala responsible for the acquisition of a conditioned emotional response involve a series of synaptic changes called long-term potentiation (LTP). LTP is accomplished through the activation of NMDA receptors and the insertion of additional AMPA receptors into the postsynaptic membrane. These synaptic changes in the glutamate system serve to increase the EPSP in the postsynaptic cell.

14. Rumpel et al., (2005) paired a tone with a shock and established a conditioned emotional response. They found that the learning experience caused additional AMPA receptors to be inserted and increased EPSPs to dendritic spines of synapses between lateral amygdala neurons and axons that provide auditory input. The results of these studies support the conclusion that LTP among glutamate synapses in the lateral amygdala plays a critical role in the establishment of conditioned emotional responses

15. Migues et al., (2010) found that blocking steps involved in LTP in the lateral amygdala impaired the establishment of a conditioned emotional response. The magnitude of the deficit was directly related to the decrease in postsynaptic AMPA receptors, and presumably the decrease in EPSPs. The results of these studies support the conclusion that LTP among glutamate synapses in the lateral amygdala plays a critical role in the establishment of conditioned emotional responses

16. Long Term Potentiation and Memory Formation, Animation - YouTube

17. SRL: Operant Conditioning The second major class of stimulus-response learning is operant conditioning ( instrumental conditioning ). Based on reinforcing or punishing outcome follows a specific behaviour in a specific situation. The reinforcer increases the likelihood of the behaviour occurring again in the future, while the punisher decreases it. B.F. Skinner

18. Brain pathway for the OC There are two neural pathways: ( i ) Involved in Operant Conditioning and (ii) Based on reinforcement. OC entails the strengthening of connections between neural circuits that detect a particular stimulus and neural circuits that produce a particular response . The circuits that are responsible for operant conditioning begin in various regions of the sensory association cortex. what pathways are responsible for these connections, and where do the synaptic changes responsible for the learning take place?

19. Brain pathway for the OC There are two major pathways between the sensory association cortex and the motor association cortex: The direct transcortical connections (connections from one area of the cerebral cortex to another) The connections via the basal ganglia and thalamus A third pathway, involving the cerebellum and thalamus, also exists, but the role of this pathway in operant conditioning has received little attention.

20. Transcortical Pathways In conjunction with the hippocampal formation, the transcortical connections are involved in the acquisition of declarative, episodic memories—complex perceptual memories of sequences of events that we experience or that are described to us. The transcortical connections are also involved in the acquisition of complex behaviours that involve deliberation or instruction.

21. ROLE OF BASAL GANGLIA operant conditioning entails the strengthening of connections between neural circuits that detect a particular stimulus and neural circuits that produce a particular response. Evidence suggests that as learned behaviours become automatic and routine, they are “transferred” to the basal ganglia. The process seems to work like this: As we deliberately perform a complex behaviour, the basal ganglia receive information about the stimuli that are present and the responses we are making.

22. At first the basal ganglia are passive “observers” of the situation, but as the behaviors are repeated again and again, the basal ganglia begin to learn what to do Eventually, they take over most of the details of the process, leaving the transcortical circuits free to do something else. We need no longer think about what we are doing

23. Difference between CC & OC

24. MOTOR LEARNING The second major category of learning, motor learning, is a component of stimulus-response learning. Motor learning is the establishment of changes (responses) within motor systems following a stimulus. Motor learning cannot occur without sensory stimuli from the environment. Motor learning differs from other forms of learning primarily in the degree to which new forms of behaviour are learned; the more novel the behaviour, the more the neural circuits in the motor systems of the brain must be modified.

25. ML in everyday learning

26. Brain pathway for the ML

27. PERCEPTUAL LEARNING Perceptual learning is the ability to learn to recognize stimuli that have been perceived before. The primary function of this type of learning is the ability to identify and categorize objects and situations. Unless we have learned to recognize something, we cannot learn how we should behave with respect to it . Each of our sensory systems is capable of perceptual learning

28. PL in everyday learning

29. Brain pathway for the PL

30. RELATIONAL LEARNING The fourth form of learning involves learning the relationships among individual stimuli

31. RL in everyday learning

32. Brain pathway for the RL

33. Memory Researchers describe the process of forming memories as occurring in three general stages: the sensory, short-term, and long-term stages of memory.

34. (Declarative ) (Non-Declarative )