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Neuroscience Lecture 14: Learning and Memory

Understanding Psychology (Lancaster University)

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 PSYC 101: UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOLOGY
LECTURE 14: LEARNING AND MEMORY (2)

Learning Objectives
 Understand how learning takes place on a neural level
 Describe the mechanisms of synaptic plasticity and the role of the NMDA
glutamate receptor
 Understand the importance of the hippocampus
 Understand the nature and neural basis of Alzheimer’s disease

Synaptic Plasticity – Neurobiology of Learning

 Learning is achieved in the brain by the modification of transmission across synapses
 The Hebb Rule (Hebb, 1949) states that if the post-synaptic membrane is active at
the same time as the pre-synaptic membrane then the synapse will be
strengthened
o Neurons wire together if they fire together (Lowel and Singer, 1992)
 This process is called long-term potentiation and is the basic underlying
mechanism of learning and memory
 When the UCS and CS occur to initiate a response, the synapse is strengthened
(classical conditioning)
o When both inputs (CS and UCS) occur, the neuron is depolarised and the
synapse of UCS is strengthened, then the input from UCS alone can
depolarise a neuron
 When the stimulus initiates a response which initiates a reward, the synapses are
strengthened (operant conditioning)

NMDA Glutamate Receptor

 The activation of the NMDAR, a major excitatory ligand-gated ion channel in the
CNS depends on a couple of coincidental events: the binding of its natural ligand
(glutamate) and depolarisation, which effects the removal of magnesium ions that
otherwise block the ion-channel pore
 If a molecule of glutamate binds with the NMDA receptor, the calcium channel
cannot open because the magnesium ion blocks the channel
 The depolarisation of the membrane evicts the magnesium ion and unblocks the
channel. Now glutamate can open the ion channel and permit the entry of
calcium ions
 Various experiments suggest that memory formation involves 2 types of glutamate
receptors: The N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) and the alpha-amino-3-
hydroxyl-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid receptor (AMPAR)

Stages of Memory
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