LEARNING,

MEMORY, AND
AMNESIA
R O N A L D J O H N R E C I O , M . A . , R P S Y, E M D R P R A C . M B P S S
PA M A N TA S A N N G L U N G S O D N G M AY N I L A
PUSO MO
A WORD OF CAUTION…

Despite scientific advancements in the past 4 decades since

memories have been taken seriously, little evidence or surety
is observed. More so for that of forgetting. Wala lang.
 DEFINITION OF TERMS
• Learning – How life experiences changes the brain (function or form)

• Memory – How aforementioned changes are stored and are subsequently reactivated

• Short-term Memory – Also known as primary or active memory, is the capacity for holding, but not
manipulating, a small amount of information in the mind in an active, readily available for a short period
of time (15 to 30 seconds)

• Long-Term Memory – Storage of memory for an extended period of time.

• Recall – The act of retrieving information or events from the past while lacking a specific cue to help in
retrieving the information. Naaalala lang.
DEFINITION OF TERMS

• Semantic Memory - portion of long-term memory that processes ideas and concepts that are
not drawn from personal experience. Semantic memory includes things that are common
knowledge, such as the names of colors, the sounds of letters, the capitals of countries and
other basic facts acquired over a lifetime

• Episodic Memory - memory of autobiographical events (times, places, associated emotions,

and other contextual who, what, when, where, why knowledge) that can be explicitly stated or
conjured. It is the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and
place.
 DEFINITION OF TERMS

• Recognition Memory – Feelings of familiarity when something previously experienced is again

encountered; in such situations a correct response can be identified when presented but may not be
reproduced in the absence of such a stimulus.

• Rehearsal – Cognitive process in which information is repeated over as a possible way of learning
and remembering it.

• Elaborative Rehearsal – Connecting new material learned, with already existing long term memories.
Elaboration exercises will help memories be more storable and retrievable in the future.
 DEFINITION OF TERMS

• Maintenance Rehearsal - saying aloud or thinking of material until it becomes a part of the working
memory

• Rote Learning – learning or memorization by repetition, often without an understanding of the reasoning
or relationships involved in the material that is learned. (This is what you guys do in my course HUHU)
 WHERE ARE MEMORIES STORED?
*** Areas of the brain that are active during the retention of an experience
tend to be the same ones active during the original experience ***

• Inferotemporal Cortex – Complex visual patterns. In concert with the adjacent perirhinal cortex, plays
an important role in storing memories of visual input.

• Amygdala – Plays a role in emotional significance of experiences. Little evidence however is linked
that the amygdala has the capacity to store memories. It appears to play a role in strengthening
emotionally significant memories stored in other structures. This is the reason why emotionally
provoking memories are remembered in detail as compared to neutral ones.
WHERE ARE MEMORIES STORED?

• Prefrontal Cortex – Different parts of the PFC play different roles in memory. Working
memory, fundamental cognitive processes are associated functions in terms of memory

• Cerebellum and Striatum – Sensorimotor Memories (muscle memory ba). Striatum is

concerned with consistency of pairing stimuli and responses. (Habit formation).

• Hippocampus – Declarative, episodic memory, and recognition memory.

 HIPPOCAMPAL PLACE CELLS AND
ENTORHINAL GRID CELLS
• Place cells – neurons that respond only when a subject is in a specific locations (cognitive map)

• Entorhinal cortex – An area o the medial temporal cortex that is a major source of neural
signals to the hippocampus.

• Grid cells – Enables spatial computation in hippocampal place cells.

 SYNAPTIC MECHANISMS OF
LEARNING AND MEMORY
• Hebb’s hypothesis – enduring facilitations of synaptic transmission are the neural basis of learning and
memory (1949) was then confirmed by Bliss and Lomo (1973) and termed as Long-term potentiation.

• Long-Term potentiation – Long lasting change at synapse that occurs when long-term memories form.

• Synapses then become more responsive as a result.

• LTP – NMDA Receptor is prominent at the synapses at which LTP is studied. (NMDA asawa ni Glutamate).
NMDA only responds under two circumstances: Glutamate binds to it and the postsynaptic neuron must
already be partially depolarized. Calcium channels associated with NMDA receptors only allow a small
number of CA ions to enter the neuron unless the neuron is already depolarized when glutamate binds to the
receptor. Influx of CA triggers the cascae of events in the postsynaptic neuron that induces LTP.
 SYNAPTIC MECHANISMS OF
LEARNING AND MEMORY
• It is required that postsynaptic neurons must be depolarized when glutamate binds to the
NMDA receptors because this permits neural networks to learn associations.

Glutamate firing – wa epek dahil postsynaptic neuron keber lang.

Input from other neurons when presynaptic neuron fired – binding of the glutamate to the
NMDA would open wide the CA+ channels – CA+ ions would flow into postsynaptic neuron
– transmission between pre- and post synaptic neuron would then be potentiated
AS A GUIDE…
 SYNAPTIC MECHANISMS OF
LEARNING AND MEMORY
• Maintenance and Expression of LTP: Storage and Recall

• Changes in both presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons.

• Dendritic spikes make it hard for CA+ to pass out thus keeping their effects locally

• LTP Causes structural changes.

 BIOPSYCHOLOGY OF FORGETTING

• Intrinsic forgetting – brains chronic signaling system that erodes memory traces by slowly
degrading molecular and cellular memory. Default state of the brain, constantly promoting
memory erasure and competing with processes that promote memory stability like
consolidation.

• “Forgetting cells” – release dopamine onto engram cells, mobilizing a signaling pathway that
terminates in the activation of Rac1/cofilin to affect changes in the actin cytoskeleton and
neuron-synapse structure.
 FORGETTING

• The brain doesn’t know what is important and what is not; so to remember, it tries as much as
possible to remember everything and gradually forgets most things.

• Types of Forgetting

1. Neurogenesis-based Forgetting
2. Rac1-Dependent Forgetting
3. Active Forgetting
 NEUROGENESIS-BASED FORGETTING
• Neurogenesis – growth and development of brain tissue.

• Cells are added to the dentate gyrus throughout life while the neurogenesis of such is heavily
dependent on lifestyle, physical activity, genetics, and environmental factors.

• Furthermore, neurogenesis remodels the hippocampal circuits is correlated with forgetting.

*** The more our brain develops as it is, it needs to make room for new information. Old information
is either discarded or modified***
 RAC1-DEPENDENT FORGETTING
• Basta kwan itu ih… protein.

• Observed to alter synaptic plasticity and behavioral memory

• Conditioning activates signaling pathways for both the acquisition of memory AND active forgetting.
This implies that while being conditioned to learn something, you are racing towards forgetting it as
well. Winners are determined by the magnitude and time course of competing factors.

• Rac1 has no effect on memory formation (it doesn’t interfere with acquisition pathways) but it acts
solely to forget things.
ACTIVE FORGETTING
• Suppressing memories

• Memory decay
INTERNAL STATES AND EXTERNAL FACTORS
THAT STIMULATE AND INHIBIT KWAN
• Activity (physical or mental), stress, and sleep.

• SLEEP AND REST ARE ESSENTIAL KAYA MATULOG KA SHOUT OUT DIYAN SA
MGA MAHILIG MAG ALL NIGHTER BANTAY KAYO SA KWAN NA IYAN
INTERNAL STATES AND EXTERNAL FACTORS
THAT STIMULATE AND INHIBIT KWAN

• Sleep enhances memory consolidation. Sleep and rest inhibit active forgetting.

• Exercise can increase memory retention by secreting proteins that stabilize memory traces

• Stress affects the Hippocampus and the amygdala. More on this when we discuss this
 TAKEAWAYS FROM TODAY’S
LECTURE…
• The more we stimulate our memory circuits (the more time we devote to studying) increases
the likelihood for LTP to occur.

• In order to remember, we forget. Our brain constantly “deletes” useless memories in order to
accommodate more meaningful memories.

• Emotional memory tends to last longer because of the potential change that they bring to
neurons
HOW DO I INCREASE MY MEMORY
CAPACITY?
• It differs from person to person dependent on how you previously learned things.

• More areas of the cortex are stimulated, the better. Example: Music, smells, bubble gum while
reading

• Emotional memories last longer because more areas of the cortex are devoted to them