FINAL A
Exam NSCI 349

NAME (1 point) ________________________

Pledge

Part 1. T/F (1 point each)

  1. Working memory that is spared in amnesics..
  2. One of the pathways that processes light information, as discussed for heart rate conditioning in the pigeon, involves the retina, optic tectum, Nucleus Rotundus, and the ectostriatum.
  3. Conditioned inhibitors can be produced by backward conditioning.
  4. If reinforcement in an instrumental conditioning paradigm is given after every 10th response this is referred to as a fixed ratio schedule.
  5. Axons from the dorsal accessory nucleus of the inferior olive synapse on purkinje cells in the ipsilateral neocortex.
  6. Golgi first proposed that memories were formed by changes in synaptic strength.
  7. Lashely demonstrated that the memory for running a maze could not be localized to any specific region of the neocortex.
  8. One of the characteristics of habituation in Aplysia is that the response will recover if preceeded by a novel stimulus. This is referred to as dishabituation and requires the activity of PKC.
  9. Delay conditioning is the most powerful and quickest way to associate a CS with a US.
  10. It has been reported, by some labs, that unilateral lesions of the cerebellar cortex abolish and prevent reacquisition of a conditioned eyelid response in the cat.
  11. The Rescorla-Wagner theory does not, in its present form take into account any changes that may be occurring in the salience of the CS or US during conditioning.
  12. Electrical stimulation of axons from the neocortex have been shown to produce changes in synaptic strength in adjacent regions of the neocortex, red nucleus and the cerebellum.
  13. Processes involved in the development of the nervous system are completely unrelated to the proposed biochemical mechanism of learning in adults.
  14. CREB is something you scrap off of your windshield in the summer.
  15. If one considers the nervous system as a parallel distributed network that becomes associated with other networks at the same time and is influenced by other networks of activity that have occurred previously we can postulate mechanisms for word retrieval problems.
  16. When a protein synthesis blocker is injected into an animal before training it to run a maze for food the animal does not retain any of the knowledge of that experience assayed by testing the animal 24 hours later in the same apparatus.
  17. The "dual process" theory of habituation proposes that both increases and decreases in the mechanisms for transmitting information across the synapse occur on each presentation of a given stimulus but that the increases are not cumulative and eventually reduce to zero while the decreases continue to occur as stimuli are presented over time.
  18. Cell firing in deep cerebellar nuclei increases as conditioning of the nictitating membrane response proceeds because the efficacy of parallel fibers synapsing on purkinje cells is increased as a result of the association between the US and CS.
  19. When simultaneously conditioning with a CS that already elicits a CR and one that the animal has never been exposed to, the fact that, even after extensive training, the novel stimulus doesn't produce a CR is called overshadowing.
  20. Structural changes have been seen 1) in the CA1 region after electrical stimulation of the schaffer collaterals, 2) in the neocortex when an animal is exposed to an enriched environment, 3) when a bird is learning or producing its particular song, and 4) in aplysia after long-term habituation has been induced.

Part 2. Short answer (3 points each) Discuss one example where the following molecules have been implicated in learning and/or memory and the role that the molocule plays in learning and memory in that example. Keep it short but coherent. Only choose 4 of the following 8.

  1. cAMP
  2. clathrin
  3. NCAM
  4. calcium/calmodulin sensitive adenylate cyclase
  5. NGF
  6. 5-HT
  7. AMPA receptors (among other sources read the Bliss & Collingridge article)
  8. PP2B


Part 3. Short answer (4 points each) What is the connection between the following items and the study of learning and memory. Only answer 6 of the following 12.

  1. mutant mice
  2. intermediate and medial region of the hyperstriatum ventrale (IMHV)
  3. 17 beta estradiol
  4. Robustus archistriatalis (RA)
  5. Korsakoff's Syndrome
  6. Archistriatum
  7. Changeaux (from the video at the beginning of the semester)
  8. Strabismus
  9. Enriched environments
  10. L29
  11. quantal analysis
  12. Walden 2

PART 4. short answer (6points) What molecules/biochemical processes have been implicated in learning and memory based on experiments done on these preparations. A list would be acceptable. Only answer 1 of the 2.

  1. Hippocampal slices
  2. Drosophila



PART 5. Longer Answer (8 points each) Use complete sentences and coherent logic when answering this set of questions. Answer all 5 questions.

  1. Why do we suspect that habituation in aplysia is a monosynaptic phenomena?
  2. 1) What does the data graphed in Fig 1 imply about the lesion site's role in the Nictitating Membrane (NM) response? 2) What does this data imply about the anatomy of the system that is involved in learning the NM?
    Fig. 1
  3. 1) What is the experimental protocal being used in to generate the data in Figure 2? 2) What does the data in the Figure 2 suggest about LTD? Be specific and place marks on the portions of the graph that support your conclusion(s).
    Fig. 2
  4. There are various molocules that would be sensitive to the coincidence of 2 different inputs. Can you name a few of them and give examples of how they would work?
  5. Discuss how Skinner proposed to use his ideas for social engineering and give examples of how they might be misused.

Part 6. Creative question/answer (6 points) The always present and forever loved 'Devise your own question on a topic that was not covered in the exam but was covered in class or in the readings (show me what you know). Provide an answer for this question.'