Learning and Memory Paper Essay Example for Free

Learning and Memory Paper Essay Human memory has been a significant interest concerning how people develop memory and process memory. Researchers and educators are diligently interested on the neuroanatomical neural processes related to learning and the current literature, neuroanatomical and neural processes related to memory and the current literature. In addition, the relationship between learning and memory form functional perspective. Researchers discuss the reasons learning and memory are interdependent, and have performed testing through case studies using animal studies because they are most useful and replicable studies for understanding the learning-to-memory-link. The examples from research help researchers with solving the mystery of the memory processes. Researchers discuss the importance of lifelong learning and brain stimulation to longevity and quality of life to obtain knowledge and how the human individual develops their capabilities to obtain memory and how memory can affect human behaviors. To understand the functional relationship between learning and memory we must first define what both learning and memory is. Learning is described as â€Å"the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, practice, or study, or by being taught† (Merriam-Webster, 2011). While â€Å"Memory is the means by which we draw on our past experiences in order to use this information in the present† (Sternberg, 1999). Therefore, as one can tell memory is essential to all of our lives. Without a memory of the past, we cannot operate in the present or think about the future. We would not be able to remember what we did yesterday, what we have done today or what we plan to do tomorrow. Without memory, we could not learn anything. Learning and Memory are linked to cognitive abilities in both humans and animals. A well-known example to show the relationship between learning and memory is the classic rat in maze. Rats have been used in experimental mazes since at least the 20th century. Thousands of studies have examined how rat’s run different types of mazes, from T-maze to radial arm mazes to water mazes. These maze studies are used to study spatial learning and memory in rats. Maze studies helped uncover general principles about learning that can be applied to many species, including humans. Today, mazes are used to determine whether different treatments or conditions affect learning and memory in rats. To take a step further, According to Kolata al, 2005 case study the tasks that comprise the learning battery (e.g., Lashley lll maze, passive avoidance, spatial water maze, order discrimination, fear conditioning) were explicitly chosen so that each one places unique sensory, motor, motivational, and information processing demands on the animals. Briefly, performance in the Lashley lll maze depends on animals’ use of fixed motor patterns (egocentric navigation) motivated by a search for food. Passive avoidance is an operant conditioning paradigm in which the animals must learn to be passive in order to avoid aversive light and noise stimulation. The spatial water maze encourages the animals to integrate spatial information to efficiently escape from a pool of water. Odor discrimination is a task in which animals must discriminate and use a target odor to guide their search for food. Finally, fear conditioning (assessed by behavioral freezing) is a conditioning test in which the animals learn to associate a tone with a shock. We reported a positive correlation between the aggregate performance of individual outbred mice in the learning battery described above and their subsequent ability to accommodate competing demands on their spatial working memory capacity. Specifically, we observe that when mice required performing in two arm mazes concurrently (a manipulation intended to place demands on working memory capacity), their performance in the target maze positively correlated with their general learning abilities. These results are suggestive of a relationship between working memory capacity and general learning abilities in mice. Memory is the process by which information is saved as knowledge and retained for further use as needed. Neuroanatomy, is the study of a particular nerve and are located, or rather memory is stored diffusely through the structures of the brain that particularly in its original state. There are four neural structures that play a role in memory. For example, (1) hippocampus and (2) perirhinal cortex have roles in spatial and object memory and (3) the mediodorsal nucleus and (4) the basal forebrain are implicated in memory. The medial temporal lobe memory system, is part of the system for memory in the medial temporal lobe (MTL), this neural system consists of the hippocampus and adjacent anatomically related cortex, including entorhinal, perirhinal, and parahippocampal cortices. According to (Squire, Larry R.: Zola-Morgan, Stuart, 1991,)†These structures are essentially for establishing long-term memory for facts and events (declarative memory). The MTL memory system is needed to bind together the distrusted storage sites in neocortex that represent a whole memory. However, the role of this system is only temporary.†P1. When time goes on after learning, our memory stored in neocortex slowly and eventually becomes independent of MTL structures. Rats have been used in experimental mazes since at least the 20th century. Thousands of studies have examined how rat’s run different types of mazes, from T-maze to radial arm mazes to water mazes. These maze studies are used to study spatial learning and memory in rats. Maze studies helped uncover general principles about learning that can be applied to many species, including humans. Today, mazes are used to determine whether different treatments or retrieval is established, encoding processes that initiate priming and explicit memory have not yet been anatomically separated, and we investigate then using event related functional magnetic resonance imaging. According to (Schott, Bjorn H.: Richardson-Klavehn, Alan; Henson Richard N. A; Becker, Christine; Heinze, Hans-Jochen; Duzel, Emrah, 2006,)†Activations precedicting later explicit memory occurred in the bilateral medial temporal lobe (MTL) and left prefrontal cortex (PFC). Activity predicting later priming did not occur in these areas, but rather in the bilateral extrastriate cortex, left fusiform gyrus, and bilateral inferior PFC, areas linked with stimulus identification,† P 2. However, these areas showed response reductions, and researchers results, illustrated that priming and explicit memory have distinctive functional neuroanatomies concerning encoding with MTL activations being strictly for explicit memory, and influence that priming is initiated by sharpness of neural responding in stimulus identification areas, that are consistent with recent electrophysiological evidence regarding priming related neural oscillations at encoding. Lifelong learning and brain stimulation are essential to mental and physical health, especially in old age. Throughout life, learning is what allows us to adapt to new situations, and learn how to survive and thrive in our current environment at any given time. As we learn, our brain becomes more active, taking in new information and comparing it with old. The new data is either corroborated by the old, or there is a conflict, at which point we must use judgment to determine which information we should keep and what we should discard. Learning can never stop, or it would mean the end of growth, and possibly the end of life, for an individual. Our environment changes every day, and new stimuli are encountered. Even if we have knowledge of what cars and streets are, and know how to practice safety when they are near, we are presented with new combinations and variables on these constructs every day. We must constantly assess the people and places around us, analyze them, and apply any new information to what we already know. This process, some would argue, is what makes us alive, intelligent creatures at the top of our ecological food chain. As for quality of life, very little is more important than keeping the brain active. As we age, the brain and its synaptic processes slow down and decay. Older people are more prone to dementia and other degenerative diseases. Working word puzzles or simply keeping a part time job to occupy the brain and keep it active and learning can extend the quality of life for any aging individuals, doing the same thing, while young can have the same effect. Our mental health is tied closely to our survival and our quality of living. If we can keep our brain learning, it can stay active and alert much longer than if we sit in front of screens and stop learning early in life. Human memory has been a significant interest concerning how people develop memory and process memory. From inspirational design in testing using animals, such a mice and mice being the greater source of exp erimental advances in research in the investigation of memory and human subject use. Researchers have unfolded how memory is developed, through the experiments of these subjects. Although, there is still much more investigation greed towards how memory effects how we learn, to how we store memory and process memory. We must continue the investigation; whereas so many people suffer memory dysfunctions; due to human illnesses and diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, brain damage and learning process needs. Bio-psychologist, work closely with other fields of psychology, biological factors and psychological factors that play a role in the memory processes. Learning can be defined as the process in which one’s experiences are combined into memory. One type of the traditional learning is school learning; this is done by incorporating textbook facts in which is called declarative memory. Not only does one have declarative memory, but also learning of procedural memories. Declarative memory is an explicit memory, a type of long-term memory in which one will store memories of fact (Psychology Glossary). Having memories of things, such as when Columbus sailed to America or on what day and time your baby brother was born, one has declarative memories. Procedural memory is the most basic form of memory. For example, this type of memory is used for procedures or furthermore the basic associations between stimuli and responses (Psychology Glossary). Having the memory of riding a bike is an example of procedural memory. Once an individual has learned what the proper procedure for riding a bike, it is then stored within the procedural memory. The limbic system actually focuses on the frontal lobe and the hippocampus. This system communicates by shooting of the electrical impulses in one’s neurons (Morin 2009). The neurons then become accountable for the storing of information. Brain plasticity refers to the ability for nerve cells to change through new experiences. These neurons take the information when an individual has been exposed to the stimulus to be learned. The retrieving of information is somewhat of a different process, however still maintains some of the same comparisons. Retrieving information becomes an activity of â€Å"re-activating† of those neurons. For both the long-term memory and the short-term memory these types of memories are then stored into many different places. The long-term memory process ensures that an individual will store these memories permanently (Morin 2009). This includes the changes to the cell structure and the creation of the new and unused synapses. Synapses are the junction between the neurons where a neural cell will communicate with a target cell. This is done when translating stimuli into a storage system that is used by the brain, linking the encoded stimuli in the memory and then accessing the memory of the stimuli at the time when it is needed, otherwise known as encoding, consolidation, and retrieval. REFERENCES Kolata, S., Light, K., Townsend, D.A., Hale, G., Grossman, H.C., Matzel, L.D. (2005) Variations in working memory capacity predict individual differences in general learning abilities among genetically diverse mice. Neurobiol. Learn. Mem. 84:241–246. Learning. 2011. In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved Jan 16, 2013, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/learning Sternberg, R. J. (1999). Cognitive psychology (2 nd ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Neuroanatomical Dissociation of Encoding Processes Relater to Priming and Explicit Memory. By: Schott, Bjorn H.: Richardson-Klavehn, Alan; Henson, Richard N. A.: Becker, Christine; Heinze, Hans-Jochen; Duzel, Emrah. 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