18.13:
Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory
Learning is the acquisition of new knowledge or skills through experience or education.
Associative learning occurs when the link between two stimuli produces a particular response.
For instance, in Pavlov's experiment, dogs were conditioned to associate food with the sound of a bell, causing them to salivate when they heard it ring, even in the absence of food.
Non-associative learning occurs due to repeated exposure to a single stimulus. Habituation, a type of non-associative learning, reduces responsiveness to stimuli like routine traffic noise, while sensitization increases response to stimuli such as the siren of an ambulance.
Memory is the ability to store and recall information acquired through learning.
It can be of two types. Procedural, or skill-based memories such as riding a bike are stored in the cerebellum, basal ganglia, and premotor cortex.
In contrast, declarative, fact-based memories like the recollection of musical compositions reside in specific regions of the cerebral cortex, such as the auditory association area.
Declarative memories can be long-term, held for days to years, or short-term, stored temporarily.
Short-term memories can be converted to long-term memories through memory consolidation.
18.13:
Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory
Memory is one of the most vital higher mental functions of the brain. Memory is closely related to learning because it enables us to retain information and experiences from our past to use them in our present life. It also helps us to remember facts, events, and skills, such as riding a bike or swimming. There are two types of memory — declarative memory, which involves memorizing facts or events, and procedural memory, which enables us to remember how to do something like writing or playing an instrument.
Memory can be further divided into short-term and long-term memory. Short-term memory temporarily stores information, while long-term memory stores the information for longer. The hypothalamus consolidates short-term memories in our brain, which means that the nervous system will transfer information from the hypothalamus to the cerebral cortex for permanent storage. This means that consolidated short-term memories get converted into long-term memories.
Amnesia, characterized by forgetfulness, refers to the absence or impairment of memory. It can manifest as a complete or partial inability to recall past experiences. Anterograde amnesia involves explicitly the loss of memory for events that transpire after the underlying trauma or disease, failing to form new memories. On the other hand, retrograde amnesia pertains to the loss of memory for events before the trauma or disease, leading to an inability to recollect past events.