Changing the way you learn

Basal Ganglia

Hippocampus isn't responsible for all learning and memory
1. most important for episodic memory - develops from a single experience
2. After damage to hippo, learning still occurs but gradually over repeated experiences
  1. Hard to put into words
Gradual learning depends on basal ganglia
1. Implicit or habit learning
2. Each trial given 3 or 4 pieces of info - pictures and you have to predict weather to be either sunny or rainy
  1. By trial and error, discover none of pictures is completely accurate but partly accurate
  2. By paying attention to any one picture, you could guess correctly most of the time but attending to all 3, you increase your accuracy
  3. People adopt a strategy of responding based on one of pics getting correct answer
    1. Based on declarative memory
  4. Gradually basal ganglia learned the pattern through repetition and established a habit
3. If we test those wit Parkinsons they perform normally but have intact hippocampus
  1. Don't show any gradual improvement that requires basal ganglia
4. On other tasks, if they don't form explicit declarative memory, they don't improve at all.
  1. they don't learn habits and implicit memories
Amnesia from hippocampal damage
1. perform randomly on weather task for many trials
  1. No declarative memories and can't remember that any particular symbol is signal for one type of weather
    1. if they continue long enough, gradual improvements show supported by basal ganglia
    2. If signals switch, they are slow at switching their response
2. When people learn complex task under conditions of extreme discretion 0 similar to those with damage to hippo
  1. Gradual learning under these circumstances depends on basal ganglia
Research results suggest hippo is more important for declarative memory
1. Basal ganglia more important for procedural memory
2. no longer believe strict separation between the two
  1. Nearly all tasks activate both areas
    1. Albouy et al (2008)
    2. Possibly to shift from one type of memory to the other, even on same task

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Basal Ganglia

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	Created by n.c.wetmore over 11 years ago