Memory
… a fundamental activity of the brain.
Memory •Part of every behaviour, from simple perception to
imagination, involves the influence or retrieval of past
experience.
From neuronal connections to •Define as any influence of previous experience
“Where’d I leave the car keys?” on any behaviour.
•Memory can be spontaneous, held in working
memory or deliberately recalled.
HUBS2504, Human Biosciences 2A, June 2002
Matthew Kirkcaldie, Discipline of Human Physiology •Example: writing a cheque.
Block diagram Storage
Every event or state of the brain is
represented at least temporarily while it’s
active.
Whether that temporary store will be made a
permanent memory depends on
neurochemical events.
This storage can be controlled by several
… really applies only to voluntarily remembered information. systems in the brain.
The whole cortex
Lashley tried to find where memory was, and
couldn’t.
Memory is a function of most of the cortex,
tied together by special associative systems.
It works by changing the influence of
connections which already exist.
1
Frontal cortex driving retrieval:
Low–level: the Hebb rule
fMRI (Functional Magnetic
Resonance Imaging) activation
map of one subject’s performance
If two neurons are firing at the same time, any
on a spatial working memory task. linkage between them becomes stronger. If
Lateral and medial frontal
activation is evident, as well as
they fire at different times, the connection
occipital and supra-modal cortex weakens.
activation.
In this voluntary recall, the frontal • Applies to systems of neurons and the links
cortex is activating other regions
of the brain to access the spatial between them.
memories stored there. • Works by changing connection strength.
from David C. Osmon, University of Wisconsin
• Association is automatic.
One long-term potentiation
Long term mechanism
potentiation (LTP)
NMDA receptors can link two
A real mechanism events in time because they
which has some of the open only when they receive two
properties of the Hebb signals.
rule.
The first signal is (presynaptic)
transmitter; the other is existing
Simultaneous activity
activity in the postsynaptic cell
changes the strength of
which expels magnesium from
synapses via chemical
the channel of the receptor.
events in the cells.
Calcium influx then activates
This change is biochemical cascades that can
(e.g. AMPA
modulated by other receptors) strengthen the synapse by
‘motivational’ systems. enhancing AMPA receptors.
Source: Scientific American
Making it last
Short-term associations become long-
lasting if given the right push.
For emotion-laden memories, the amygdala
and other limbic structures drive the
hippocampus to signal the temporal cortex
to make it permanent.
Over time, the physical structures of
Memory modulators
Some of the structures involved in making memories.
neurons can be altered by experience to
Source: The Digital Anatomist Interactive Brain Atlas.
form new patterns of connectivity.
2
Making it last
The ‘stored’ memories are just typical responses that
parts of ordinary cortex give to specific inputs.
No neurons are dedicated to perceptual memories –
every one in a region takes part.
hippocampus
context and forms temporary and
long-term associations
experiences
temporal cortex
longer term associations
Limbic regions long-term
potentiation
The so–called limbic system, mediator of emotion and reward amygdala
stress reactions
systems, is closely linked to the formation of memory, and may to situation
account for why some things are remembered vividly while other association cortex
sensory association regions –
events pass by without leaving an impression. gradually making own long-term
Source: The Digital Anatomist Interactive Brain Atlas. associations and memories
Hold that image
Areas in the prefrontal
cortex (yellow and red) stay
activated during the pause
with no face in view,
indicating their role in
keeping the face in working
memory.
Letters on hold (Colour fMRI data overlaid
Certain frontal and parietal brain areas (white spots) stay active on a structural MRI scan.)
when subjects hold a series of letters in working memory. Source: NIMH Laboratory of Brain and Cognition.
Published in Nature,Vol 386, April 10, 1997,p. 610.
Functional MRI data is embedded in a structural MRI model (shown
in blue and yellow).
Source:Dept. of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh
Other types of memory
Explicit Conscious memory of facts and Medial temporal lobe,
memory events diencephalon
Working Maintains short–term activity in Prefrontal cortex
memory other representations
Priming Tunes perceptual & conceptual Occipital, temporal
representations and frontal cortex
Working memory for faces
Motor learning Acquires new skills Striatum
During a working memory task for faces, different parts of the brain Classical Relationships between stimuli and Cerebellum
change in activity levels. When scrambled images are shown (blue bars), conditioning motor responses
visual regions at the back (1) are most active. When faces are shown Emotional Relationships between stimuli and Amygdala
(black bars) the associative and frontal regions (4,5,6) become much conditioning emotional responses
more interested, and when the subject is holding a face in working
memory (red bars), frontal regions are the most active, while visual cortex
is hardly active at all.
Source: NIMH Laboratory of Brain and Cognition.Published in Nature,Vol 386, April 10, 1997,p. 610.
