UNDERSTANDING

Language, Learning,
and Memory
Learning & Memory
 Localized Memory
Representations
According to Ivan Pavlov, learning is based on the development of a
connection between two different regions of the brain

Ivan Pavlov was a specialist in the study of what is now known as

Classical Conditioning, wherein matching two stimuli alters how one
of them is responded to one of them
CS = no response
UCS = triggers the UCR
Combination of CS and UCS = brand new way in response to the CS
(called, conditioned response)
After numerous such combinations, the noise (CS) itself caused the
dog to start salivating
CR = UCR
 Localized Memory
Representations
According to Ivan Pavlov, learning is based on the development of a
connection between two different regions of the brain

An individual's behavior determines whether they receive a reward or

punishment is called Instrumental or Operant Conditioning
Any circumstance that raises the likelihood that the response will
occur again is a reinforcer.
An act that reduces the frequency of the response is called a
punishment.
 Localized Memory
Representations
Karl Lashley demonstrated that learning is not reliant on establishing
cerebral cortex connections.

An engram might, for instance, constitute a link between two brain regions.
Lashley reasoned that since learning relies on developing or fortifying
connections between two brain regions, a cut should disrupt those
connections and eliminate the taught response.
Made cuts in the rat's cerebral cortices
It appears that different not just one cortical region are involved in memory
and learning.
Eliminated cortex
Performance was affected yet impairment was more a function of the
degree of brain damage than of the site of the injury.
 Localized Memory
Representations
Karl Lashley demonstrated that learning is not reliant on establishing
cerebral cortex connections.

Lashley thus suggested the following two ideas on the nervous system:
1. Equipotentiality: Any portion of the cortex can take the place of another
and all parts of the cortex share equally towards complex behaviors like
learning.
2. Mass Action: More cortex is preferable since it operates better as a whole.
Multiple cortical areas are involved in this example of learning, although
different areas may be engaging in various ways.
 Localized Memory
Representations
Richard Thompson discovered that a small portion of the
cerebellum is where certain cases of classical conditioning occur.

Rather than looking for the memory engram in the cerebral cortex, Richard
F. Thompson and his colleagues looked for it in the cerebellum using a
simpler exercise than Lashley's.
Thompson and associates investigated the classical conditioning of rabbit
eyelid movements
The lateral interpositus nucleus (LIP), one of the cerebellum's nuclei, was
recognized by Thompson as being crucial for learning
Learning itself must depend entirely on the LIP as demonstrated by the
higher activity in the medial geniculate nucleus, which clearly signals
feedback from the LIP.
 Memory
Long-term memory and short-term memory are differentiated by psychologists.
Unless the information is regularly practiced, short-term memory can only store
a tiny quantity of data and keep it for a relatively short period of time.

No single mechanism, according to Donald Hebb (1949), could explain every single
event associated with learning
Rehearsal is essential for short-term memory. When anything interrupts you after
reading the letters DZLAUV, for instance, your likelihood of recalling the letters
decreases quickly (Peterson & Peterson, 1959). When it comes to short-term
memory, if one fails to recall something, it's gone.
Long-term memories that you haven't pondered about in decades can be retained.
With long-term memory, a clue could reassemble information you previously
believed to have forgotten. Try identifying each of your high school instructors as
an example. If someone turns up after you've named everyone you can, you can
name even more of your pictures and provides the initials of the teachers.
 Memory
Long-term memory and short-term memory are differentiated by psychologists.
Unless the information is regularly practiced, short-term memory can only store
a tiny quantity of data and keep it for a relatively short period of time.

The information was simply lost if the rehearsal was halted before consolidation.
First, a lot of short-term memories aren't just temporary storage devices upon
being long-term memory
Additionally, consolidation isn't what we formerly imagined it to be.
the length of time required for consolidation varies greatly
"consolidated" memory is not stable impermanent, which is the second issue
 Memory
·Modern psychology has replaced the idea of short-term memory with
the idea of working memory, which stores knowledge which is actively
being used.

The idea of short-term memory was replaced by A. G. and D. Baddeley J. Hitch as

they coined the phrase "working memory" to describe how humans retain
information while using it.
Delayed response task
prefrontal cortex is a key area for this storage
performance is affected when the prefrontal cortex is damaged
Working memory problems are common among the elderly
 Hippocampus
Fresh long-term declarative memories, particularly episodic memories, are extremely
challenging for individuals with hippocampal injury to generate. They nonetheless
display implicit memory, maintain short-term memory, and create new procedural
memories.

Loss of memory is amnesia

Even in extreme circumstances, not everyone loses every type of memory in the same
way
Hippocampal Damage
different regions of the hippocampus are engaged during the creation of memories as
well as subsequent recall. Although the procedure made H. M. have severe memory loss
and his epilepsy was controlled to no over than two large seizures each year
But he experienced severe anterograde amnesia (the inability to construct memories of
occasions following brain injury), Having a challenging time creating new declarative
memories, particularly episodic memories. He also experienced retrograde amnesia,
which is the inability to recall past events due to brain injury the absence of past
memories, can occur, however, it usually only affects episodic memories.
 Hippocampus
Fresh long-term declarative memories, particularly episodic memories, are extremely
challenging for individuals with hippocampal injury to generate. They nonetheless
display implicit memory, maintain short-term memory, and create new procedural
memories.

Normal Working Memory

H. M. had normal short-term or working memory.
Brenda Milner (1959) gave him a task in which she required him to recall the number
584. He remembered it properly after a 15-minute period of no interruptions, saying, "It's
easy. You can only think of 8. You see, the sum of 5, 8, and 4 is 17. When you remember 8
and deduct it from 17 you get 9. When you divide 9 in half, you get 5 and 4, which equals
584. Easy.” Moments later, when his focus was on something else, he had forgotten the
number and the intricate chain of reasoning it had sparked.
Better Implicit Memory
Patients suffering from amnesia almost universally exhibit greater implicit than explicit
memory.
Even if you are unaware of it, experience has an influence on your actions thanks to
implicit memory.
 Hippocampus
Fresh long-term declarative memories, particularly episodic memories, are extremely
challenging for individuals with hippocampal injury to generate. They nonetheless
display implicit memory, maintain short-term memory, and create new procedural
memories.

Nearly Intact Procedural Memory

The development of motor abilities and routines is a form of procedural memory, which
is a specific type of implicit memory.
You might not be able to verbally articulate a motor skill or routine, and you may not be
aware that it is an example of implicit memory.
 Hippocampus
Numerous hippocampus-related concepts emphasize the structure's function in
declarative memory, spatial memory, and contextualized and detail-specific
recollection.

Declarative Memory
According to Larry Squire's hypothesis from 1992, the hippocampus plays a crucial role in
declarative memory, particularly episodic memory
Delayed matching-to-sample task
Delayed nonmatching-to-sample job
In most circumstances, hippocampal injury significantly reduces performance
Spatial Memory
The hippocampus exhibits increased activity when individuals conduct spatial tasks, like
planning the best route between two houses, according to fMRI findings
Explore a few techniques for evaluating animals' spatial memory just like the radial maze
Contextual
The hippocampus is crucial for context and detail memory. A recent memory, which often
relies on the hippocampus, has a lot of specific information. As we age, our memories are
becoming less precise, less hippocampus-dependent, and more cerebral cortex-dependent.
 Basal Ganglia
The basal ganglia learn progressively, but the hippocampus is necessary for the quick
storing of an event. Progressive learning is crucial for creating routines and identifying
intricate patterns that might not be obvious after only one attempt.

Basal ganglia-dependent progressive learning that occurs in this way as implicit learning or habit
learning
These findings both show that the basal ganglia play a greater role in procedural memory than
the hippocampus does in declarative memory.
Korsakoff's Syndrome
Confabulations are a common way for people with Korsakoff's syndrome to patch out
their memory lapses, which they later recall as fact.

Also known as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome

Brain injury brought on by a protracted thiamine deficit.
Symptoms include memory loss, confusion, etc. Alcohol abuse is one of the
main contributors to this condition.
Thiamine, a vitamin B1 essential for the metabolism of glucose
Long-term thiamine shortage causes neurons to shrink or die throughout the
brain.
Additionally, they coincide with those of hippocampal degeneration, with
significant episodic memory problems and preservation of implicit memory
Notable symptom: confabulation
 Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive illness that affects memory and attention and is
most prevalent among older people. It has to do with the amyloid-b protein buildup in
the brain. The amyloid buildup causes anomalies in the tau protein, which makes things
more complicated.

Stronger procedural memory as compared to their declarative memory

Memory is enhanced by increased arousal, and those who consume 3 to 5 cups
of coffee per day
More severe memory loss, disorientation, melancholy, agitation, hallucinations,
and delusions are all symptoms of Alzheimer's disease as it develops.
Genes, aging, lifestyle, and many more are probable factors of this disease
An abnormality in the amyloid-b, plaques, and tau are the causes of
Alzheimer's as well
 What do amnesia
patients teach us?
Individuals do not forget all facets of memory all at the same time, according to
research on amnesia victims.

A person who has a challenging time creating new memories may recall past
experiences, while a patient who has a severely degraded factual memory may pick up
new abilities.

Obviously, humans have a variety of memory types that are fairly autonomous and rely
on various brain regions.

Other brain regions

Parietal lobe damage: intact episodic memories

Anterior and inferior damage: loss of semantic memory

Prefrontal damage: responsible for rewards and punishments

When the postsynaptic
neuron generates
action potentials, a
Hebbian synapse is
one that is
continuously engaged
 In Aplysia, the gill-
withdrawal response
becomes habituated by a
process that reduces the
transmitter discharge out
of a specific presynaptic
neuron.
 In Aplysia, the gill-
withdrawal response
becomes habituated by a
process that reduces the
transmitter discharge out
of a specific presynaptic
neuron.
 In Aplysia, serotonin
inhibits potassium
channels in a presynaptic
neuron, delaying the
discharge of the
transmitter out of that
neuron and sensitizing the
gill-withdrawal response
 A rapid yet strong set of
stimuli that are sent to a
neuron, often by two or more
axons supplying concurrent
inputs, results in long-term
potentiation (LTP), which
boosts responsiveness at
specific synapses.
 Long-term depression is an
activity where synapses
become less responsive as
axons become extremely slowly
engaged (LTD).
LTP happens as indicated in hippocampus neurons:

·AMPA receptors are repeatedly excited by

glutamate, which depolarizes the membrane.

·Magnesium ions that had previously obstructed

NMDA receptors are removed during
depolarization.

·The NMDA receptors can then be excited by

glutamate, creating a pathway for calcium ions
to reach the cell.
 LTP is associated with
greater transmitter discharge
from the presynaptic neuron
at multiple synapses, either
in place of or in addition to
alterations in the
postsynaptic neuron.
 With the exception of
moderate stimulants like
coffee, no memory-improving
medication or technique is
currently available that is
both efficacious.
Lateralization and
the Split Brain
Lateralization
The left and right sides of the brain are specialised
to attend to different information, to process
sensory inputs in different ways and to control
different types of motor behaviour.
 Right Left

Controls the left side of Controls speech and the

the body right side of the body of
the body
The left hemisphere connects to the left half of
each retina and thus gets visual input from the
right half of the world. The opposite is true of
the right hemisphere. At the optic chiasm,
axons from the right half of the left retina cross
to the right hemisphere, and axons from the left
half of the right retina cross to the left
hemisphere.

Right visual field --> left half of each retina -->

left hemisphere

Left visual field --> right half of each retina -->

right hemisphere

SB
 Cutting the Corpus Callosum

Epilepsy
mutation in a gene controlling the GABA recep-
tor from trauma or infection in the brain, brain
tumors, or exposure to toxic substances. Often,
the cause is not known.
Antiepileptic drugs block sodium flow across the
mem- brane or enhance the effects of GABA;
Operation (cutting the corpus callosum).
Split-Brain people
 Cutting the Corpus Callosum

Left hand
Split-Brain
In theory, it says that people with split-brain will
not have difficulties in doing the activity.
The difficulty of simultaneously moving your left
hand one way and your right hand a different
way reflects a cognitive difficulty more than a
motor limitation; Split-brain people doesnt have
Right hand a problem in planning two actions at once.
Visual Information
 Right and Left Hemipshere

Right Hemisphere
Responsible for image processing, spatial
thinking, and movement in the left side of the
body.
Recognizing emotions.
Left visual field
 Right and Left Hemipshere

Left Hemisphere
Primarily responsible for speech and abstract
thinking. It also controls the right side of the
body.
Right visual field.
 Maturation of the Corpus Callosum

The Corpus callosum gradually grows and

thickens as myelin increases around certain
axons during childhood and adolescence.
The likely interpretation is that the corpus
callosum matures sufficiently between ages 3
and 5 to facilitate the comparison of stimuli
between the two hands.
The left and right hemispheres differ
anatomically even during infancy. Young
children have some trouble comparing
information from the left and right hands
because the corpus callosum is not fully mature.
Agenesis Corpus Callosum
Language and the Brain
Evolution
AND PHYSIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE
Evolution
AND PHYSIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE
Nonhuman Precursors of Language

Chimpanzees
Chimpanzees learned better when researchers
taught them American Sign Language and
other visual systems. (B.T. Gardner & Gardner,
1975; Premack & Premack, 1972).
Chimpanzees used their symbols mainly to
request, seldom to describe.
Chimpanzees showed moderate understanding;
Chimp Washoe.
Evolution
AND PHYSIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE
Nonhuman Precursors of Language

Bonobos
Bonobos' social prder resembles humans' in several
regards.
Long-lasting personal attachment and copulates
face to face. Females respond to sex. Males
contribute to infant care. Adults share food.
Primates whom resembles humans than others.
Matata and her son, Kanzi; much advanced in
language.
Evolution
AND PHYSIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE
Nonhuman Precursors of Language

Bonobos "Why did Kanzi and Mulika developed a

more advance comprehension skills than
chimpanzees?"
Kanzi: 5 and a half year of age, he knew
150 English words.
1. Bonobos have more language
Kanzi and her younger sister, Mulikula
potential than chimpanzees.
developed language comprehension
similar to a 2-year-old child.
2. Kanzi and Mulika started training
at a young age.
1. Understood more than can prdouce.
3. Methods of training: observation
2. They use symbols to name and describe even when
not requesting. and imitation.
3. They request items they do not see (memory).
Evolution
AND PHYSIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE
Nonhuman Precursors of Language

Nonprimates
Alex, an African Gray Parrot;
imitation, repeated stimuli
(sound), & conditioned.
Language test on Alex.
Evolution
AND PHYSIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE

How did humans learn language?

Theories:
1. Byproduct of Brain Development
2. Specialized Adaptation
Evolution
AND PHYSIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE People with Normal intelligence but Impared
Language

"If language is a product of overall brain

size, then anyone with a full-size brain and
normal overall intelligence should have
normal language."

Original sentence: The boy eats three cookie.

16 out of 30 people of three generations
Attempted Correction: The boy eat four cookie.
showed severe language deficiencies
regardless of normal intelligence
(pronunciation, etc.). Participant made many and odd
Caused by a dominant gene. corrections.
It showed that when they speak their Language requires more than just a
brains show more activity in posterior large brain and overall intelligence.
regions instead of the frontal cortex.
Evolution
AND PHYSIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE People with Mental Retardation but Relatively
Spared Language

"Can someone with mental Their fascination to faces is founded

retardation have good language?" on their twice as large as normal
fusiform cortex.
Considering their mental retardation,
Williams Syndrome their skill in language is impeccable.
Deletion of several genes from Although, not in the standard of
Chromosome 7; decreased gray matter outstanding.
(visual processing areas).
William Syndrome indicate that
Poor in: visuospatial skills, spatial
language is simply not a byproduct of
perception.
overall intelligence.
They require supervision and guidance
for the reason that they cannot perform
simple jobs (IQ of 50-60).
Evolution
AND PHYSIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE Language as a Specialization

Language Acquisition device (Chomsky and

Pinker, 1980, 1994); children are biologically
prepared for language.
FOXP2 (mutation). = Produces mulititudes of
effects.
Scientist attempted to alter FOXP2 in mices:
changes in vocalizations, increased dendritic
branching, and synaptic plasticity in the Basal
Ganglia.

Social interactions among people, including those between parents

and children, favored the evolution of language, and overall
intelligence may be a byproduct of language development more
than language is a byproduct of intelligence (Deacon, 1992, 1997).
Evolution
AND PHYSIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE Sensitive Period for Learning

Research indicates that the younger the

person are, the more capable of them to learn
and master a second language (Bilingual).
A person who starts learning beyond the age
of 12 or so almost never reach the level of a
true native speaker.

Bilingual people in most cases, show

substantial bilateral during speech for both
language.
Language areas of their temporal and frontal A research on a deaf child who learned no
cortex grow thicker than average. language during early childhood.
Debunking the left and right hemipshere for A child who learnes no language while
two language. young is permanently impaired at
Second language depeneds on the same brain learning any kind of language.
areas as the first.
Language as a Specialization:

Brain Damage
AND LANGUAGE
Brain Damage
AND LANGUAGE

Broca's Aphasia (Nonfluent Aphasia)

Paul Broca, French Surgeon in 1861

discovered that language
impairment (Aphasia) has to do with
the damage in the left frontal cortex
(Broca's area).
Usual cause was stroke (interruption
of blood flow to the part of the brain). Broca's Area
People with Broca's Aphasia
(Impaired language production) have
conprehension deficits when
sentence structures are complicated.
Brain Damage
AND LANGUAGE

People with Broca's Aphasia are

Difficulty in Language Production
slow and awkward with all forms of
expression (speaking, writing,
gesture, sign language for the deaf,
etc.).
When people with Broca’s aphasia
speak, they omit most pronouns,
prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliary
(helping) verbs, quantifiers, and
tense and number endings (For the
English Language).
People who are in great pain speak
as if they have Broca's Aphasia.
Brain Damage
AND LANGUAGE

Problems in Comprehending
Grammatical Words and Devices

Broca's Aphasia
hinders people to
understand
prepositions,
conjunctions, and
more.
Have not totally lost
their knowledge to
grammar; their
comprehension
resembles someone
who is distracted.
Brain Damage
AND LANGUAGE

Broca's Area One Step at a Time

In a few cases, researchers implanted electrodes to record activity in Broca’s

area while the person listened to sentences or processed them in other
ways. The cells that responded first made the same response regardless of
what, if anything, the person was supposed to do with the word.
Evidently these cells had something to do with understanding the word. A
second group of cells responded a bit later, and responded more strongly if
the instruction was to change the tense (walk → walked) or number (rock →
rocks). A third group, with the latest response, was active in preparation for
saying the word. Those cells responded most strongly to long words that
required more effort to speak (Sahin, Pinker, Cash, Schomer, & Halgren,
2009). These re- sults suggest that cells in Broca’s area go through at least
three stages in controlling speech
Brain Damage
AND LANGUAGE

Wernicke's Aphasia (Fluent Aphasia)

Carl Wernicke, Junior Assistant

at a German Hospital discovered
the damage part in the left
temporal cortex produced a
different kind of language
impairment (1874).
Patients could speak and write,
Wernicke's Area
language comprehension was
poor (Poor language
comprehension and inability to
remember names of objects).
Brain Damage
AND LANGUAGE

Wernicke's Aphasia (Fluent Aphasia)

1. Articulate Speech
2. Difficulty finding
the right word
(Anomia)
3. Poor language Wernicke's Area

comprehension
A language therapist talking to a woman with Wernicke's Aphasia.
Brain Damage
AND LANGUAGE

Wernicke's Aphasia (Fluent Aphasia)

Patients still recognize the objects and the names but she has
trouble finding them for herself.
Although Wernicke’s area and surrounding areas are important,
language comprehension also depends on the connections to
other brain areas. For example, reading the word lick activates not
only Wernicke’s area but also the part of the motor cortex
responsible for tongue movements. Reading throw activates the
part of the premotor cortex controlling hand movements.
Brain Damage
AND LANGUAGE

Music and Language

Language and music have many parallels, including the ability of

both to evoke strong emotions.
Broca’s area is strongly activated when orchestral musicians
sightread music, as well as when they perform difficult visuospatial
tasks.
Evolutionary processes helped us develop language and enabled us
to develop music.
Brain Damage
AND LANGUAGE

Dyslexia

Specific impairment of reading.

Common in boys than in girls.
Linked to atleast four genes that
produces impairment in hearing or
cognition.
As a rule, people with dyslexia are more
likely to have a bilaterally symmetrical
cerebral cortex, whereas in other people,
the planum temporale and certain other
areas are larger in the left hemisphere.
.Several brain areas in the parietal and
temporal cortex have less than average
gray matter in children with dyslexia and
show less arousal during reading.
Brain Damage
AND LANGUAGE

Dyslexia

Dysphonetic Dyslexics: Have trouble sounding out words.

Dyseidetic Dyslexics: sound out words, but fail to recognize a word as a
whole.
Most but not all people with dyslexia have auditory problems
Brain scans have shown that dyslexics’ brains, on average, show
less than normal responses to speech sounds, especially
consonants
Many people with dyslexia have particular trouble detecting the
temporal order of sounds, such as noticing the difference between
beep-click-buzz and beep- buzz-click.
Conscious and Unconscious
PROCESSES AND ATTENTION
Conscious and Unconscious
PROCESSES AND ATTENTION

The Mind Brain Relationship

"What is the relationship between the mind and the brain?"

Dualism: Belief that mind and body are different kinds of

substance that exist independently.
Rene Descartes
Dualism conflicts with one of the cornerstones of Physics, known
as the law of conservation of matter and energy.
Conscious and Unconscious
PROCESSES AND ATTENTION

The Mind Brain Relationship

"What is the relationship between the mind and the brain?"

Monism: Belief that the universe only consists of one kind of

substance.
Materialism, Mentalism, Identity Position.
Experiences and the brain are inseparable.

Hard Problem: "Why does consciousness exist at all?"

Conscious and Unconscious
PROCESSES AND ATTENTION

Brain Activity Associated with Consciousness

Researchers sometimes use brain recordings to infer whether

someone is conscious. More confident inferences should become
possible after we better understand what aspects of brain
functioning are necessary for consciousness.
To identify the brain activities associated with con- sciousness,
researchers present the same stimulus under conditions when an
observer probably will or probably will not identify it consciously.
Masking
Binocular Rivalry
Conscious and Unconscious
PROCESSES AND ATTENTION

Consciousness as a threshold phenomenon

People almost never say they were partly conscious of something. It may
be that consciousness is a threshold phenomenon: We become
conscious of anything that exceeds a certain level of brain activity, and
we are not conscious of other event.
Attention
Stroop effect
Conscious and Unconscious
PROCESSES AND ATTENTION

Bottom-up Process:
Reaction to stimulus.
Top-down Process:
Intentional.
Spatial Neglect