QUESTION 10
Which of the following statements best describes the hypothetical mechanism discussed in class for how the brain might retrieve stored long-term memories?
A. Stimulus input causes the individual neuron representing a specific memory to begin firing, expressing the memory until the cell dies.
B. Learned synaptic connections act like a switchboard to direct readout neurons to receive input from the area of the brain whose persistent firing rates are actively representing the stored memory.
C. When external input causes a network to fire in an activity pattern similar to a stored memory, the learned synaptic connections allow the network to reorganize its activity into the pattern that actually represents the memory.
D. Similar to digital computers, the brain reads out stored memories by having a special class of neurons send connections to the specific brain location where the memory is stored.
Aplysia californica, a sea slug, was instrumental in experimentally understanding some basic mechanisms of memory. Which of the following options best describes how Aplysia demonstrated long-term memory in the video we watched in Lec. 19?
A. The sea slug released a larger volume of ink after a second presentation of a noxious stimulus; the amount of ink released returned to normal after subsequent stimulations.
B. The sea slug recognized the experimenter after not seeing the experimenter for 6 months.
C. The sea slug learned to perform complicated behavioral tasks.
D. The withdrawal reflex of the sea slug increased in magnitude after several presentations of a noxious stimulus (the slug retracted its body more and more) that lasted several days.