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Homework 2 1. Describe the involvement of the Thalamus, Basal ganglia, Hippocampus, & Amygdala in learning and memory. 2. Describe two different ways that drugs can affect the brain. Izzy Waymire Department of Psychology, Ball State University PSYS 364: Psychology of Learning Dr. Anjolii Diaz Waymire 1

Scientists have only begun to uncover how the various parts of the brain relate to memory and learning. The brain doesn’t work as one organ but as a group that contributes differently to what we think and do. Several parts of the brain contribute to learning and memory like the Thalamus, Basal ganglia, Hippocampus, and Amygdala but in different ways. These are all found in the same area near the center of the human brain and almost look like a miniature version of the human brain. The Thalamus receives signals from various senses like sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. These contribute to how humans learn and perceive the world around them. Babies that are at the oral fixation of development understand things better when they use their sense of taste. This is why babies will stick anything into their mouths and their Thalamus takes that information from the object in their mouth and relays it to different parts of their brain because they are trying to learn about the world around them. Eventually, they will start to use other senses like touch and sight to observe and comprehend what they are learning. These signals connect to many cortical and subcortical regions after they go through the gates of the thalamus and they affect the brain’s activity. Near the thalamus sits the basal ganglia which is a group of structures significant for learning, planning, and producing skilled movements. The Basal Ganglia helps produce a skilled movement like picking up a cup which seems like a simple task but in reality, it takes a lot of tracking movement and making tiny adjustments. A child will struggle to grab the cup without fully thinking about it and will most likely cause a mess by just yanking the cup off the table. Eventually, over time their basal ganglia will develop more so they can grab the cup without creating a mess. Waymire 2

The hippocampus is a component of the brain that is inside the temporal lobe and enables you to memorize new facts and autobiographical events. It helps the brain learn and remember how to get to places like being able to drive to work or school without assistance or directions. Researcher Eleanor Maguire compared brain volume by using MRIs on a group of London taxi drivers and similar-aged Londoners who don’t extensively know their city’s geography. When examining the brains the only region of the brain that significantly looked different between the taxi drivers and Londoners was that the drivers had slightly considerable hippocampus in terms of volume. They think that an increase in dendritic branching in hippocampus neurons is what causes the difference in the volume of the hippocampus because of the intensive spatial learning. (Gluck, Mercado, & Myers, 2020). Interestingly enough the longer they have been taxi drivers so over a decade the larger their hippocampus in volume will be compared to the brains of those who have simply been driving taxis for a couple of years. At the tip of the hippocampus is a group of cells called the amygdala that stores important emotional memories. This is where your core memories lie like the happiest and even the saddest day of your life stored. The amygdala adds emotional strength to those memories when active and makes it easier to remember them. Drugs affect the human brain in many different ways by altering certain functions because they alter synaptic transmission. “Drugs can increase or decrease the ability of the presynaptic neuron to produce or release neurotransmitters.”(Gluck et al., 2020). Amphetamine drugs modify the neurons that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine causing postsynaptic neurons to acquire stronger more frequent messages than normal. The dopamine system is involved in the processing of rewards so when the drug causes them to release greater than normal amounts of dopamine it may result in feelings of excitement, anticipation, and pleasure. “The effects of a drug on behavior depend on which neurotransmitters and neural circuits are involved and Waymire 3

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whether synaptic transmission is enhanced or impaired.”(Gluck et al., 2020). Opiate drugs such as heroin and morphine are identical on a chemical level to endogenous opioids and are naturally occurring neurotransmitters that can cause the brain to be “fooled” by the drugs. This causes postsynaptic neurons to think that strong signals are being received from multiple presynaptic neurons. Molecules of the drugs can activate the receptors just like the endogenous opioids which can result in weak chemical messages. This would generate tons of neurons to fire when they would not normally cause firing in postsynaptic neurons. These drugs cause intense sensations of pleasure because they imitate endogenous opioids which are significant when it comes to how the brain processes and signals pleasure. Waymire 4

References Gluck, M. A., Mercado, E., & Myers, C. E. (2020). Learning and memory: From brain to behavior (3rd ed.). New York: Worth Publishers. Waymire 5

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