semantic memory – voluntarily recall facts and figures
procedural memory – involuntary
motor skills
emotional responses
dogs don’t have semantic memory
memory matters
more effective training
resolve leant undesirable actions
fix behavioural problems
short term memory
held in current awareness for short amount of time
contains 5-9 spaces/slots, average for humans is 7
90% of info gone within 3 seconds – item + time limit
what effects how many slots are available/
genetics?
attachment history – how safe does dogs feel in early life (rapid brain development)
habituation – what the brain needs not to pay attention to
current safety
current survival needs – hungry, hot , thirsty, full bladder…
pain/disease
stress damages memory making cells
fear
recurrent
inescapable
social isolation
frustration of goals
over exersion
too much exercise
too fast exercise
lack of rest/sleep
pain/medial disorders
acute stress
sympathetic nervous system
lasts seconds to minutes
adrenaline
noradrenalin
dopamine
neurotransmitters
chemicals to trigger release of noradrenalin and adrenaline from adrenal glands
release of osteocalcin from bone
aim (can’t sustained for long):
move faster
increase blood to muscles
decrease digestion
prepare body for injury
decrease pain perception
chronic stress
production of glucocorticoids: HPA axis
starts in minutes, lasts minutes, hours, days, weeks…
cortisol
aim:
keep body active (alongside dampened actors stress changes)
switch off longer term energy rich projects
immune system
fertility
hair growth
sleep
minimise stress
good socialisation
avoid early weaning
avoid social isolation
habituation
minimise negative experiences
meet inelastic goals
safety
ingestion
body care
sleep
offer more choices
creating recovery opertunities
species enriched environment
social
scent driven
scavengers (food acquisition is less than 5% of every 24 hours)
mostly walking exercise – running is uncommon and faster exercise is done in social play
more space
more choice
tactile options
adolescent dogs living with dogs diminished stress
secure attachment to care giver
fear
emotion, not behaviour
generated involuntary, unconscious behaviours as fast, reflexive protective action
comforting dog when fearful doesn’t reinforce the behaviours as the behaviours are involuntary
identify early signs of fear, increase distance
how slots are used – training experiences
sleep
age
exercise
reproductive hormones
freeing up slots
recognising patterns – “chunking”
chunk 1= sit
chunk 2 = lie
chunk 3 = rollover
chunk 4 = get up
chunk 5 = stand still
practice consecutively multiple times, becomes one chunk
short term memory must be reversed to be passed to long term memory – use it or lose it
long term memory
information previously stored and held indefinitely
life affecting/highly valuable/salient/information that assists survival information can bypass rehearsal phase – like during your hand on something hot – one trial learning
working memory
what are we thinking about right now
long term memories get recalled into short term memory, taking up slots
what dog’s brain pays attention to depends on life experiences – what the brain thinks is important
brain cells = neurons
lots of arms and fingers
lots of legs and toes
therefore lots of connections
electricity can only pass one way – enter through fingers, leave through toes
paths grow stronger or weaker depending how often they are used – rehearsal
stronger due to increased use = long term potentiation
weaker due to lack of use = long term depression
connections are difficult to break
path of least resistance/path most travelled
memory bank
hippocampus
amygdala
threat detection centre
memories of fear
threatening/potentially threatening stimuli fast tracked via amygdala
responsible for detection and storage of fear based memories
allows for rapid access of fear memories in the future
classical conditioning
injection
neutral stimulus – smell of skin cleaner
unconditioned stimulus – painful injection
unconditioned response – growl
conditioned stimulus – smell of skin cleaner
unconditioned stimulus – painful injection
conditioned response – growl
conditioned response stored in amygdala therefore is response of choice as faster to get to
stop walking the undesired path – long term depression of conditioned response – counter conditioning more likely to work
hypothalamus
pituitary gland
repetition in memory making
rehearsal
too much practice can decrease learning – sleep in between (dogs trained once or twice a week picked up tasks quicker than dogs that trained every day – saliency, how valuable is the reinforcer)
cerebellum and memories
emotional and social memories
important in balance – how would dog be moving and exploring?
mental v physical exercise
increased enrichment increases neuroplasticity – connections are able to change
increase serotonin
slow, focussed body movement activates cerebellum (not luring)
chewing
use of masticatory muscles linked to
GABA activity with reduced electrical activity
serotonin
decreased cortisol
health and memory
chronic pain linked to poor memory function
30-80% of behavioural cases have pain
disease can switch on chronic stress pathway
canine cognitive dysfunction
hypothyroidism
gut disease
epilepsy
sleep and memory
10.5 – 16 hours in 24 hours
polyphasic sleepers
social sleepers
slow wave sleep
70-80% of dog’s sleep
increased firing in connections between context and hippocampus
replaying and strengthening of synapses involved in recent events – episodic memory
rem
20%
consolidate procedural memory (how did I use my body)
aids cognitive process and new memories regarding spatial mapping
value of sleep
sleep deprevation
increases cortisol
lower pain tolerance
memory making reduced, except fear memories
86% dogs chose to sleep near to owner
appropriate temperature
elevated bed
lie flat out – body needs to be supported during rem
safe/undisturbed
exercise and memory
voluntary exercise linked to increased neurones in hippocampus
faced exercise releases stress chemicals
social play most like to constitute appropriate exercise compared fetch which releases stress chemicals
neutering and memory
neutering procedure results in well developed long term fear/pain based memories
change in hormones afters processes in. the brain
loss pf testosterone
loss of oestrogens/progesterone/folliculin
removal of negative feedback to pituitary gland to lower prolactin (pseudo pregnancies) – don’t near doing phantom pregnancy
early neutering more likely to cause memory loss later on in life as early memories weren’t formed strongly
avoid neutering during adolescent fear period
anti anxiety meditation before the surgery
adequate pain relief
avoid cone of shame
age and memory
ability to create and maintain connections deteriorates
