10. Brain and behaviour Flashcards
What is the Theory of memory I: Stages?
Memory is a construct, for which there are many stages:
• Registration - input from our sense into the memory system
• Encoding - processing and combining of received information
• Storage - holding of that input in the memory system
• Retrieval
What is the Theory of memory II: Duration?
There are conceptual divisions in memory systems based upon how long a memory lasts:
• Sensory - seconds
• Working/short-term - few minutes
• Long-term - indefinite period of time with infinite capacity
Can information be transferred directly to long-term memory?
Yes, depending on what it is e.g. sensory aspects of traumatic memories
Which part of the brain is highly activated in traumatic moments?
Limbic system - very important in memory too
How can we overcome the disadvantageous effect of sensory information of traumatic events in our long-term memory?
• Overcome the nature of the memory
- make it less sensory and more verbally accessible
• This avoids simple sensory stimuli triggering sad and upsetting memories
Which parts of our sensory experiences are more likely to pass into working (short-term) memory?
Parts that we attend to
How can we increase the chance of transferring sensory experiences into working memory?
Rehearsing (this can then be stored and put into long-term memory)
What is retrieval, is it active or passive, and what type of memory allows this?
- Recovering stored information from the (long-term) memory system
- Active process
- Working memory allows this retrieval process
What are the 2 types of long-term memory (Theory of memory III)? Describe them and their further subtypes
Declarative - available to conscious retrieval and can be declared (propositional)
• Episodic - what did I eat for breakfast?
• Semantic - what is the capital of Spain? (knowledge)
• Working - what did I just say? (short-term)
Non-declarative - causes experience-induced change in behaviour, and can’t be declared (procedural)
• Priming - subliminal advertising
• Skills - how to ride a bike
• Conditioning - phobias
What questions can you ask a patient to asses their memory?
Do you have difficulties with: • remembering conversations? • losing track of conversations? • repeating questions/information? • finding your way in familiar areas?
What questions can you ask to check recent episodic memory?
- What did you have for dinner last night?
- What are some of the headlines in the news?
- How is your team doing at the moment?
- How did you get here?
What happened when Henry Molaison underwent surgery for uncontrollable epileptic seizures?
- Had specific lesions in the medio-temporal lobes, so his hippocampi were removed
- Developed significant anterograde (and some retrograde) amnesia after surgery
- Seizure vanished, but so did his ability to develop memories
- Could learn new skills and recall general aspects of life, but couldn’t remember new experiences (like episodic and semantic memory)
- Working and procedural memory was fine
Which parts of the brain does episodic memory involve?
Medial temporal lobes • Hippocampus • Entorhinal cortex • Mammilary bodies • Parahippocampal cortex
Which memory system is important in knowing how to do things?
Procedural
Which part of the brain plays a key role in learning motor tasks?
Cerebellum
Is the left or right hemisphere more concerned with verbal information processing?
Left
Which part of the brain do theories suggest is important for processing new information and activating memory (remembering)?
Hippocampus (different evidence shows it may be one or the other, or both)
What is the serial position effect, with reference to repeating a list of words back to a person?
This is where we tend to remember the words towards the beginning and end of the list
What factors is the probability of recalling a word related to?
- Order in the list
- Personal salience of words
- Number of words
- Chunking or other encoding strategy
- Delay time
- Distraction
In consultations, we give large amounts of information to patients, so how can we get them to remember the key things?
- Give important information at the beginning and end of a consultation
- Emphasise and repeat important information a few times
- Make the information salient to the person (link to their problem specifically)
- Chunk information into meaningful categories
- Avoid overloading
What did Barlett’s ‘War of the Ghosts’ study show?
Study where student read a story and reproduced it to another person, with changed order, rationalisations and omissions
- Majority of people think that memory accurately records events as we see and hear them
- Most people don’t realise that it is susceptible to distortions
Can changing words when describing an event change someones perception of people’s memory?
Yes
• e.g. video showed to people of a car collision
• people asked how quickly the cars “hit” or “smashed” into each other
• When using the word “smashed”, they estimated a higher speed
