Amnesia

Question 1

What is amnesia?

Answer 1

Ability to take new info in is severely and permanently affected
Intelligence, attentional span, personality intact

Question 2

Briefly describe the case of HM

Answer 2

Surgery for treatment of epilepsy
Surgically removed localised part of brain - inc hippocampus
Very effective but left with no memory
Completely lost memory for events after surgery
Couldn’t recall having met specialists he spoke to few minutes after they left the room

Question 3

Define Anterograde amnesia

Answer 3

Amnesia that occurs AFTER brain injury

Question 4

What does the Rey complex figure task involve?

Answer 4

Amnesic patients have to copy a drawing of a complex line drawing from memory
Poor recall of shoe when given blank piece of paper after play and asked to redraw complex shape

Question 5

Which memory stores are unaffected by amnesia??

Answer 5

Verbal and visual short-term memory (Proven by spatial span and digit span tests)

Question 6

What does the declarative memory theory state?

Answer 6

Declarative memory is conscious (E&S) and is affected by amnesia
Implicit memory is unconscious (Priming effects & P) not affected by amnesia

Question 7

Define retrograde amnesia

Answer 7

Amnesia that occurs BEFORE brain injury
Some retrograde memory loss is almost always present in amnesia

Question 8

What does the standard theory of consolidation state?

Answer 8

New memories may not be remembered as they haven’t been consolidated yet
Memories get consolidated overtime

Question 9

What does the multiple trace theory state?

Answer 9

Every time a memory is retrieved, it is re-encoded and a new set of connections between the hippocampus and the cortex is made

Question 10

What do people with semantic dementia have trouble with?

Answer 10

Remembering the meaning of words or concepts, may have difficulty recognising sounds

Question 11

What three things are the frontal lobes important for in memory?

Answer 11

1. Searching for the right memory
2. Checking and verifying the memory is correct
3. Does it fit with the current situation?

Question 12

What are the two types of confabulation?

Answer 12

1. Provoked - response to situation you put them in
2. Spontaneous - changes things to fit what they believe is going on. Usually result of frontal lobe damage, caused by breakdown in memory “executive processes” such as monitoring whether retrieved memories are relevant to now