brain regions to study Flashcards
What is the primary function of the hippocampus?
The hippocampus is involved in memory formation, spatial navigation, and consolidating information from short-term to long-term memory.
What role does the medial temporal lobe play in memory?
The medial temporal lobe, including the hippocampus, is crucial for encoding and retrieving spatial and declarative memories.
What is the function of grid cells, and where are they located?
Grid cells are located in the entorhinal cortex and help in spatial navigation by creating a coordinate system for spatial orientation.
What are place cells, and where can they be found?
Place cells are neurons in the hippocampus that activate when an animal is in a specific location, forming a cognitive map of the environment.
What brain area is associated with boundary cells?
Boundary cells are found in the subiculum and are involved in recognizing environmental boundaries.
What is the role of the parahippocampal place area (PPA)?
The PPA is involved in encoding environmental scenes and landmarks, aiding in spatial navigation.
How does the medial temporal lobe differ in egocentric vs. allocentric navigation?
The medial temporal lobe supports both navigation styles, with egocentric focusing on the self’s position and allocentric on spatial relationships between objects.
What is the difference between fine-grained and coarse-grained spatial memory?
Fine-grained memory captures detailed spatial information, while coarse-grained memory deals with general spatial layouts and relations.
What is source monitoring?
Source monitoring is the ability to track the origin of memories, requiring the integration of source and content into a common memory trace.
Which brain regions are involved in source monitoring?
The anterior prefrontal cortex and posterior hippocampus are involved in source monitoring, with the anterior prefrontal cortex linked to reality monitoring.
What is cryptomnesia?
Cryptomnesia occurs when a person mistakenly believes an idea is original when it was actually encountered in the past.
What is the false fame effect?
The false fame effect occurs when prior exposure to a name increases the perception that the person is famous.
What is the sleeper effect?
The sleeper effect is when a message becomes more persuasive over time as the source is forgotten.
Remember-know judgment
Remember = a conscious recollection of the circumstances in which the information was learned.
Know = no conscious recollection, only a general feeling of familiarity
Neural bases of remember-know judgments
Remember = Hippocampus
Know = Posterior parahippocampal cortex
Infantile amnesia: Why does this happen?
because the hippocampus and mPFC develop slowly and aren’t fully mature until a few years of age
Where does brain atrophy happen most in aging adults?
Frontal and hippocampal cortex
Theories of memory and aging
Rate and speed of neural firing reduce in
older adults, so cognitive processes take
longer to complete ( speed theories )
Frontal deterioration / atrophy leads to a
decline in the ability to inhibit irrelevant
information ( inhibition theories )
Hippocampal deterioration / atrophy
leads to an inability to properly form new
memories through LTP ( poor formation )
Theories for reduction in asymmetry/lateralization in older adults
HAROLD (Hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults)
CRUNCH (compensation-related utilization of neural circuits hypothesis)
Alzheimer’s physical symptoms
- Fewer neurons and neural connections (frontal/temporal)
- Amyloid plaques (old tissue) that crowd neurons/microglia
- Neurofibrillary tangles impeding communication
- Decreased acetylcholine production
Alzheimer’s cognitive symptoms
- Working memory problems, executive control failures
- Overwhelmed under dual-task conditions
- Loss of episodic memories (temporal gradients)
- If severe, can lose sense of self/identity
- Issues more with encoding than retrieval
- Semantic memory intact, but eventually lost
Alzheimer’s changes in functional brain activity
- Reduced functional activation in the prefrontal cortex
- Abnormal connectivity between entorhinal cortex, hippocampus, PCC
Parkinson’s disease in the brain
Basal ganglia and substantia nigra
This leads initially to deficits in coordination of movement Later, cognitive and emotional regulation issues
Huntington’s disease in the brain
Basal ganglia and caudate nucleus
Uncontrolled muscle spasms
Multiple sclerosis in the brain
Disease that involves demyelination of neurons
Mostly muscle control, but also affects memory
Dual process models instead assume that there are two processes:
Familiarity (Know): Memory strength.
Recollection (Remember): Specific details
