brain trauma Flashcards
influence reliability of memory
- brain trauma
- brain surgery
- amnesia
- neurodegenerative diseases
- alzheimers disease
brain trauma
causes:
stroke
concussion
chemical damage via drugs and alcohol
types of amnesia
anterograde
retrograde
anterograde amnesia
- old memories are retained and new memories cannot be formed
- coding and storage is disrupted
- commonly seen in alzheimers
- damage in temporal lobes and hippocampus
retrograde amnesia
old memories are lost and new memories can be formed
alzheimers disease
- degeneration of hippocampus and pre frontal cortex
- formation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles
- reduction in neurotransmitters (acetylcholine)
- loss of cells in hippocampus (atrophy)
- enlarged ventricles
- anterograde and retrograde amnesia
symptoms: impaired declarative memory: - forgetting names
- trouble finding the right word to speak
brain surgery
- memory loss
- dangerous to remove tumours in regions associated with memory
brain injury
- refers to any brain damage that impairs or interferes with the normal functioning of the brain, either temporary or permanent
neurodegenerative disease
- progressive decline in structure, activity and function of brain tissue.
(Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimers disease)
factors influencing memory
- cues
- rehearsal
- serial position effect
2 types of cues
context specific
state dependent
2 types of rehearsal
- maintenance
- elaborative
context specific cues
- external environment
- environment when memory is formed
(sounds, smells, temperature) - later help for retrieving memory
state dependent cues
- internal environment
- psychological and/or physiological state at the time of learning
(mood, level of anxiety, intoxicated)
elaborative
- way we encode information when we transfer from STM to LTM
- linking new information in a meaningful way to other new information or information already stored in LTM to aid in storage and retrieval from LTM
maintenance
- keeps information in our immediate awareness (STM)
- repeating over and over
- transferred to LTM if repeated 10s or 100 times (if exceed 12-30 secs then lost)
serial position effect
- immediate free recall of items at the beginning or end of a list are remembered better than those in the middle
primary effect
- explains how words at the beginning are recalled better because words have been rehearsed and transferred to LTM before the capacity of STM has reached
- will still occur is exceeds 12-30 seconds
recency effect
- words at the end of list are recalled well and tend to be recalled first
- maintenance rehearsal used to keep items in immediate awareness (STM)
- wont occur is exceeds 12-30 seconds
asympote
- inferior recall of items in middle of list
- as STM reaches its capacity, these middle items are displaced by items at the end of the list before they can adequately be stored and rehearsed in LTM.
leading questions
- has content or is phrased in such a way as to suggest what answer is desired or to lead to the desired answer
- because of the way the question was worded, you might add the new false information in your answer
retrieval cue
- any stimulus that assists the process of locating and recovering information stored in memory
- acts as a cue that guides the search and recovery process within LTM
rehearsal
- process of consciously manipulating information to keep in STM, transfer to LTM or aid storage and retrieval
limitations of maintenance rehearsal
- if information is continually renewed and retained in STM, the amount of new information that can enter is restricted because of the limited storage capacity of STM
elaborative or maintenance
- elaborative is more effortful but more effective
- processing that enhances coding and consolidation for long term storage
alzheimers
- neurodegenerative disease involves gradual, severe memory loss, impaired attention…
- involves both anterograde and retrograde amnesia because disease effects both hippocampus and pre-frontal cortex
- earliest symptom: impaired declarative memory, patient has difficulty remembering events from the previous day
- type of dementia
- typically caused by old age
what happens in alzheimers
- develop neurofibrillary tangles (abnormal build up of proteins inside the neuron) and associated with the death of brain cells
- abnormality involves plaques and tangles
- interfere with communication between neurons and inhibits transport of essential substances throughout the neuron
- low levels of memory neurotransmitters, acetylcholine
dementia
- disorder affecting higher mental functions
- can be caused by disease, brain damage, reduced blood supply to brain
what type of memory is affected in alzheimers
- explicit memories are impaired
- implicit memories remain
treatment alzheimers
- no cure
- medication that boost the levels of acetylcholine
