Ch 6 Flashcards
The Serial Position Curve
The 16 items were presented one-at-a-time, in a series
- Serial position- where an item was in the list (e.g., 1st, 2nd, 3rd)
Did we recall things equally across the whole list?
Primacy
The first few words get more rehearsal time for encoding into LTM
Recency
The last few words or items are well remembered because they are still in the STM/WM loop
Memory Rehearsal
Allows transfer from WM to LTM
Anterograde Amensia
- Impaired ability to remember new information after trauma
Retrograde Amnesia
- Loss of old memories before the traumatic incident
- Usually graded
Henry Molaison (H.M.) Feb 26, 1926 - Dec 2, 2008
History:
- Epilepsy (seizures) started at age 10 due to getting hit by a bicycle
Surgery in 1953:
- bilateral temporal lobe resection
- Destroyed 2/3 of hippocampus, part of amygdala
Results:
- seizures improved
- IQ normal
- STM/WM intact: could hold a conversation, and had normal digit scan
- LTM severe deficits
- retrograde amnesia for 3 years before surgery could remember childhood
- anterograde amnesia: couldn’t form any new LTM
- He remained largely the same person with otherwise normal cognitive abilities
Double Dissaccoiation
When two related mental processes are shown to function independently from each other
Clive Wearing
- British musical conductor
- hippocampus partly destroyed by a viral infection of his brain fluid
- STM/WM still interact
- Could not form any new LTM
- One of the most severe cases of anterograde amnesia
- But does remember his wife
- Doesn’t remember he just saw her a few minutes ago
- Diary, every moment is new
- As for his retrograde amnesia, he could remember facts like Deborah was his wife
- Could not remember episodes though like him dating Deborah
What is it like to have anterograde amnesia?
Everyday moment is like waking from a long dream
Impaired STM/WM but intact LTM (placeholder)
.
Patient KF
- Traumatic brain injury though motorcycle accident
- Impaired STM/WM
- digit span = 2
- couldn’t repeat words
- very limited recency effect (serial position curve): just 1 item instead of normal 5-6 items
- Intact LTM
- Could learn word pairs, word lists, new episodic memories of life
Anatomy of a Long Term Memory Experiment
Study phase (encoding) -> Distractor Phase (retention interval) -> Test Phase (retrieval)
Can you retrieve things if you do not rehearse (encode) them?
No, you cannot retrieve what was never encoded
The Two Types of Long-Term Memory
Explicit and Implicit
Explicit Memory
Memory that can be consciously recalled/retrieved. It’s conscious and deliberate
Ex: Memory I the form of person events or general knowledge