Chap 11: Learning, Memory, & Amnesia

Question 0

Bilateral medial temporal lobectomy

Answer 0

The removal of the medical portions of both temporal lobes including most of the hippocampus amygdala and adjacent cortex

Question 1

Amnesia

Answer 1

Any pathological loss of memory

Question 2

Lobectomy

Answer 2

Is an operation in which a lobe, or a major part of one, is removed from the brain

Question 3

Lobotomy

Answer 3

Is an operation in which a lobe or a major part of one is separated from the rest of the brain by a large cut but is not removed

Question 4

Short term memory

Answer 4

Storage of new information for brief periods of time while a person attends to it

Question 5

Long term memory

Answer 5

Storage of new information once the person stops attending to it

Question 6

Global amnesia

Answer 6

Amnesia for information presented in all sensory modalities

Question 7

Rotary pursuit test

Answer 7

The subject tries to keep the tip of a stylus in contact with a target that rotates on a revolving turntable

Question 8

Incomplete pictures test

Answer 8

A nonsensorimotor test of memory that employs five sets of fragmented drawings

Question 9

Remote memory

Answer 9

Memory for experiences in the distant past

Question 10

Memory consolidation

Answer 10

The translation of short term memories into long term memories

Question 11

Explicit memories

Answer 11

Conscious long term memories

Question 12

Implicit memories

Answer 12

Long term memories without conscious awareness

Question 13

Medial temporal lobe amnesia

Answer 13

Preserved intellectual functioning and with evidence of medial temporal lobe damage

Question 14

Repetition priming tests

Answer 14

Tests that have been developed to asses implicit memory

The incomplete pictures test

Question 15

Semantic memories

Answer 15

Are explicit memories for general facts or information

Question 16

Episodic memories

Answer 16

Are explicit memories for the particular events of ones life

Question 17

Cerebral ischemia

Answer 17

Experience an interruption of blood supply to their brains often suffer from medial temporal lobe amnesia

Question 18

Korsakoff’s syndrome

Answer 18

Is a disorder of memory that is common in people who have consumed large amounts of alcohol

Question 19

Medial diencephalon

Answer 19

The medial thalamus and the medial hypothalamus and diffuse damage to several other brain structures most notably the neocortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum

Question 20

Medial diencephalic amnesia

Answer 20

Amnesia such as Korsakoff amnesia associated with damage to the medial diencephalon

Question 21

Alzheimer’s disease

Answer 21

Is another major cause of amnesia

Eventually dementia develops and becomes so severe that the patient is incapable of even simple activities

Question 22

Post traumatic amnesia PTA

Answer 22

Amnesia following a nonpenetrating blow to the head

Question 23

Electroconvulsive ECS

Answer 23

Is an intense brief diffuse seizure inducing current that is administered current that us administered to the brain through large electrodes attached to the scalp

Question 24

Standard consolidation theory

Answer 24

Memories are temporarily stored in the hippocampus until they can be transferred to a more stable cortical storage system

Question 25

Multiple trace theory

Answer 25

Is particularly compatible with the finding that gradients of retrograde amnesia are often very long

Question 26

Engram

Answer 26

A change in the brain that stores a memory is established and linked to the original engram making the memory easier to recall and the original engram more difficult to disrupt

Question 27

Morris water maze test

Answer 27

Intact rats placed at various locations in a circular pool of murky water rapidly learn to swim to a stationary platform hidden just below the surface

Question 28

Radial arm maze test

Answer 28

Several arms radiate out from a central starting chamber and the same few arms are baited with food each day

Question 29

Reference memory

Answer 29

Memory for the general principles and skills that are required to perform a task and the ability to refrain from visiting an arm more than once in a given day is a measure of working memory, temporary memory that is necessary for the successful performance of a task on which one is currently working

Question 30

Grid cells

Answer 30

Are enthorhinal neurons that each have an extensive array of evenly spaced fields producing a pattern reminiscent of graph paper

Question 31

Inferotemporal cortex

Answer 31

The cortex of the inferior temporal lobe is involved in the visual perception of objects it is thought to participate in concert with the perirhinal cortex in storing memories of visual patterns

Question 32

Amygdala

Answer 32

Is thought to play a special role in memory for the emotional significance of experiences

Question 33

Prefrontal cortex

Answer 33

The area of frontal cortex anterior to motor cortex are not grossly amnesic they often display no deficits at all on conventional tests of memory

Question 34

Cerebellum

Answer 34

Is thought to participate in the storage of memories of learned sensorimotor skills through its various neuroplastic mechanism

Question 35

Striatum

Answer 35

Is thought to store memories for consistent relationships between stimuli and responses the type of memories that develop incrementally over many trails

Question 36

Long term potentiation LTP

Answer 36

Facilitation of synaptic transmission following high frequency electrical stimulation applied to presynaptic neurons

Question 37

Dendritic spines

Answer 37

The calcium ions that enter a dendritic spine do not readily pass out of it and thus they exert effects locally

Question 38

Transcription factors

Answer 38

Intracellular proteins that bind to DNA and influence the operation of particular genes that are activated by neural activity

Question 39

Nitric oxide

Answer 39

Is synthesized in the post synaptic neurons in response to calcium influx and then diffuses back into the terminal buttons of the presynaptic neurons

Question 40

Infantile amnesia

Answer 40

That is we remember virtually nothing of the events of our infancy