Chapter 7

Question 1

Amnesia

Answer 1

name given to disorders of memory: A pathological impairment of memory function.

Question 2

Two main groups of amnesia aetiologies

Answer 2

Organic amnesias and psychogenic amnesias

Question 3

Organic amnesia

Answer 3

caused by physical damage (lesions), like brain infections, strokes, head injuries, and degenerative disorders like Alzheimer -> often irreversible

Question 4

Psychogenic amnesia

Answer 4

A memory impairment of psychological origin: usually involve the temporary suppression of disturbing memories which are unacceptable to the patient at some level -> reversible and in most cases will eventually disappear

Question 5

Alzheimer’s disease (AD)

Answer 5

A degenerative brain disorder usually (but not always) afflicting the elderly , which first appears as an impairment of memory but later develops into a more general dementia

Question 6

Facts to Alzheimer’s disease

Answer 6

most common cause of amnesia, main cause of senile dementia, 20% of elderly people affected. In younger people called pre-senile dementia.

Question 7

Korsakoff syndrome

Answer 7

A brain disease which usually results from chronic alcoholism, and which is mainly characterised by a memory impairment. Both recent and distant past affected.

Question 8

Herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE)

Answer 8

A virus infection of the brain, which in some cases leaves the patient severely amnesic. Rare. Sudden onset

Question 9

Post-ECT amnesia

Answer 9

amnesia through EC therapy

Question 10

What kind of memory is more often impaired after organic amnesia, long- or short-term memory?

Answer 10

Long-term memory. Short-term is fairly intact.

Question 11

What part of the WM model is often impaired in severe cases of AD patients

Answer 11

the central executive

Question 12

Anterograde amnesia (AA)

Answer 12

Impaired memory for events which have occurred since the onset of the disorder

Question 13

Retrograde amnesia (RA)

Answer 13

Impaired memory for events which occurred prior to the onset of amnesia

Question 14

possible difference between learning disorders and retrieval disorders

Answer 14

disorder of learning: have AA but not RA

retrieval disorders: Have RA but not AA

Question 15

Ribot’s law

Answer 15

The observation that amnesic patients show a temporal gradient for retrograde amnesia, early memories are often better present than more recent

Question 16

Most amnesics exhibit both AA and RA, but there are also patients with a focal AA and focal RA, what does it mean?

Answer 16

focal AA: AA without RA

focal RA: RA without AA -> super rare, just in some cases of HSE infection and following epileptic seizure

Question 17

Hippocampus

Answer 17

A structure lying within the temporal lobes, which is involved in the creation of new memories. Hippocampal lesions usually cause impairment of memory, especially the storage of new memories.

Question 18

Diencephalon

Answer 18

A brain structure wich includes the thalamus and hypthalamus. Parts of the diencephalon are involved in processing and retrieving memories, and damage to these structures can cause amnesia

Question 19

Extended hippocampal complex

Answer 19

A system of interconnected structures within the brain, incorporating the hippocampus, anterior thalamus and mammillary bodies, which is involved in the encoding and storage of new memory traces.

Question 20

What kind of memories are impaired in most amnesia patients? Procedural, declarative, explicit or implicit memory?

Answer 20

Declarative and explicit memory.

Question 21

Procedural memory

Answer 21

Memory which can be demonstrated by performing some skilled procedure such as a motor task, but which the subject is not necessarily able to report consciously.

Question 22

Declarative memory

Answer 22

Memory which
can be reported in
a deliberate and
conscious way

Question 23

What is impaired in organic amnesics? Familiarity or context recollection?

Answer 23

Context recollection is impaired. Are not aber to say in which context they encountered a familiar object. Maybe a small impairment in familiarity, but it is debated.

Question 24

What is impaired? Episodic or semantic memory?

Answer 24

Korsakoffs and HSE amnesics are impaired in both (not able to learn new vocabulary). Also Alzheimers both, but episodic more severe -> Let’s say all semantic memory from before the lesion is relatively unimpaired, but still way worth than in healthy people. Some people with just lesion to hippocampus have exclusive “episodic amnesia”, with lesion to anterior temporal lobe you get “semantic amnesia”

Question 25

How does the model of proposed memory systems by Squire (1992) looks like?

Answer 25

On top: LTM. Subcategories: Declarative and Non-declarative memory
Declarative: Episodic and Semantic
Non-declarative: Implicit -> Familiarity -> Skills

Question 26

Theories of Amnesia: Encoding-deficit theory

Answer 26

Milner (1966): Because HM suffered AA but very little RA. Only failure to learn new information, consolidating memories from STM into LTM. -> Lacks credibility as a general theory of amnesia, no explanation for RA

Question 27

Theories of Amnesia: Retrieval deficity theory

Answer 27

Retrieval impairment as the basis of organic amnesia. This could explain both anterograde and retrograde components of amnesia -> But would also predict equally severe AA and RA and most patients suffer more severe AA than RA. Cant explain why they sometimes happen in isolation

Question 28

According to Squire, how long does consolidation of memories take? And where does it take place?

Answer 28

After a quick consolidation of a few seconds, the slower form that strengthens the traces takes two or three years to fully consolidate. This process takes place in the hippocampus, impairment leads to disruption of this slow consolidation process

Question 29

Multiple trace theory (Moscovitch)

Answer 29

Each time an item is retrieved it creates new memory traces and new connections. In the years afterwards this process causes episodic memories to be bound together to create semantic memories. This binding is carried out by hippocampus, but after semantic memories are completed, they do not depend on the hippocampus anymore.

Question 30

Theories of Amnesia: Impaired declarative memory (Squire)

Answer 30

Since procedural skills, implicit memory, and familiarity judgements are not impaired in most amnesics and they are part of automatic processing -> only declarative memory is impaired and amnesia is a kind of ‘disease of consciousness’

Question 31

Theories of Amnesia: Impaired Binding (Cohen and Eichenbaum)

Answer 31

Closely related to impaired declarative memory: main feature of declarative memory is that it involves the creation of associations (bindings) which is not the case in non-declarative memories. Hippocampus performs the associations

Question 32

Theories of Amnesia: Impaired perceptual processing

Answer 32

function of hippocampus is besides memory storage perception -> memory storage involves a network of perceptual representations which are distributed throughout the cortex and controlled by the hippocampus. Problem: there was not identified major perceptual impairment in amnesics.. but then they found involvement of hippocampus in visual discrimination. Uncertain, might be some overlap.

Question 33

Concussion amnesia/post-concussive syndrome

Answer 33

Also known as post-traumatic amnesias (PTA). Memory disturbance is usually temporary. Suffer both AA and RA. Limited extend of RA, normally no lasting impairment to the patient’s retrieval. If, then it is called post-concussive syndrome

Question 34

Frontal lobe lesions: What kind of memory impairment?

Answer 34

They have difficulty to retrieve contextual information: Can recall a list of facts, but cannot recall where or when they have learned them -> Maybe impaired central executive of their WM. They also have confabulation

Question 35

Confabulation

Answer 35

The reporting of memories which are incorrect and apparently fabricated, but which the patient believes to be true.

Question 36

Some memory impairments of normal elderies

Answer 36

Decline in recall ability: of explicit memory, not implicit memory. Problems in retrieving contextual information (temporal context of events) -> Correlates with the impairment of frontal lobe impairments

Question 37

Psychogenic Amnesia

Answer 37

Amnesia without any evidence of brain lesions
Most cases brought by stress, temporary, disappear within a few days. Losss of memories for past events (RA, AA fairly unusual)

Question 38

Psychogenic Amnesia: What does ‘global’ and ‘situation specific’ mean in this regard?

Answer 38

Global: complete loss of all memories -> may be accompanied by a loss of sense of personal identity
situation specific: for one specific event only -> usually related to traumatic episode

Question 39

Rehabilitation

Answer 39

Strategies used to help patients to cope with an impairment or disability enabling them to function as effectively as possible within the limitations created by the impairment.

Question 40

What does ‘not context-specific’ and ‘errorless learning’ mean for rehabilitation of amnesics?

Answer 40

They are very good.
not context-specific learning: If a patient is trained to use memory techniques not only n one setting
errorless learning: To eliminate the possibility of errors occurring. E.g. correct information directly given before testing or providing very strong retrieval cues. Contrast to most leanring of trial and error.