Chapter 8: Memory

Question 1

Purposes of mental processes?

Answer 1

Mental Processes by which information from the environment is:

• Modified, made meaningful, stored, retrieved, used and communicated to others

Question 2

What is memory?

Answer 2

Memory: refers to the processes that allow us to record, store and later retrieve experiences and information-­‐ persistence of learning overtime, through storage and retrieval of information

Question 3

3 characteristic of what is memory?

Answer 3

1. Encoding: refers to getting information into the system by translating it into a neural code that your brain processes. Types of memory codes:
   - Acoustic, Visual, Semantic
2. Storage: maintain in memory-­‐ retaining information overtime. Types of long term memory:
   - Episodic, Procedural, Semantic
3. Retrieval: Recover from memory-­‐ processes that access stored information.. Types of retrieval tests:
   - Recall, Recognition

Question 4

Memory is a 3 stage Model:

1. SENSORY

Answer 4

• Sensory: briefly holds incoming sensory information. Some information reaches working memory and long term memory, where it is mentally represented by:
- Visual, phonological, semantic or motor codes.

• It comprises different subsystems called sensory registers, which are the initial information processes (called the iconic store in humans)
• Sperlings study of iconic memory:
- Participants we shown a flashing screen with letters and asked to recall them-­‐ performed poorly
- In one condition pitch signals indicated which row of letters to report-­‐ performed better
- Before their iconic memory has stored an image of the whole array and how they had time to ‘read’ their iconic image of any one line before it rapidly disappeared.
- Participants did worst if the tone was delayed.

• Five sensory registers

• Provides coherence and continuity to world:
- Holds information long enough for us to work out what it is
- Lets us experience a constant flow of information
• Fades quickly:

• Advantage: avoids information overflow

Question 5

Memory is a 3 stage Model:

2. SHORT TERM (WORKING) MEMORY

Answer 5

• Short Term Memory: A memory store that temporarily holds a limited amount of information.

• Memory Code: are mental representations of some type of information or stimulus
- It has phonological (code something by sound), visuospatial (mental images), episodic and executive components, semantic codes (meaning of the stimulus), motor codes (code patterns of movement)

• Holds information active for a short period of time
• This allows us to mentally manipulate or work with that information
• Two components of working memory:

a. Maintenance:
b. Manipulation

• Disadvantage:

• Can only hold a limited amount of information at a time
• People can only remember bout 5-­‐9 meaningful items
• Limited in duration, without rehearsal STM has a duration of about 18 seconds on average (+-­‐ 2 SECONDS)

• Short term memory is considered working memory: a limited capacity that temporarily stores and processes information
- Processes a limited amount of information and supports other cognitive functions.

• Components of working memory: Figure 8.5 page 256 (e.g. what is 87 + 36)

1. Phonological loop: briefly store mental representations of sounds (e.g. acoustic sounds for 87 and 36)
2. Visuospatial sketchpad: briefly stores visual and spatial information (e.g. a mental image of what the numbers look like)
3. Episodic buffer: provides a temporary storage space where information from long-­‐term memory and form phonological and/or visuospatial subsystems can be integrated, manipulated and made available fro conscious awareness. (e.g. rules for performing addition are recalled). It is where chunking occurs
4. Central executive: directs the overall action (e.g. plans the series of actions that needs to be performed to answer the question and what subsystems it involves)

Question 6

Memory is a 3 stage Model:

3. LONG-TERM MEMORY

Answer 6

• Long Term Memory: stores large amounts of information for up to a lifetime
• Serial Position Effect: the ability to recall an item is influenced by the items position in a series.
• Words at the beginning and end of a list are easier to recall-­‐ forming a U shape pattern.
• Primacy effect: superior recall of the earliest items – due to the transfer of early words into long term memory
• Regency effect: superior recall of the most recent items – due to continued presence of information in short term memory

Question 7

A (basic) model for understanding memory:

Answer 7

A (basic) model for understanding memory

Memory is not a unitary system, but instead refers to many different systems (stores):

Question 8

Explain EFFORT PROCESSING:

Answer 8

• Effortful processing involves intention and conscious attention. Automatic processing occurs without intention and requires minimal effort.
• Information about the frequency, spatial location and sequence of events is often encoded automatically.

Question 9

What is DEEP PROCESSING?

Answer 9

• Deep processing enhances memory.
• According to levels of processing the more deeply we process information, the better we will remember it.
• E.g. you are more likely to remember words that are semantically encoded.
• Elaborative rehearsal, Hierarchies, chunking, dual coding that includes visual imagery and other mnemonic devices facilitate deeper encoding.

Question 10

What are the 3 ways of DEEP PROCESSING?

Answer 10

1. Structural encoding: how the word looks (e.g. is it in capitals?)
2. Phonological (Phenomic) Encoding: sounding our the word (e.g. does it rhyme with…)
3. Semantic encoding: must pay attention to what the word means (e.g. does it fit in the sentence…)

Question 11

Examples of Deep Processes (methods of doing it): 6

Answer 11

1. Exposure and Rehearsal
2. Hierarchies
3. Chunking
4. Visual Imagery
5. Mnemonic Devices
6. Distractor Task

Question 12

Explain Exposure and Rehearsal:

Maintenance vs Elaborative

Answer 12

• Rehearsal goes beyond exposure to a stimulus (shallow thinking) as we are thinking about it.

• MAINTENANCE Rehearsal: simple, rote repetition.
- It keeps information acquired in the working memory (e.g. someone tells you their phone number and you repeat it as you place the call)

• ELABORATIVE Rehearsal: involves focusing on the meaning of information or expanding (elaboration) on it in some way
- Used by actors to get in the mind of characters

Question 13

Explain Hierarchies

Answer 13

• Takes advantage of the principle that memory is enhanced by association between concepts
• Enhances our understanding of how individual terms are related, as we proceed from top to bottom, each category serves as a cue that triggers our memory from items below.

Question 14

Explain Chunking:

Answer 14

• Grouping items together into subgroups: if they are meaningful to us they are easier to remember
• Chunking increases STM capacity
• E.g. BMW UWA is easier to remember than BM WU WA
• An example of an influence from LTM-­‐> STM

Question 15

Explain Visual Imagery:

• Paivio = verbal and visual codes?
• Dual Coding theory?
• Method of Loci

Answer 15

• Paivio (2006) asserts that information is stored in long-­‐term memory in two forms:

1. Verbal Codes
2. Visual Codes

• Dual Coding theory: encoding information using both verbal and visual codes enhances memory because the odds improve that at least one of the codes will be available later to support recall.
• Method of loci: a memory aid that associates information with mental images of physical locations.

Question 16

Explain Mnemonic Devices

Answer 16

• Reorganize information into more meaningful units and provide extra cues to help retrieve information from long-­‐term memory.
• Hierarchies, chunking, visual imaging and method of loci and mnemonic devices
• Includes acronyms: combine one of more litters (usually the first letter) from each piece of information you want to remember.
• Rhyming or jingles

Question 17

How does prior knowledge Shapes encoding? SCHEMAS

Answer 17

• Scheme: a mental framework-­‐ an organized pattern of thought about some aspect of the world.
• E.g. you relate a wordy paragraph and its subsection to the activity of washing clothes to help you remember.
• Schemas shape how we encode information and provide an important component of expertise.
• People with expertise have better recall their novices.

Question 18

Who is a MNEOMONIST?

Answer 18

• Mnemonist (memorist): is a person who displays extraordinary memory skills/
• People who display exceptional memory take advantage of basic memory principles and mnemonic devices
• Exceptional memory is a highly learned skill that involves extensive practice and efficient encoding, storage and retrieval

Question 19

MEMORY AS A NETWORK: Explain Associative network…

Answer 19

• Associative network models view long-­‐term memory as a network of associated ideas and concepts (nodes), with each node representing a concept or unit of information.
• E.g. when you think about a concept such as a ‘fire engine’ there is a spreading activation of related concepts through the network.
• The term priming refers to the activation of one concept (or one unit of information) by another – e.g. fire engine primes the node for red.

Question 20

MEMORY AS A NETWORK: Explain NEURAL network…

Answer 20

• Neural network models propose that each piece of information in memory is represented by a unique pattern of multiple nodes that are simultaneously activated throughout the brain.
• E.g. when node 4 is activated simultaneously with nodes 95 and 423 the concept ‘red’ comes to mind. When node 4 is simultaneously activated with nodes 95 and 423 the concept ‘fire engine’ enters our thoughts.
• Can be called Parallel distributed processing (PDP) models as the various node distributed throughout the neural network fire in parallel at each instant and simultaneously spread their activation to other nodes.

Question 21

TYPES of LONG TERM MEMORY = 2

Answer 21

• DECLARATIVE long-­‐term memories involve factual knowledge and includes two subcategories:

1. Episodic
2. Semantic memories.

• In contrast PROCEDURAL MEMORY is reflected in skills and actions
• EXPLICIT MEMORY involves conscious or intentional memory retrieval, whereas IMPLICIT memory influences our behaviour without conscious awareness

Question 22

Understanding types of Long term MEMORY

• episodic, semantic, procedural

Answer 22

• Episodic Memory:

• Events (remembering when, where and what happened in the episodes of our lives)
• What did you have for breakfast?

• Semantic Memory:

• General factual knowledge (remembering what and how)
• About the world and language, including memory for words and concepts.
• What is a hash brown?

• Procedural Memory:

• Reflected in skills and actions(doing)
• Classically condition responses
• How do you use a knife and fork?

Question 23

Bahrick explanation on memory

Answer 23

Bahrick et al. (1975)

• Recognition of faces or objects is steady until about 35 years then it declines (I know that person)
• Recall of information is in steady decline as it requires research (name of the person)
• This means memory traces may last a lifetime but access to them (recall) may fail

Question 24

Explain Explicit vs. Implicit Memory:

Answer 24

EXPLICIT Memory:
• Involve intentional retrieval (attempt)
• One becomes consciously aware of the memory (if retrieved)

IMPLICIT Memory:
• Unintentional influence of prior experiences on behaviour
• Usually without conscious awareness

Question 25

Explicit vs. Implicit Memory: Tests

DIRECT VS INDIRECT?

Answer 25

DIRECT:
• EXPLICIT memory tasks: involves conscious or intentional memory retrieval, as when you consciously recognize or recall something
- Recall: spontaneous memory retrieval-­‐ you must retrieve the target stimuli or information on your own
- Recognition: requires us to decide whether a stimulus is familiar

INDIRECT:
• IMPLICIT memory tasks: occurs when memory influences our behaviour without conscious awareness.
- Perceptual identification
- Fragment completion

Question 26

Types of IMPLICIT MEMORY?

Answer 26

1. CONDITIONING

2. PRIMING

Question 27

Types of implicit memory: Explain Conditioning

Answer 27

• Operant Conditioning: i.e. effects of consequences (rewards, punishment) on behaviour
• Classical Conditioning: i.e. stimulus-­‐response learning based on association of an arbitrary stimulus with a stimulus that reliably elicits a certain response (cf. Pavlov’s dog)

Question 28

Types of implicit memory: Explain Priming

Answer 28

• Word stems have activated, or primed your stored mental representations of the original complete words.
• Repetition (episodic) priming
• Semantic priming

Question 29

Explain Implicit Memory: Semantic Priming

Answer 29

• Fill in this fragment: _O_E; likely to say bone is you have previously read dog
• Explanation: spreading activation from DOG to BONE means that BONE is still more strongly activated than usual (cf. semantic network theory)
• Aids reading, by pre-­‐activating concepts that are likely to follow
• Can help “guide’ behaviour

Question 30

EXPLAIN “Implicit episodic memory”:

1. Fast presentation of words-­‐ asked to recall
2. Repetition priming in Word Fragment Completion:

EXAMPLE

Answer 30

1. Fast presentation of words-­‐ asked to recall
   • Performance benefits from prior exposure: quicker to decide prenouncibility on 2nd presentation

• Not a semantic effect because it also works with nonwords and nonsense shapes
• If the same process what done with pictures: quicker to decide line crossing on 2nd presentation

2. Repetition priming in Word Fragment Completion:

• Prior exposure boosts or speeds up performance

EXAMPLE: Implicit memory guide choices:
• Consumers choose product more often when they have seen an advert
• …Even when they cannot remember the advert

Question 31

What are Retrieval Cues?

Answer 31

• Retrieval cues: is a stimulus, whether internal or external, that activates information stored in long term memory
• Retrieval is more likely when we have multiple, self-­‐generated and distinctive cues.

Question 32

Explain the value of Multiple Cues:

Answer 32

• E.g. ‘banana’ activates thoughts of ‘peel, fruit and ice-­‐cream’ (the cues)
• When the associations (e.g. retrieval cues) were self-­‐generated, students shown one cue recall 61% of the words and those who shown three cues recalled 91% -­‐ much higher than shown cues generated by others.
• Generating your own associations involves deeper processing than does being presented with associations generated by someone else-­‐ self generated have personal meaning.
• Generating multiple cues requires deeper processing than generating only one-­‐ if one cue fails another may activate the memory.

Question 33

The VALUE OF DISTINCTIVENESS:

Answer 33

• Distinctive events stand a greater chance of etching long-­‐term memories that seem more vivid and clear.

Question 34

How does AROUSAL AND EMOTION affect memory?

• AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORIES

Answer 34

• In experiments people shown arousing (e.g. violent images, happy fearful faces) and neutral stimuli, typically remember the arousing stimuli best, even when tested several weeks later
• Emotional arousal enhances AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORIES: recollections of personally experienced events that make up the stories of our lives.
• Even though pleasant and unpleasant events may be equally arousing when they happen, the intensity of memories for pleasant events seems to fade a little less rapidly over time.

Question 35

The effects of context, state and mood on memory: THE ENCODING SPECIFICITY PRINCIPLE?

Answer 35

• Memory recollection is effected by environmental, physiological and psychological factors
• The encoding specificity principle states that memory is enhanced when cues present during retrieval match the cues present during encoding.
• These cues may involve:
• *** The same environment (context-­‐dependent memory) or
• *** Same internal state (state-­‐dependent memory) present during original encoding.

• Mood states, however, provide an exception. Overall, we tend to recall stimuli that are congruent with our current mood.

Question 36

List the Reasons we forget: 6

Answer 36

1. Encoding Failure
2. Decay Theory
3. Proactive interferences
4. Retroactive interference
5. Repression
6. Prospective Memory

Question 37

Explain Encoding Failure:

Answer 37

• Encoding failure: We often cannot recall information because we never encoded it into long-­‐term memory in the first place

Question 38

Explain Decay Theory:

Answer 38

• Decay theory proposes that with time and disuse, the long-­‐term physical memory trace in the nervous system fades away.

• Predicts longer time interval of disuse between learning and recall means less should be recalled.

Question 39

Explain Proactive Interference:

Answer 39

• Proactive interference occurs when material learned in the past impairs recall of newer material (e.g. memory of an old phone number interferes with the ability to remember a new one)

Question 40

Explain Retroactive Interference:

Answer 40

• Retroactive interference occurs when newly acquired material impairs the ability to recall information learned at an earlier time (e.g. unable to remember an old phone number two months after having a new phone number.

• Interference occurs as it takes time for the brain to convert short-­‐term memories into long-­‐term memories and thus when new information is entered into the system it can disrupt the conversion.
• Other believe the once long term memories are formed, retroactive and proactive interference are caused by competition about retrieval cues
• Retrieval failure can occur because we have too few retrieval cues or the cues are weak.

Question 41

Explain REPRESSION

Answer 41

• Psychodynamic theorists propose that we may forget anxiety-­‐arousing material through repression, an unconscious process of motivated forgetting.

Question 42

Explain Prospective Memory

Answer 42

• Prospective memory: concerns remembering to perform an activity in the future (e.g. remember to take you medication to 4pm

Question 43

What is amnesia?

Answer 43

• Partial or total loss of memory

* Usually refers to episodic memory

Question 44

How to Acquire Amnesia?

Answer 44

How to acquire Amnesia:

• Korsakoff’s Syndrome: no food or vitamins, only alcohol
• Head injuries
• Surgical trauma or disease (e.g. stroke, viral encephalitis)

Question 45

Types of Amnesia?

Answer 45

1. Retrograde
2. Anterograde
3. Dementia
4. Alzheimer’s Disease
5. Infantile Amnesia

Question 46

What is Retrograde Amnesia?

Answer 46

• Retrograde amnesia is memory loss for events that occurred before the onset of amnesia (E.g. HM).

Question 47

What is Anterograde Amnesia?

Answer 47

• Anterograde amnesia refers to memory loss for events that occur after the initial onset of amnesia (e.g. the removal of HM’s hippocampus)

Question 48

what is dementia?

Answer 48

• Dementia: refers to impaired memory and other cognitive defects that accompany brain degeneration and interfere with normal functioning

Question 49

What is Alzheimer’s disease?

Answer 49

• Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a progressive brain disorder that is the most common cause of dementia among adults over the age of 65

• Spreads across the temporal lobes and to the frontal lobes and other cortical regions.
• Working memory and long-­‐term memory worsen as AD progresses.
• Neurons in the brain become damaged and die brain tissue shrinks and communication between neurons is impaired as AD disrupts the several neurotransmitter systems-­‐ especially the acetylcholine system.

• Alzheimer’s disease produces both types of amnesia

Question 50

What is Infantile Amnesia?

Answer 50

• Infantile amnesia is our inability to remember experiences from the first few years of our lives

• The brain regions that encode long term episodic memories are still immature in the first years after birth
• We do not encode our earliest experiences deeply and fail to form rich retrieval cues for them.
• Infants lack clear self-­‐concept and thus do not have a personal frame of reference around which to organize rich memories.

Question 51

The Case of HM

Answer 51

Medial temporal lobe damage:
• Surgery to control intractable epilepsy, aged 27
• Hippocampus removed bilaterally, plus surrounding area (limbic system)
• Retrograde memory deficits for 2-­‐3 years before surgery
• Plus anterograde amnesia (i.e. unable to remember ongoing events)

HM’s Amnesia:
•	Severe global anterograde amnesia
•	Shown a word or face, no later recall
•	Read newspaper/magazines repeatedly
•	Did not remember his physician
•	Evident in formal tests and in daily life
•	Evident both visually and verbally
****Word lists, faces and objects, recall or recognition

Question 52

H.M’s Remaining Abilities

Answer 52

• H.M. had intact memories only from childhood and early adulthood= he could remember words who growing up but not their meaning
• He couldn’t remember new personal experiences or general facts
• After a tone was repeatedly paired with a puff of air blown towards HM’s eye, he began to blink involuntarily-­‐ he repeated this action when exposed to the tone again (blinked) thus he formed a procedural memory.
• HM was able to form a procedural memory from performing the mirror-­‐tracing task, although having no conscious awareness of having learned it. His memory for the task (procedural memory) was implicit
• But H.M had intact digit span:
• Once remembered the number 584 for 15 minutes
• After brief distraction, H.M could remember neither the number nor the rehearsal technique

Question 53

Preserved memory in Amnesia?

Answer 53

• Amnesics recall very little
• Implicit memory preserved in amnesia
• Intact Implicit Memory: Patients with amnesia (more often) spell homophones according to earlier context-­‐ like “normal” people do-­‐ event though they “remember” nothing (explicitly

Question 54

EXPLAIN memory as a CONSTRUCTIVE PROCESS:

Answer 54

• Our schemas (i.e. our generalized ideas about how events happen) may cause us to misremember events in ways that fit with out pre-­‐existing concepts and may lead us to recall events that never occurred
• Boundary Extension: remembering the scene as wider-­‐angled than it really was.

• The Misinformation effect: occur when memory is distorted by misleading post event information.
- This may occur because of source confusion: the tendency to recognize something as familiar but to forget where we encountered it. (e.g. seeing a mug shot of a criminal earlier in a newspaper and then wrongly identifying that criminal as the one who stole your bag in a lineup-­‐ as you cant remember the source you recognize them from)

• Vulnerability to misinformation effects is greater among younger than older children and when suggestive questions are asked repeatedly.
• Experts cannot reliably tell when children are reporting accurate memories versus sincerely believed false memories
• Psychologists debate whether recovered memories of child abuse are accurate and whether the abuse, if it occurred, was forgotten about through repression or other psychological processes.
• Concern about the possibility of false memory leads many experts to urge caution in unconditionally accepting the validity of recovered memories.

Question 55

What is BOUNDARY EXTENSION?

Answer 55

• Boundary Extension: remembering the scene as wider-­‐angled than it really was.

Question 56

The misinformation effect:

Answer 56

• The Misinformation effect: occur when memory is distorted by misleading post event information.

Question 57

Where are the memories stored

?

Answer 57

the frontal cortex, Thalamus, prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus and cerebellum.

• Memory involves numerous interacting brain regions.

Question 58

Explain Sensory Memory and Working Memory:

Answer 58

• Sensory memory depends on input from our sensory systems and initial processing by cortical sensory areas
• Working memory involves a network of brain regions. The frontal lobes and prefrontal cortex play a key role in performing executive functions of working memory such as allocating attention to the other component of working memory.
• Deeper encoding produced better memory for the words and greater activity in the left prefrontal cortex.

Question 59

Explain Long term Memory:

Answer 59

• The diverse components of an experience are processed initially in different regions of the cortex and then gradually bound together in the hippocampus (memory consolidation). After a memory for a personal experience is consolidated its various components appear to be stored across wide areas of the cortex, yet we retrieve and reintegrate these components as a unifies memory.
• The hippocampus helps consolidate long-­‐term declarative memories.
• The cerebral cortex stores declarative memories across distributed sites.
• The amygdala encodes emotionally arousing aspects of events
• The cerebellum helps form procedural memories. Damage to the thalamus can produce severe amnesia

Question 60

How are memories formed?

SYNAPTIC CHANGE AND MEMORY

Answer 60

• Formation of procedural memory can be traced to a series of biochemical events that occur between and within various sensory neurons and motor neurons.
• During the conditioning procedure various sensory neurons become densely packed with neurotransmitter release points and postsynaptic motor neurons develop more receptor sites.
• These structural changes result in greater ease of synaptic transmission that may be the basis for memory consolidation.

Question 61

Explain LONG TERM POTENTIATION:

Answer 61

• Researches try to mimic a process of long-­‐term memory formation by stimulating specific neural pathways with rapid bursts of electricity.
• They find that once this rapid stimulation ends, the neural pathway becomes stronger-­‐ synaptic connections are activated more easily.
• Long-­‐term potentiation (LTP): an enduring increase in synaptic strength.
• Studies of long-­‐term potentiation in several species indicate that as memories form, complex chemical and structural changes that enhance synaptic efficiency occur in neurons.

Question 62

Memory on a biological level

Answer 62

• Our evolved memory capabilities display a balance between the adaptiveness of remembering and the adaptiveness of forgetting
• Sensory memory depends on sensory systems that detect stimuli and output neural codes that are sent to the brain for processing.
• The frontal lobes, hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus and cerebellum are among many brain regions that play key roles in working and/or long term memory
• Chemical and structural changes in neurons that increase synaptic transmission efficiency underlie long term memory formation.
• Brain damage from disease, sudden brain injury, brain surgery or other trauma and produce retrograde and anterograde amnesia.

Question 63

Memory on a Environmental and Social Level

Answer 63

• Stimulus characteristics (e.g. distinctiveness, organisation) influence encoding and retrieval
• The position of an item in a series affects recall
• The amount and rate of information affects our ability to recall it.
• Memory may be enhanced when encoding and retrieval take place in the same environment.
• Cultural upbringing influences our schemas and the age of earliest memories.
• Misinformation effects (post event stimuli) can distort memories

Question 64

Memory on a Psychological level

Answer 64

• Memory codes are mental representations; and memory is a network of associated mental representations.
• Elaborative and maintenance rehearsal facilitate encoding.
• Memory confidence doesn’t ensure money accuracy.
• Mental Schemas influence encoding and retrieval
• Encoding failure and interference effect impair recall
• Motivational biases (e.g. to feel food about oneself, to avoid anxiety-­‐arousing information) may distort memories

Question 65

Explain Improving memory and academic learning:

Answer 65

• Use elaborative rehearsal (focus on the meaning of the information)
• Link new information to existing memories
• Organize information and use imagery
• Overlearn the material
• Distribute learning over time and test yourself
• Minimize interference.

Question 66

Why do we forget?

Answer 66

• We often cannot recall information because we never encoded it into long-­‐term memory in the first place.

Question 67

explain memory and the brain:

Answer 67

• Sensory memory depends on input from our sensory systems and initial processing by cortical sensory areas
• Working memory involves a network of brain regions. The frontal lobes play a key role in performing executive functions of working memory.
• The hippocampus helps consolidate long-­‐term declarative memories. The cerebral cortex stores declarative memories across distributed sites. The amygdala encodes emotionally arousing aspects of events and the cerebellum helps form procedural memories. Damage to the thalamus can produce severe amnesia.
• Studies of long-­‐term potentiation in several species indicate that as memories form, complex chemical and structural changes that enhance synaptic efficiency occur in neurons.