Chapter 8: Memory Pt.I

Question 1

Differentiate between retrograde and anterograde amnesia.

Answer 1

anterograde amnesia is when you can’t remember anything after the accident, retrograde is when you cant remember anything before the accidnent.

Question 2

What are three stages of memory?

Answer 2

the three stages of memory are ECODING (Processing incoming information for subsequent storage.), STORAGE (The creation and maintenance of a (somewhat) permanent record of a percept) and RETRIEVAL (Utilizing stored information, generally to create a conscious representation of an item or event. Reexperiencing the past in the present. The performance of a learned behaviour.)

Question 3

Differentiate between the two steps in the encoding process.

Answer 3

Acquisition [Registering information in sensory buffers and performing sensory analyses ] Consolidation [Creating a stronger representation that will likely be stored semi-permanently.]

Question 4

What is the neural evidence that working memory and declarative memory are separate processes?

Answer 4

Damage to the left temporoparietal cortex (patient K.F.) leads to impaired working memory but preserved declarative memory. Bilateral damage to the medial temporal lobes (patient H.M.) leads to the opposite pattern.A patient with damage to the right occipital lobe due to neurosurgery showed preserved declarative but impaired non-declarative memory.

Question 5

Is childhood amnesia an example of retrograde or anterograde amnesia?

Answer 5

Childhood amnesia is retrograde cause it imparts old memories of the past.

Question 6

What is sensory memory? What is iconic memory and how long does it last? What is echoic memory and how long does it last?

Answer 6

Sensory Memory (Sensory memory is the shortest-term element of memory. It is the ability to retain impressions of sensory information after the original stimuli have ended.) Iconic mem (visual sensory memory 500ms) Echoic rem (can repeat back a series of phonemes, 10-20seconds)

Question 7

What brain area has been linked to iconic memory?

Answer 7

Iconic memory correlated with activity in the extrastriate cortex contralateral to the stimuli being encoded.

Question 8

How long does short-term memory tend to last?

Answer 8

STM 20s-2min, 7+/-2

Question 9

Describe Petersen and Petersen’s (1959) classic study of short-term memory.

Answer 9

Petersen and Petersen (1959) found that rehearsal was a key factor in the efficiency of short-term memory. When participants were distracted, their ability to recall stimuli was impaired. Rehearsal is considered critical for the transfer of information from STM to LTM.

Question 10

What are the different parts of the hippocampal system?

Answer 10

Hippo 3 Pathways: Perforant pathway (An excitatory connection between the entorhinal and parahippocampal cortices and the granule cells of the dentate gyrus.) Mossy fibers (Connect the granule cells of the dentate gyrus to the CA3 pyramidal cells.) Schaffer collaterals (Connect the CA3 pyramidal cells to the CA1 pyramidal cells. )

Question 11

What is long-term potentiation?

Answer 11

LTP: Stimulation of the perforant pathway resulted in long-term increases in the magnitude of EPSPs. This stimulation increased the synaptic strength in the perforant pathway, such that later stimulation led to larger postsynaptic responses in the DG granule cells.

Question 12

What is special about NMDA receptors? How do they work?

Answer 12

NMDA are double gated, can only open channel if membrane is already depot and a glutamate binds, then Ca can rush in. Blocked by magnesium. Calcium is an intracellular messenger that alters enzyme activity, which influences synaptic strength.

Question 13

Which ion is critical for LTP to occur?

Answer 13

Glutamate

Question 14

What is the difference between synaptic consolidation and system consolidation?

Answer 14

Synaptic consolidation (Initial transfer (or stabilization) of memory from short-term to long-term memory. ) System Consolidation (The reorganization of the brain’s representation of an episode. The brain region necessary for post-encoding memory is no longer needed to preserve that memory. )

Question 15

How are dendritic spines related to learning?

Answer 15

ACTION: Opens Na+ Channels —>Dendritic Spikes (“Backwash”) Depolarize the Dendrites —>NMDA receptors open —>Ca rushed in—>which activates CAM-KII—>which releases AMPA receptors—>which move to membrane surface—>AP increases, synapse strengthened—>autophos educes CAM-KII need for Ca—>NO sent to presynaptic memb—>influences glut releases therefore strengthens)

Question 16

What is Ribot’s Law?

Answer 16

Memory loss after brain damage is more likely to affect recent memories than more remote memories. Recent memories have had less consolidation

Question 17

Describe the difference between the standard consolidation theory and the multiple trace theory.

Answer 17

Standard Consolidation Theory: (Declarative memories start out as connections between hippocampal and cortical neurons. Hippocampal neurons hold a unified account of a memory, over time representations become cortically represented and no longer need the hippocampus.) Multiple Trace Theory: (Each time a memory is reactivated, a new memory trace is laid down through the hippocampus. Remote/rehearsed memories will have more traces because they have been reactivated more often. )

Question 18

Label the following as being forms of direct or indirect priming: perceptual priming, semantic priming, and conceptual priming. How would you test each form of priming?

Answer 18

Direct: prim/target same, Indirect: Prime/target dif. DP: Perceptual (cue/target perceptual related envelope E_V_L_P_), Conceptual (The test cue is conceptually related to the target. stationary and envelope). IP: Semantic (The prime and the target are semantically related. CAT and KITTEN)