Chapter 8: Memory Systems

Question 1

What are the two biological systems involved in learning and memory?

Answer 1

dissociation of different cognitive aspects of memory: types (i.e., explicit vs. implicit)

dissociation of different temporal aspects of memory: phases (i.e., short-term vs. long-term)

Question 2

What is double dissociation?

Answer 2

damage to A but not B disrupts performance on Task X but not Y (and vice versa)

Question 3

What was the Packard and McGaugh T-maze study?

Answer 3

have rats run a T maze, pick the arm with the treat

reverse the maze, same arm has a treat

rats will either go to the same space or make the same response (turning right)

Question 4

What were the results of the Packard and McGaugh T-maze study?

Answer 4

inactivation of different structures (HPC & striatum)

HPC: inferences, spatial

striatum: forms the globus paladis, import for motor behaviors

without hippocampus its 50/50 which way they’ll go

without striatum they go to place, normal

Question 5

What are the multiple brain systems for long-term memory?

Answer 5

medial temporal lobe: declarative

striatum & cerebellum: procedural (habits and skills)

amygdala: emotional (context)

Question 6

What were the three lesions in the Macdonald & White (1993) Olton maze experiment?

Answer 6

hippocampus
striatum
amygdala

Question 7

What were the three tasks in the Macdonald & White (1993) Olton maze experiment?

Answer 7

win-shift
win-stay
conditioned place preference

Question 8

What was the win-shift task in the Macdonald & White (1993) Olton maze experiment?

Answer 8

after a rat wins, have to make a different choice

go down each arm only one to get reward

hippocampal lesion: can’t do it, fundamental structure
striatal lesion: nothing happens
amygdala lesion: nothing happens
control: nothing happens

only hippocampus matters in the completion of this task

Question 9

What was the win-stay task in the Macdonald & White (1993) Olton maze experiment?

Answer 9

have to go down arm signaled by light cue at the end of the arm, put another fruit loop, stimulus again, rats go down, anytime the cue is there, reward at the end, no spatial cues

control: no problem
hippocampal lesion: no problem
amygdala lesion: no problem
striatal lesion: cannot associate cue with affective response

this contingency is dependent on the striatum

Question 10

What was the conditioned place preference task in the Macdonald & White (1993) Olton maze experiment?

Answer 10

no spatial cues, put them in an arm and block off exit, either lit or dark condition

lit condition: mountain of fruit loops (positive reinforcement)
dark condition: get nothing (bored)

put them back in hub, choice between lit and dark, normally go to the one with fruit loops, cue associated with positive experience preferred

control: no problem
hippocampal lesion: no problem
striatal lesion: no problem
amygdala: can’t form association

Question 11

What was the procedure of the weather prediction task?

Answer 11

series of cards with different probabilities of having sunshine weather

tell them nothing about what cards mean, you’ll be wrong 25% of the time about A

come to learn relevance of each card

put cards together to get the average of both

Question 12

What were the results of the weather prediction task?

Answer 12

amnesiacs vs. Parkinson’s disease

amnesiacs can learn predictive rules, can’t tell you anything about the test or being tested: have to explain task to them every time won’t remember playing, as soon as you explain they will learn the predictive outcomes

Parkinson patients cannot learn predictive rules, but can tell you all about the test and being tested: don’t have to explain the rules again each time, cannot associate cards with their probabilistic outcomes

Question 13

What is the boat horn conditioning experiment?

Answer 13

boat horn condition: experience visual stimulus (color) and sound stimuli (boat horn)

skin response: autonomic nervous activation

Question 14

What were the results of the boat horn conditioning experiment in amygdala damage patients?

Answer 14

emotion conditioning absent, good knowledge of test

intact response to boat horn, but no conditioning, don’t associate stimulus with response, can tell you what color preceded the horn

Question 15

What were the results of the boat horn conditioning experiment in hippocampal damage patients?

Answer 15

emotional conditioning intact, no knowledge of test

still get unconditioned response, can’t tell you anything about the test, don’t remember anything about the colors

Question 16

What were the results of the boat horn conditioning experiment in amygdala and hippocampal damage patients?

Answer 16

both emotional conditioning and knowledge of test absent