Cognition and disorders - learning and memory

Question 1

Define learning (1)

Answer 1

Process of acquiring new information

Question 2

Define memory (2)

Answer 2

Retention of the learned information
OR
Persistence of learning in a state that can be revealed at a later time

Question 3

Define encoding (1)

Answer 3

Processing of incoming information to be stored

Question 4

Define storage (2)

Answer 4

The result of acquisition and consolidation; creation and maintenance of a perfect record

Question 5

Define retrieval (2)

Answer 5

Utilisation of stored information to create a conscious representation or to execute a learned behaviour

Question 6

What is episodic memory? (1)

Answer 6

Memory of events, personal recollection

Question 7

What is declarative/explicit memory? (3)

Answer 7

Recalled by conscious effort:
Highly flexible involving multiple sources of information:
- Episodic
- Semantic

Question 8

What is non-declarative memory? (5)

Answer 8

Also called:
Procedural memory
Implicit memory

Skills and associations acquired mainly at an unconscious level

Rigid memory store

Commonly involved in training reflexive motor or perceptual skills

Question 9

What is semantic memory? (1)

Answer 9

Memory of facts, general knowledge

Question 10

Describe the information processing model (6)

Answer 10

Information from the environment is passed into sensory memory

If attention is paid, information passes into short term memory

Unattended information is lost in a fraction of a second

In short term memory, unrehearsed information is lost within seconds

If information is encoded information passes into long term memory

Retrieval is when information passes from long-term to short-term - also allows for update and change of memory

Question 11

Describe sensory memory (3)

Answer 11

Stores sensory information
Lifetime of milliseconds to seconds
Visual: iconic memory, audition: echoic memory

Question 12

Describe short term memory (working memory) (3)

Answer 12

Lifetime of seconds to hours
Limited capacity
Typically around 7 items (digit span)

Question 13

Describe long-term memory (1)

Answer 13

Lifetime of days to years

Question 14

What is the working memory model? (2)

Answer 14

Describes short term memory
Model contains central executive mechanism which controls two subordinate systems involved in rehearsal

Question 15

What is the central executive? (2)

Answer 15

Command-and-control centre
In the pre-frontal cortex

Question 16

What is the phonological loop? (3)

Answer 16

A mechanism for acoustically coding information in working memory
Left supramarginal gyrus (area 40)
Left premotor region (area 6)

Question 17

What is the visuospatial sketchpad? (2)

Answer 17

Visuospatial sketchpad information storage in visual or visuospatial codes
Parieto-occipital regions of both hemispheres affect visuospatial performance (right hemisphere dominant) (area 7 and 19)

Question 18

What are flashbulb memories? (3)

Answer 18

Recollection of emotionally charged events is often very vivid; flashbulb memories

Form of long-term memory

Highly confident of our memory of these events, but not necessarily very accurate

Question 19

What are the brain systems underlying declarative long-term memory? (7)

Answer 19

Formation:
Hippocampus
Rhinal cortex
Mammillary body
Dorsal thalamus

Storage:
Neocortex
Frontal cortices on dorsolateral and anterolateral aspects

Question 20

What are the two types of non-declarative procedural memory? (2)

Answer 20

Associative
Non-associative

Question 21

What is associative memory? (4)

Answer 21

Classical conditioning - change in passive motor response after learned association between two stimuli (Pavlov’s dogs)

Instrumental or operant conditioning change in active motor response after association between motor action and reward

Question 22

What is non-associative learning? (4)

Answer 22

Change in motor response after repeated presentation of a stimulus:

   a) Habituation –decrease in motor response
 
   b) Sensitisation – increase in motor response

Question 23

What are the two types of amnesia? (2)

Answer 23

Retrograde
Anterograde

Question 24

What is retrograde amnesia? (1)

Answer 24

Memory loss for events before the trauma

Question 25

What is anterograde amnesia? (1)

Answer 25

Inability to establish new memories following brain injury

Question 26

What did patient H.M. undergo? (1)

Answer 26

Underwent bilateral medial temporal lobectomy for severe epilepsy

Question 27

What did the lobectomy show in patient H.M.? (5)

Answer 27

Normal cognitive functioning

Intact declarative memory for events preceding surgery

Severe anterograde amnesia for all declarative long-term memory

Intact short term (working) memory (slower).
e.g. normal digit span but not when interrupted

Intact procedural (non-declarative) memory

Question 28

What is synaptic plasticity? (1)

Answer 28

Changes in the efficiency of synapses

Question 29

Describe synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus
(5)

Answer 29

Long term potentiation (LTP) in CA1
- long term enhancement in synaptic strength

Long term depression (LTD) in CA1
- long term decrease in synaptic strength

Both mediated by postsynaptic NMDA receptors and intracellular signals.

LTP and LTD are considered the major mechanisms for the formation of declarative memories.

Question 30

Describe synaptic plasticity in the cerebellum (3)

Answer 30

LTD at parallel fibre - Purkinje cell synapse, mediated by AMPA receptors and intracellular signals.

Implicated in motor learning (procedural memory) in the cerebellum

Question 31

Where is synaptic plasticity most observed? (1)

Answer 31

Observed at postsynaptic glutamatergic synapses
Lead to change in postsynaptic receptors composition: e.g. AMPA receptors.

Question 32

What is the mechanism behind LTP (3)

Answer 32

Increased number of vesicles and neurotransmitter
Increased number of AMPA-R
Increased surface area of the synaptic cleft