exam 3 Flashcards
What is memory?
The ability to acquire, retain and recall information.
- a process, not a thing
- Inferred not observed
- different types of memory processes exist
short-term memory?
The amount of information that can be held in memory after a single exposure.
- insensitive to age
- digit span tests test this
long-term memory?
The ability to learn and retain information for longer periods after attention is lost.
- sensitive to age
- paragraphs, word lists, pictures, or drawings test this
Remote memory?
The ability to retain information from a long time ago.
- not sensitive to aging
- autobiographical, famous faces, public events test this
Learning vs. Retention?
Learning: the initial acquisition of material that is treated with immediate recall, also called encoding.
Retention: How much information is retained over time- requires delayed testing and is always relative to how much was learned.
Amount vs Rate?
Amount: how much a person has learned
Rate: how fast the person learned it
Retrieval vs Storage problem?
Retrieval Problem: information only appears to be forgotten, but it’s present it just needs help to access it.
- vascular dementia
- Parkinson’s
Storage problem: truly forgotten information
- Alzheimer’s
- korsakoffs
What is amnesic syndrome?
A permanent, stable, and global disorder of memory
- occurs in the absence of any other extensive perceptual or cognitive disturbance.
- never goes away, consistent, all stimuli effected(global)
What is a anterograde amnesia component?
A memory deficit that extends forward in time from the onset of amnesia and prevents the formation of new memories.
- Absolute ( episodic/sematic: our experience - medial temporal lobe and diencephalon)
- selective
- non-declarative memory not affected ( Procedural: skills - basal ganglia)
Memory types & the brain area?
Episodic/sematic: our experience - medial temporal lobe and diencephalon
Procedural: skills - basal ganglia
Priming- neocortex
Simple classical conditioning- the amygdala, cerebellum
habituation sensitization- reflex pathways
What is the retrograde amnesia component?
A memory deficit that extends backward in time from the onset of amnesia and prevents the recall of information acquired prior to the onset of amnesia.
- temporal gradient
- individual differences
- nondeclarative spared
Amnesia and anatomy: Medial temporal lobe amnesia?
Medial temporal lobes: hippocampus (H.M.)
- surgery for epilepsy, anoxic brain damage
Henry Molaison (H.M.):
- bilateral medial temporal lobectomy to treat epilepsy
- anterograde amnesia for decorative memories
- non-declarative memory relatively preserved
Amnesia and anatomy: Diencephalic amnesia?
Diencephalic: thalamus and mammillary bodies
- Wernicke Korsakoff syndrome, tumors of the 3rd ventricle, thalamic stroke, traumatic brain injury
Diencephalic Amnesia: (Wernickes)
- Damage to anterior and nuclei of the thalamus and mammillary bodies
- Thlakine deficiency (Vitamin B1)- alcoholism
- anterograde amnesia for declaritive
- retrograde amnesia to some degree
Normal aging: Neuroanatomical changes?
- Brain mass/size decrease
- ventricular dilation
- cortical surface flattening
- neuron loss
- white matter thinning
Normal aging : cognitive changes?
Three domains
1) new learning
2) new problem solving
3) behavioral speed (walking, talking)
