Gluck - Episodic and Semantic Memory

Question 1

Cerebral Cortex / semantic memory

Answer 1

The sensory cortex is involed in sensory information. The association cortex, which consists of other cortical areas, is involved in associating information within and across modalities

Some areas of the cerebral cortex are speicalized to process specific kinds of sensory information; these include areas in the parietal lobe (somatosensory cortex), the occipital lobe (visual cortex) and the superior temporal lobe (auditory cortex). Many of the remainng cortical areas are association areas that link information within and across modalities

Question 2

Medial Temporal Lobes and Memory Storage

–> Hippocampus

Answer 2

medial temporal lobe includes hippocampus, amygdlaa and several nearby cortical areas
- Damage to hippocampus -> anterograde amnesia (inability to form new episodic and semantic memories) because hippocampus is needed to encode, to retain or consolidate, to retain information

Pictures and words that are processed more elaborately in the medial temporal lobes (seen in fMRI) are more likely to be encoded and remebred later

Hippocampus helps bind together memory of objects with unique spatial and temporal context in which they were experienced

Question 3

Hippocampal-Cortical Interaction in Memory Consolidation

• -> Retrograde Amnesia
• -> 2 Theories

Answer 3

RETROGRADE AMNESIA: loss of memories for events that occured before an injury
- RIBOT GRADIENT: pattern of memory loss in which recently aceuqired memories are more prone to disruption than other memories

Two theories tackling debate on duration of the consolidation period (period during which new memories are especially vulnerable to disruption) and the role of the hippocampus

STANDARD CONSOLIDATION THEORY:
the hippocampus and related medial temporal lobe structures are initially required for episodic memory storage and retrieval, but their contribution diminishes over time until the cortex is capable of retrieving information WITHOUT HIPPOCAMPAL HELP
- predicts flat retrograde amnesia following hippocampal damage

MULTIPLE MEMORY TRACE THEORY:
episodic memories are encoded by ensemble of hippocampal and cortical neurons and both hippocampus and cortex are normally involved in storing and retrieving even very old memories
- Episodic memories stay hippocampus-dependent
- Semantic memories become hippocampus-independent
- Predicts graded retrograde amnesia following hippocampal damge

Question 4

Role of frontal Cortex in Memories

Answer 4

PFC surpresses hippocampal activity, inhibitory storage and retrieval of unwanted memories
- Frontal cortex may help determine what we store and remeber and what we don’t story and forget

Question 5

Subcortical Structures involved in Episodic and Semantic Memory

Answer 5

Parts of the diencephalon and the basal forbrain are connected to the hippocampus via the fornic
- Damage to either one of these structures can lead to anterograde amnesia