Introduction to Learning, Memory, and Cognition Flashcards
Learning
acquiring and processing new info
5 main types of memory
Explicit:
o Semantic
o Episodic
Implicit:
o Procedural
o Motor
o Emotional
explicit memory
declarative, conscious, deliberate
implicit memory
non-declarative, unconscious, automatic
semantic memory
facts
episodic memory
experiences
location of semantic memory
medial temporal lobe - hippocampus
location of episodic memory
medial temporal lobe - hippocampus
location of procedural memory
striatum
autobiographical memory
: A combination of episodic and semantic
Case of Clive Wearing
- Cannot form new declarative memories
- Knows something is wrong
- Has intact prior memories
o “Scotland to Cornwall” (he knows what ‘where’ means)
o Many procedural (striatal) e.g. Play piano - Cognitively able; “those are my initials backwards”
- Not dementia
- Has (basically) no hippocampus
o Destroyed by viral encephalitis
Long-term memory formation: declarative memory
Integration in the cortical association areas allows for a representation of the thought (may not be aware of this until attention is paid (in the cortical networks).
A conscious decision is made about whether to remember it (PFC) – making judgements.
retrieve previous memories of the topic (in the hippocampus), bringing it into WM where it is manipulated and the new information is added, and (re)consolidation occurs to put it back into the cortical association areas.
importance/benefits of spaced pracice and interleaving
- The more cycles of retrieval and reconsolidation there are, the stronger and longer-lasting the memory is.
- Spacing out the cycles helps.
- Sleeping between cycles really helps.
- Interleaving relevant content helps.
- Driving retrieval helps.
hippocampus and memory
- Form declarative/explicit memories
o Ultimately ‘stored’ in the cortex (This can take days, weeks or even years) - Tells you where you are in space
o Spatial memory/learning - Often lost early in Alzheimer’s
- An active site of neurogenesis
- Multiple sub-regions
- Supplied by the Posterior Cerebellar Artery
formation of decalrative memories
- Sensory input to cortical regions
- Processed and integrated
- Elicits a pattern of firing in the hippocampus
- The hippocampus matches the pattern to patterns of firing in the cortex, which represent prior memories
- New memory is added to existing patterns in cortex
o Memory (re)consolidation
case of patient HM
- Untreatable epilepsy
o Bike accidence
o Not controlled by high-dose phenytoin - Surgery to remove the medial temporal lobes (hippocampus and related structures)
o 1953 (aged 27)
o Bilateral (both hemispheres)
o Actually just parts of the hippocampus and anterior parahippocampal gyrus - Developed severe anterograde amnesia
Digit span forward task (working memory)
Reading an increasing amount of numbers to ppt who repeats them back until they cannot remember all the numbers in the list.
Mirror drawing task (procedural memory)
a. Drawing in the lines of a star (control) as quickly as you can without touching the lines. Then, do the same, but only looking through a mirror (you cannot see the actual paper). (Do this 5 times). Then do the control again.
b. How long it takes, how many errors you make (touching lines).
Semantic fluency task (semantic memory)
1 minute to come up with as many examples from a category (count how many duplications – errors)
Auditory verbal learning test (declarative memory)
Lists of words read out, ppt says them back straight away (4 times) and record how many are remembered. Test again after a delay.
