Lecture 14: Clinical Implications Of Memory And Forgetting

Question 0

What can infants remember?

Answer 0

Some implicit memories present from birth:
Relationship between movement and consequences
Infants rely on Non verbal memory techniques (visual images and motor actions)
Retention is greater and faster response with increased training, and repeated exposure to stimuli

Question 1

What are the three memory systems?

Answer 1

Sensory memory: information goes in via sensory input, information is lost with information loss, or information can be transferred to short term memory

Short term memory: information goes in from sensory memory,
Info can also be retrieved from long term memory.
information can be rehearsed (and go back into short term memory),
information is lost via forgetting,
information is transferred to long term memory.

Long term memory: information is transferred here from short term memory
Info can be retrieved from here back to short term memory
Info can also be lost by forgetting

Question 2

What is infantile amnesia?

Answer 2

The lack of explicit memory for events before the age of 3 years

Question 3

What is the mobile conjugate reinforcement task?

Answer 3

This is a procedural and long term memory task based on the operant conditioning paradigm

It includes:
Baseline measure
Aqcuistion, i.e. A rapid increase in kicks
Retention i.e. Recognition and faster response

Question 4

What is memory like in infancy from 0-3years?

Answer 4

Recognition develops first, and is better than recall at this stage
Context is important for remembering
Infant will experience neurological change with social interactions:
- due to neural connections in the cerebral cortex developing
- infant will foster self awareness, language, improved memory
- there will be a decline in infantile amnesia

Question 5

What is memory like in childhood? (3-6 years)

Answer 5

There is a big influence on childrens episodic memory at this stage.
Children remember things they did better than things they saw
Drawing helps childrens memory
How parents talk during shared experience influences this memory

Question 6

What are the significant improvement in children aged 3-6 years memories due to?

Answer 6

Attention
Speed and efficiency of information processing
Language and development

Question 7

What is the recognition and recall like in children aged 3-6 years?

Answer 7

Recognition is still better than recall

Both recognition and recall improve with age

Question 8

What is implict and explicit memory like in children aged 3-6 years?

Answer 8

Implicit memory develops first:
Children can produce behavioural changes without conscious awareness e.g. How to throw a ball

Explicit memory continues to improve: these include memories people know they have,
Facts, names and events

Question 9

What is memory like in middle childhood? (Aged 6-10years)

Answer 9

There is a gradual increase in the understanding of memory
Children can learn and use memories
Learn to use external aids
Rehearsal occurs
Organisation
Elaboration

Question 10

What are some examples of emotional trauma and memory?

Answer 10

Recovered memories
Reporting abuse in childhood
Post traumatic stress disorder

Question 11

What are some changes in memory and info processing across adult hood?

Answer 11

Crystallised intelligence is the knowledge and skills that are accumulated over a lifetime. This improves through adulthood

Fluid intelligence is ability to reason quickly and to think abstractly. This declines after 20s

Question 12

What is memory like in adulthood? (Aged 20-60)

Answer 12

Information in working memory decreases
Use of memory strategies decreases
More difficulty retrieving info from long term memory
Irrelevant stimuli take up space in working memory

Compensation- need to allow more time for processing

Question 13

What is attention like in adulthood?

Answer 13

Sustaining two complex tasks becomes harder
Focussing on relevant info becomes harder
Ability to combine pieces of visual info into a pattern declines with age

Question 14

What other gains or losses in memory are experienced in adult jood

Answer 14

Memory skills used daily will decrease less
General, procedural and occupational knowledge are either unchanged, or may increase

There is a great increase in cognitive competence in midlife - can apply vast knowledge and life experience to problem solving

Question 15

What is memory like in late adulthood? (+65 years)

Answer 15

Declarative memory: this includes
1) episodic long term memory - this is the kind of long term memory likely to deteriorate with age
E.g. Did i lock the car.

2) semantic long term memory - these are historical facts, social customs, meanings of words. There is often an implicit recall of well learned and familiar information. This LTM does not decline, it sometimes improves

Question 16

How does procedural memory differ in late adulthood?

Answer 16

These are stuff like motor skills, habits.
There is an implicit recall of ways of doing things which requires no conscious effort.

There is very little decline in procedural memory with age

Question 17

Why do some aspects of memory decline in late adulthood?

Answer 17

There are two hypotheses

1) memory system hypothesis which states that as we age we become
Less efficient at encoding
Encounter storage problems
Have problems with retrieval,
Problems with the familiarity of material

2) biological hypothesis which states that memory loss is due to a decline in neuron density of frontal cortex and hippocampus
This is vulnerable to injury as blood pressure rises
There is an extensive loss of nerve cells in the hippocampus in early stages of alzheimers

Question 18

What is the relationship between ageing and dementia?

Answer 18

Dementia is not an inevitable process of aging

Question 19

What is dementia?

Answer 19

A set of progressive disorders marked by global disturbances of higher mental functions

Half of dementia cases are related to Alzheimers

Question 20

What is Alzheimers disease

Answer 20

AD is associated with brain damage and a loss of neurons, which are critical for memory

Symptoms include severe memory problems
Faulty judgement
Personality changes
Depression
Deterioration of skilled and purposeful movements
The Course disease varies, the average is about 8-10 years

Question 21

What brain deterioration occurs with alzheimers disease?

Answer 21

Neuron death
Inside neurons the neurofibrillary tangies disappear
Outside neurons there are the formation of plaques

Chemical changes occur, including the imbalance of serotonin and acetylcholine levels

Question 22

What are the types of alzheimers?

Answer 22

Sporadic AD- no obvious family history
- hereditary may play a role through somatic mutation e.g. Abnormal gene on chromosome 19

Familial AD- early onset, much more rapid progress
- linked to genes on chromosome 1, 14 and 21

Question 23

What are the protective factors of AD?

Answer 23

50% of cases have no familial or genetic marker
Many aetiologies are being explored
HRT and anti inflammatory drugs may be protective of AD
Years of education can lead to more synaptic connections
Physical activity in mid-late life is also protective

Question 24

What is cerebrovascular dementia?

Answer 24

Where strokes leave dead brain cells causing the degeneration of mental ability

This is the result of indirect genetic and environmental factors.

Men are often more at risk

Prevention of CBD is important, know the signs of a stroke.
Medications which reduce the tendency of blood clots can be protective.
Stroke affects many functions, including memory

Question 25

What is the importance of memory in the health setting?

Answer 25

Poor memory can be a sign or symptom of emotional or physical trauma, simple medical condition, neurological impairment (like dementia)

Memory is important in treatment for children, stressful settings and elderly