Lecture 14: Clinical Implications Of Memory And Forgetting Flashcards
What can infants remember?
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
What are the three memory systems?
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
What is infantile amnesia?
The lack of explicit memory for events before the age of 3 years
What is the mobile conjugate reinforcement task?
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
What is memory like in infancy from 0-3years?
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
What is memory like in childhood? (3-6 years)
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
What are the significant improvement in children aged 3-6 years memories due to?
Attention
Speed and efficiency of information processing
Language and development
What is the recognition and recall like in children aged 3-6 years?
Recognition is still better than recall
Both recognition and recall improve with age
What is implict and explicit memory like in children aged 3-6 years?
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
What is memory like in middle childhood? (Aged 6-10years)
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
What are some examples of emotional trauma and memory?
Recovered memories
Reporting abuse in childhood
Post traumatic stress disorder
What are some changes in memory and info processing across adult hood?
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
What is memory like in adulthood? (Aged 20-60)
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
What is attention like in adulthood?
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
What other gains or losses in memory are experienced in adult jood
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
What is memory like in late adulthood? (+65 years)
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
How does procedural memory differ in late adulthood?
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
Why do some aspects of memory decline in late adulthood?
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
What is the relationship between ageing and dementia?
Dementia is not an inevitable process of aging
What is dementia?
A set of progressive disorders marked by global disturbances of higher mental functions
Half of dementia cases are related to Alzheimers
What is Alzheimers disease
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
What brain deterioration occurs with alzheimers disease?
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
What are the types of alzheimers?
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
What are the protective factors of AD?
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
What is cerebrovascular dementia?
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
What is the importance of memory in the health setting?
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
