Lecture 2 - LTM Flashcards
What is the LTM
elaborate rehearsal of STMs
retrieval
capacity infinite
what is the serial position curve?
free recall -
primary effect - start of the list
recency effect - end of the list
what removes the recency effect
delay between learning and test phases
Selective STM deficit example
Patient KF suffered left parietal lobe damage in a motorcycle accident
Some speech and language impairments
Warrington and Shallice, 1969
Impaired STM – digits span
Preserved LTM – paired-associated learning
what causes Amnesia?
brain trauma or alcohol damage etc
what are the different types of amnesia?
where is the damage?
- Retrograde – loss of pre trauma memories
- Anterograde – no new memories post trauma
- Damage to the medial temporal lobe and hippocampus
what are the normal functions of Amnesiacs
Knowledge of language, can communicate and understand normally
Sufficient memory to keep track of what is being said within a conversation
Normal STM and digit span
Normal IQ
what is the STM deficit
STM deficit is an inability to manipulate or use, rather then inability to store, information in the working memory
alternative conception of LTM
Working memory is just an “activated” area of the LTM under the current focus of attention (Cowan, 1999)
STM deficit is a problem of the central executive’s ability to focus attention in the LTM
Different types of memory
Declarative – conscious memory, knowing that, explicit
Procedural – perceptual motor learning, knowing how, implicit
Explicit memory tests
Free recall – write down the words you studied
Cued recall – complete the missing word with a word that you studied
Recognition – was this a word you studied
Warrington and Weiskrantz – 1970
Amnesiac worse than control on explicit memory tests
Implicit memory tests
Fragment identification – a_nt__ue = antique
Word-stem completion – given the first half of a word and asked to complete it
No instruction to consciously use memory
Warrington and Weiskrantz – 1970
Amnesiacs equal to control on implicit memory tests