Lecture 21 - Amnesia

Question 1

(lecture):

Define anterograde amnesia.

Define retrograde amnesia.

Answer 1

(lecture):

See slide 7

Question 2

(lecture):

List four examples of causes of amnesia.

Answer 2

(lecture):

See slide 8

Question 3

(lecture):

Describe the case of H.M.

What type of memory was preserved in his case?

Answer 3

(lecture):

See slide 9-10

See slide 11

Question 4

(lecture):

Define implicit memory.

How can we test if implicit memory is impaired in amnesia patients?

Answer 4

(lecture):

See slide 12

Claparede used to shake his patients’ hands with a pin in his palm, so it would give a prick to the patient. The next day the patients’ came back and didn’t want to shake his hand but they couldn’t remember why.

Warrington… found that the patients’ didn’t know what the word was for the first photo, then when shown the word, the next day they knew what word it was with the first photo but couldn’t remember why they knew it.

Question 5

(lecture):

Define episodic memory.

How can we test if episodic memory is impaired in amnesia patients?

Answer 5

(lecture):

See slide 13-14

Question 6

(lecture):

Read slide 15

Answer 6

(lecture):

Question 7

(lecture):

Read slide 16

Answer 7

(lecture):

Question 8

(lecture):

How might patients with retrograde amnesia be tested?

Answer 8

(lecture):

See slide 17

Question 9

(lecture):

Describe Ribot’s Law.

Answer 9

(lecture):

See slide 18

Question 10

(lecture):

Explanations of retrograde amnesia:

Describe the standard consolidation models.

Answer 10

(lecture):

See slide 19

Question 11

(lecture):

Explanations of retrograde amnesia:

Describe the multiple trace hypothesis.

Answer 11

(lecture):

See slide 20

Question 12

(lecture):

Can damage to MTL result in semantic memory deficits?

Answer 12

(lecture):

See slide 21-23

Question 13

(lecture):

CONCLUSIONS

• Studying amnesia is difficult: numerous causes and
can be complicated by other cognitive impairments.
• Preserved functioning in STM, procedural memory
and implicit memory.
• Severe deficit in episodic memory: particularly in
recollection if just the hippocampus is damaged?
• The acquisition of new semantic information might
be impaired.
• When examining patients we need to consider:
- the extent of the damage to brain structures.
- when the damage occurred.
- the way in which memory has been assessed.

Answer 13

(lecture):

Question 14

(reading):

Baddeley, A., Eysenck, M.W., & Anderson, M.C. Memory.
Hove: Psychology Press. Chapter 16.

Spiers, H.J., Maguire, E.A., & Burgess, N. (2001).
Neurocase, 7, 357-382. (pages 357-361 are the paper, the
rest is tables).

Kopelman, M.D. (2002). Disorders of memory. Brain, 125,
2152-2190. (select relevant parts).

Answer 14

(reading):