Lecture 5 Q &A

Question 1

Describe HM’s condition

Answer 1

HM suffered from really bad seizures that originated in the medial temporal lobe.

Question 2

What part of HM’s brain was surgically removed?

Answer 2

The amygdala, archi cortex, and hippocampus were surgically removed.

Question 3

How many people underwent varying degrees of resection?

Answer 3

H.M and 9 others

Question 4

What did Patient IS have removed?

Answer 4

Only amygdala was removed and no memory loss occurred.

Question 5

What was the McDonald’s Coffee Cup story?

Answer 5

This story was given by Howard Ichanbum who talked about how HM told him the same story after seeing a coffee cup from McDonald’s more than 3 times. He would tell the story look away pause and then tell it again because he couldn’t remember that he had already told that story.

Question 6

Describe the hallmark characteristics of Classic Amnesic Syndrome.

Answer 6

Initial encoding of info: OK
Short Term Memory: OK (ex digit span 7 +- 2 numbers)
Long Term Memory:OK
Sensation/Perception: OK
Intelligence: OK (in some cases it seemed almost improved
Problem: Lost the ability to consolidate new memories
Consolidation is the ability of transferring information from short term to long term memory.

Question 7

What is retrograde amnesia?

Answer 7

Can’t recall memories formed before the event that caused the amnesia (temporally graded depending on how far back the incident).
For HM retrograde amnesia is approximately 2 years.

Question 8

What is anterograde amnesia?

Answer 8

A type of new memory loss when you can’t form new memories. HM had this too

Question 9

What was discovered about the Mirror Drawing Task?

Answer 9

It was found that HM could do this task normally despite having memory loss in other areas.

Question 10

Implicit Name Recognition Task

Answer 10

When given the first name as a cue, HM generated the last name for these individuals who became famous after the onset of his amnesia.

Question 11

House mapping task?

Answer 11

HM was unable to generate maps of his house layout after his surgery.

Question 12

What is declarative memory?

Answer 12

Things you know that you can tell others (hippocampus dependent)

Question 13

What is episodic memory?

Answer 13

Remembering your first day of school (storage in the cortex) (D)

Question 14

What is semantic memory?

Answer 14

Knowing the capital of France (storage in cortex).(D)

Question 15

What is skill learning memory?:

Answer 15

Knowing how to ride a bicycle (Basal ganglia, motor cortex, and cerebellum) are the brain regions involved. (ND/P)

Question 16

What is non declarative (procedural) memory?

Answer 16

Things you know that you can show by doing (hippocampus independent).

Question 17

What is priming?

Answer 17

Being more likely to use a word you heard recently. (Cortex) (ND/P)

Question 18

What is conditioning?

Answer 18

Salivating when you see a favorite food (Cerebellum) (ND/P)

Question 19

Describe patient EP who had classic amnesic syndrome.

Answer 19

Cause: acute viral infection that destroyed part of his brain (Hippocampus)
Most of his thinking skills survived the damage virtually intact.
He can also copy complex drawings.
No difficulty repeating back words
Laptop computers are his forte
Keeps mentioning electronics story multiple times.
Can’t remember experimenters names
Can’t remember stuff that happened a few minutes ago.
EP lives in permanent present.
Old memories are intact.