LECTURE 6 LTM Flashcards
What is organic amnesia?
Memory impairments caused by physical damage to the brain, such as head injuries or neurological diseases.
What was unique about the case of HM?
HM’s bilateral medial temporal lobe surgery stopped his seizures but caused severe memory problems.
What type of memory was severely impaired in HM?
Retaining new information (anterograde amnesia).
What remained intact in HM?
Short-term memory, past memories (up to 3 years before surgery), and some procedural learning.
What is the medial temporal lobe (MTL) responsible for?
Formation of new declarative (explicit) memories.
What are two types of amnesia?
Anterograde amnesia (difficulty forming new memories) and retrograde amnesia (loss of past memories).
What is Ribot’s Law?
Older memories are less likely to be affected by brain damage than newer memories.
What areas of the brain are involved in amnesia?
Hippocampus, thalamus, mammillary bodies, and adjacent cortical areas like the entorhinal cortex.
What types of memory are impaired in amnesia?
Declarative memories (episodic and semantic).
What types of memory are preserved in amnesia?
Procedural memory, classical conditioning, and short-term memory.
What are declarative memories?
Conscious memories, including episodic (events) and semantic (facts) memory.
What are non-declarative memories?
Implicit memories, such as skills, priming, and conditioning, which don’t require conscious retrieval.
What is episodic memory?
Memory for specific events tied to a time and place.
What is semantic memory?
General knowledge and facts not linked to a specific time or place.
How do episodic and semantic memories differ in consciousness?
Episodic involves autonoetic (self-aware) consciousness, while semantic involves noetic (knowledge-based) consciousness.
What did Vargha-Khadem et al. (2007) find about developmental amnesia?
Patients had impaired episodic memory but relatively intact semantic knowledge.
What is the relationship between episodic and semantic memory?
Episodic memory can support semantic learning, and episodic memories often become semantic over time.
What is the dual-process model of episodic memory retrieval?
Recollection (detailed, effortful retrieval) and familiarity (automatic sense of knowing).
What brain areas support recollection and familiarity?
Recollection: hippocampus and related structures. Familiarity: perirhinal cortex and dorsomedial thalamus.
What is the binding-of-item-and-context model?
The hippocampus binds “what” (perirhinal cortex) and “where” (parahippocampal cortex) information for episodic retrieval.
What is the consolidation theory?
Memories initially depend on the hippocampus but gradually transfer to cortical networks for long-term storage.
What is the multiple trace theory (MTT)?
The hippocampus is always involved in episodic memory, with multiple traces forming for older memories.
How does damage to the hippocampus affect memory?
Severe hippocampal damage can impair recent and remote episodic memories.
What is priming?
Faster or more accurate processing of repeated stimuli, independent of conscious recollection.
What are two types of priming?
Perceptual priming (enhanced perceptual processing) and conceptual priming (enhanced processing of meaning).
What is repetition suppression?
Reduced brain activity for repeated stimuli, reflecting neural efficiency.
What did Buckner et al. (1998) find about priming?
Priming involves distinct brain areas, such as extrastriate cortex for perceptual priming and frontal cortex for conceptual priming.
What is procedural memory?
Implicit learning of skills and habits, often independent of declarative memory systems.
What brain areas are involved in procedural memory?
Cerebellum, basal ganglia, and motor areas.
How does classical conditioning relate to non-declarative memory?
It involves learning associations between stimuli and responses without conscious awareness.
What happens in the absence of a cerebellum during classical conditioning?
The conditioned reflex (e.g., eyeblink) cannot be learned, though unconditioned responses remain intact.
What is semantic priming?
Faster recall of semantically related words, such as responding “apple” after seeing “fruit.”
What is the functional role of the mammillary bodies in memory?
Supporting recollection, with atrophy leading to deficits in recall tasks.
What is the significance of frontal and parietal lobes in memory?
They contribute to episodic memory and functional networks supporting long-term retrieval.
How do autobiographical and semantic memories differ?
Autobiographical memories are personal and episodic, while semantic memories are factual and impersonal.
What did neuroimaging studies reveal about memory retrieval?
Both recent and remote memories activate the hippocampus, with vividness influencing hippocampal activity.
What is repetition priming?
Improved speed or accuracy when processing repeated stimuli, often accompanied by reduced brain activation.
