LECTURE 6 LTM

Question 1

What is organic amnesia?

Answer 1

Memory impairments caused by physical damage to the brain, such as head injuries or neurological diseases.

Question 2

What was unique about the case of HM?

Answer 2

HM’s bilateral medial temporal lobe surgery stopped his seizures but caused severe memory problems.

Question 3

What type of memory was severely impaired in HM?

Answer 3

Retaining new information (anterograde amnesia).

Question 4

What remained intact in HM?

Answer 4

Short-term memory, past memories (up to 3 years before surgery), and some procedural learning.

Question 5

What is the medial temporal lobe (MTL) responsible for?

Answer 5

Formation of new declarative (explicit) memories.

Question 6

What are two types of amnesia?

Answer 6

Anterograde amnesia (difficulty forming new memories) and retrograde amnesia (loss of past memories).

Question 7

What is Ribot’s Law?

Answer 7

Older memories are less likely to be affected by brain damage than newer memories.

Question 8

What areas of the brain are involved in amnesia?

Answer 8

Hippocampus, thalamus, mammillary bodies, and adjacent cortical areas like the entorhinal cortex.

Question 9

What types of memory are impaired in amnesia?

Answer 9

Declarative memories (episodic and semantic).

Question 10

What types of memory are preserved in amnesia?

Answer 10

Procedural memory, classical conditioning, and short-term memory.

Question 11

What are declarative memories?

Answer 11

Conscious memories, including episodic (events) and semantic (facts) memory.

Question 12

What are non-declarative memories?

Answer 12

Implicit memories, such as skills, priming, and conditioning, which don’t require conscious retrieval.

Question 13

What is episodic memory?

Answer 13

Memory for specific events tied to a time and place.

Question 14

What is semantic memory?

Answer 14

General knowledge and facts not linked to a specific time or place.

Question 15

How do episodic and semantic memories differ in consciousness?

Answer 15

Episodic involves autonoetic (self-aware) consciousness, while semantic involves noetic (knowledge-based) consciousness.

Question 16

What did Vargha-Khadem et al. (2007) find about developmental amnesia?

Answer 16

Patients had impaired episodic memory but relatively intact semantic knowledge.

Question 17

What is the relationship between episodic and semantic memory?

Answer 17

Episodic memory can support semantic learning, and episodic memories often become semantic over time.

Question 18

What is the dual-process model of episodic memory retrieval?

Answer 18

Recollection (detailed, effortful retrieval) and familiarity (automatic sense of knowing).

Question 19

What brain areas support recollection and familiarity?

Answer 19

Recollection: hippocampus and related structures. Familiarity: perirhinal cortex and dorsomedial thalamus.

Question 20

What is the binding-of-item-and-context model?

Answer 20

The hippocampus binds “what” (perirhinal cortex) and “where” (parahippocampal cortex) information for episodic retrieval.

Question 21

What is the consolidation theory?

Answer 21

Memories initially depend on the hippocampus but gradually transfer to cortical networks for long-term storage.

Question 22

What is the multiple trace theory (MTT)?

Answer 22

The hippocampus is always involved in episodic memory, with multiple traces forming for older memories.

Question 23

How does damage to the hippocampus affect memory?

Answer 23

Severe hippocampal damage can impair recent and remote episodic memories.

Question 24

What is priming?

Answer 24

Faster or more accurate processing of repeated stimuli, independent of conscious recollection.

Question 25

What are two types of priming?

Answer 25

Perceptual priming (enhanced perceptual processing) and conceptual priming (enhanced processing of meaning).

Question 26

What is repetition suppression?

Answer 26

Reduced brain activity for repeated stimuli, reflecting neural efficiency.

Question 27

What did Buckner et al. (1998) find about priming?

Answer 27

Priming involves distinct brain areas, such as extrastriate cortex for perceptual priming and frontal cortex for conceptual priming.

Question 28

What is procedural memory?

Answer 28

Implicit learning of skills and habits, often independent of declarative memory systems.

Question 29

What brain areas are involved in procedural memory?

Answer 29

Cerebellum, basal ganglia, and motor areas.

Question 30

How does classical conditioning relate to non-declarative memory?

Answer 30

It involves learning associations between stimuli and responses without conscious awareness.

Question 31

What happens in the absence of a cerebellum during classical conditioning?

Answer 31

The conditioned reflex (e.g., eyeblink) cannot be learned, though unconditioned responses remain intact.

Question 32

What is semantic priming?

Answer 32

Faster recall of semantically related words, such as responding “apple” after seeing “fruit.”

Question 33

What is the functional role of the mammillary bodies in memory?

Answer 33

Supporting recollection, with atrophy leading to deficits in recall tasks.

Question 34

What is the significance of frontal and parietal lobes in memory?

Answer 34

They contribute to episodic memory and functional networks supporting long-term retrieval.

Question 35

How do autobiographical and semantic memories differ?

Answer 35

Autobiographical memories are personal and episodic, while semantic memories are factual and impersonal.

Question 36

What did neuroimaging studies reveal about memory retrieval?

Answer 36

Both recent and remote memories activate the hippocampus, with vividness influencing hippocampal activity.

Question 37

What is repetition priming?

Answer 37

Improved speed or accuracy when processing repeated stimuli, often accompanied by reduced brain activation.