Lecture Twelve Reading Flashcards
What is the engram?
The physical memory trace for information in the brain
What is amnesia?
A failure of memory caused by physical injury, disease, drug use, psychological trauma
What is anterograde amnesia?
An inability to form explicit memories for events that occur after the time of physical damage to the brain
What is retrograde amnesia?
An inability to retrieve memories from the time before physical damage to the brain
Which type of intelligence decreases with age?
Fluid intelligence
What is infantile amnesia?
Lack of any explicit memories before the age of three
What type of memory do infants have?
Some implicit memory
Relationship between movement and its consequences
Rely on non-verbal memory techniques
Recognition better than recall
Context is important
Neurobiological change and social interaction
What is memory like for 3-6 year olds?
Remember things they did better than things they saw
Drawing helps memory
How parents talk during shared experience
Recognition and recall
Better language, attention, and speed of info processing
What type of memory begins first? Implicit or explicit?
Implicit
What is memory like from ages 6-10?
Can learn and use mnemonics Learn to use external aids Rehearsal Organisation Elaboration
What are the difficulties with reporting trauma in childhood?
Validity uncertain
No witnesses
Post traumatic stress disorder influences memory
How can influencing a child be minimised in an interview about potential trauma?
Impartial/non-suggestive interviewing
Okay to not know answer
No leading questions
Open ended, non-biased questions
How should you compensate for the decline in the ability of working memory in adult hood?
Allow more time for information processing
How are attention and memory affected in adulthood?
Difficulty focusing on two complex tasks at once
Focusing on relevant info becomes more difficult
Ability to combine visual info into a pattern declines
How is memory improved in adulthood?
Memory skills used daily declines less
General knowledge unchanged or increased
Cognitive competence increases greatly
How is memory altered in the elderly?
Episodic memory declines
Semantic memory does not decline
Procedural memory does not decline
What are the two hypotheses for why memory decreases in late adult hood?
Memory system hypothesis
Biological hypothesis
What is the memory system hypothesis?
Less efficient at encoding
Storage problems
Retrieval
Familiarity of material-less effective
What is the biological hypothesis?
Decline in neuron density in the frontal cortex and hippocampus
Vulnerable to injury as blood pressure rises
Excessive neuron loss in the hippocampus is an early sign of alzheimers disease
How is ageing related to dementia?
Dementia is not an inevitable part of the ageing process
Half of dementia cases are related to alzheimers
What is a mini-mental state exam?
Used to test for dementia Orientation time and place Attention/calculation/recall Language and repetition Complex commands
What are the symptoms of alzheimers?
Severe memory problems Personality changes Depression Faulty judgement Deterioration of skilled and purposeful movements Average course is 8-10 years
What happens to the brain during alzheimers?
Neuron death
Inside neurons- neurofibrillary tangles appear
Outside neurons- plaques appear
Changes in ach and serotonin
What are the two types of alzheimers?
Sporadic
Familial-early onset
What are the risk and protective of alzheimers?
50% nothing hereditary
Lifestyle risks
HRT and anti-inflammatory drugs may be protective
Years of education lead to more synaptic connections
Physical activity in mid/late life protective
What is cerebrovascular dementia?
Strokes kill brain cells causing degeneration of mental ability including memory
What are the risk factors for stroke?
Indirect genetic and environmental factors (salt, cardiovascular disease, obesity)
Men at greater risk
Medications may reduce tendency of blood to clot
What are the signs of a stroke?
Weakeness or numbness in arms/legs/face
Sudden vision loss or double vision
Speech difficulty and severe dizziness
What could poor memory be a symptom of?
Trauma
Simple medical condition
Dementia
What is assimilation in terms of memory?
Fitting new information into schemes
What is accommodation in terms of memory?
Building a new scheme/ adapting a scheme for new information
