Lecture Twelve Reading

Question 1

What is the engram?

Answer 1

The physical memory trace for information in the brain

Question 2

What is amnesia?

Answer 2

A failure of memory caused by physical injury, disease, drug use, psychological trauma

Question 3

What is anterograde amnesia?

Answer 3

An inability to form explicit memories for events that occur after the time of physical damage to the brain

Question 4

What is retrograde amnesia?

Answer 4

An inability to retrieve memories from the time before physical damage to the brain

Question 5

Which type of intelligence decreases with age?

Answer 5

Fluid intelligence

Question 6

What is infantile amnesia?

Answer 6

Lack of any explicit memories before the age of three

Question 7

What type of memory do infants have?

Answer 7

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

Question 8

What is memory like for 3-6 year olds?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

What type of memory begins first? Implicit or explicit?

Answer 9

Implicit

Question 10

What is memory like from ages 6-10?

Answer 10

Can learn and use mnemonics 
Learn to use external aids
Rehearsal
Organisation
Elaboration

Question 11

What are the difficulties with reporting trauma in childhood?

Answer 11

Validity uncertain
No witnesses
Post traumatic stress disorder influences memory

Question 12

How can influencing a child be minimised in an interview about potential trauma?

Answer 12

Impartial/non-suggestive interviewing
Okay to not know answer
No leading questions
Open ended, non-biased questions

Question 13

How should you compensate for the decline in the ability of working memory in adult hood?

Answer 13

Allow more time for information processing

Question 14

How are attention and memory affected in adulthood?

Answer 14

Difficulty focusing on two complex tasks at once
Focusing on relevant info becomes more difficult
Ability to combine visual info into a pattern declines

Question 15

How is memory improved in adulthood?

Answer 15

Memory skills used daily declines less
General knowledge unchanged or increased
Cognitive competence increases greatly

Question 16

How is memory altered in the elderly?

Answer 16

Episodic memory declines
Semantic memory does not decline
Procedural memory does not decline

Question 17

What are the two hypotheses for why memory decreases in late adult hood?

Answer 17

Memory system hypothesis

Biological hypothesis

Question 18

What is the memory system hypothesis?

Answer 18

Less efficient at encoding
Storage problems
Retrieval
Familiarity of material-less effective

Question 19

What is the biological hypothesis?

Answer 19

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

Question 20

How is ageing related to dementia?

Answer 20

Dementia is not an inevitable part of the ageing process

Half of dementia cases are related to alzheimers

Question 21

What is a mini-mental state exam?

Answer 21

Used to test for dementia
Orientation time and place
Attention/calculation/recall
Language and repetition
Complex commands

Question 22

What are the symptoms of alzheimers?

Answer 22

Severe memory problems
Personality changes
Depression
Faulty judgement
Deterioration of skilled and purposeful movements 
Average course is 8-10 years

Question 23

What happens to the brain during alzheimers?

Answer 23

Neuron death
Inside neurons- neurofibrillary tangles appear
Outside neurons- plaques appear
Changes in ach and serotonin

Question 24

What are the two types of alzheimers?

Answer 24

Sporadic

Familial-early onset

Question 25

What are the risk and protective of alzheimers?

Answer 25

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

Question 26

What is cerebrovascular dementia?

Answer 26

Strokes kill brain cells causing degeneration of mental ability including memory

Question 27

What are the risk factors for stroke?

Answer 27

Indirect genetic and environmental factors (salt, cardiovascular disease, obesity)
Men at greater risk
Medications may reduce tendency of blood to clot

Question 28

What are the signs of a stroke?

Answer 28

Weakeness or numbness in arms/legs/face
Sudden vision loss or double vision
Speech difficulty and severe dizziness

Question 29

What could poor memory be a symptom of?

Answer 29

Trauma
Simple medical condition
Dementia

Question 30

What is assimilation in terms of memory?

Answer 30

Fitting new information into schemes

Question 31

What is accommodation in terms of memory?

Answer 31

Building a new scheme/ adapting a scheme for new information