memoria in creier

Question 1

What is memory?

Answer 1

The mental function of retaining information about stimuli, events, images, ideas, etc. after the original stimuli is no longer present.

Question 2

What is the structure of memory? (William James, 1890).

Answer 2

1. Primary Memory (STM)
2. Secondary Memory (LTM)

Question 3

What is STM?

Answer 3

• Information in an active state.
• Conscious memory for what we are thinking about now.

Question 4

What is LTM?

Answer 4

• Information in an inactive state
• Unconscious store of information

Question 5

How has memory developed over the years after William James?

Answer 5

STM:
- Sensory memory
- Working memory

LTM:
- Declarative (explicit): facts, events
- Non-declarative (implicit): skills, priming

Question 6

How do we know about the structure of memory?

Answer 6

Patients with brain damage have contributed to our understanding of how memory is structured.

Question 7

What patients have we studied?

Answer 7

Those with amnesia.

Question 8

What is amnesia?

Answer 8

Loss of memory ability
2 types:
1. Retrograde amnesia: loss of memory of events prior to damage.
2. Anterograde amnesia: loss of ability to form new memories

Question 9

What are some causes of amensia?

Answer 9

Concussion
Migraine
Epilepsy
Surgery
Korsakoff’s syndrome
Ischemic events (restriction of blood supply e.g. stroke)

Question 10

What is the evidence from amnesic patient Clive Wearing?

Answer 10

STM is spared
LTM is impaired

Question 11

What is some evidence from Clive Wearing?

Answer 11

He had severe retrograde and anterograde amnesia.
He suffered frontal and temporal lobe damage, especially of the hippocampus.
He remembers little about his life (retrograde)
Each time he sees his wife it’s like it’s the first time (anterograde_

Question 12

What is declarative (explicit) memory?

Answer 12

Conscious access and recall. (events and facts) e.g. your graduation.

Question 13

What is non-declarative (implicit) memory?

Answer 13

No conscious access and recall e.g. riding a bike

Question 14

What is the evidence from amnesic patient HM?

Answer 14

Declarative memory impaired
Non-declarative memory spared

Question 15

What is the back story of HM?

Answer 15

HM had chronic epilepsy
To treat: bilaterally severed the hippocampus (removal)
This lead to profound memory impairments

Question 16

What were the symptoms of HM?

Answer 16

LTM problems:
- retrograde amnesia for some events before surgery
- severe anterograde amnesia (failure to form new memories)

STM is relatively spared
- he performed well on digit-span tasks

Question 17

What was HM symptoms in declarative vs non-declarative memory?

Answer 17

He could NOT learn meaning of new words (declarative)
He could learn a new skill (non-declarative)

Question 18

What is hebbian learning?

Answer 18

The neural basis of information storage in the brain.

Question 19

What is the concept of cells that fire together wire together?

Answer 19

When activation of neurone A causes activation of neurone B, the connection strength between A and B is increased.

Question 20

What is long-term potentiation?

Answer 20

Long-lasting increase in efficiency of synaptic transmission.
1. Neuron A releases neurotransmitter into synaptic cleft
2. Neuron B has receptors to accept the neurotransmitters and generate an electric impulse
3. When neurone A and B fire simultaneously - this increases the no. of receptors at neurone B, which increases the likelihood that neurone A will fire.

Question 21

Where does LTP occur?

Answer 21

In the hippocampus - evidence from taxi drivers

Question 22

What is the role of prefrontal cortex in memory?

Answer 22

PFC engages representations of the meaningful contexts in which related memories occur.

Question 23

What is the role of the hippocampus?

Answer 23

Forms and replays memories