Memory 1: Patients- HM, RB and NA plus Korsakoffs

Question 1

What area of the brain did H.M have removed?

Answer 1

Had bilateral removal of temporal lobes to alleviate seizures.

• includes parts of the hippocampus and amygdala

Question 2

what happened after surgery

Answer 2

• Severe anterograde amnesia: cant form new long term memories

Question 3

what types of memory were impared in HM

• The memory span +1 task

Answer 3

• He had short term memory within the normal range (6)
• BUT was still on 6 digits after 25 trials. S
• Showing he cant form new long term memories

Question 4

Can HM do the digit span

Answer 4

yes

Question 5

Can HM do the digit span +1

Answer 5

no

Question 6

Is HMs amnesia modality specific

- replace digit span +1 with blocks

Answer 6

NO, when replaced with block tapping memory span task he was still impaired

Question 7

What is the rotary pursuit task? And how did HM perform

Answer 7

Procedural memory measure.
Keep stylus in contact with a rotating target.

HM got better at the task but he didnt know he had.

Question 8

could HM do the mirror drawing task?

Answer 8

Yes, he got better at the task but had no recollection of doing it.

Question 9

Could HM do the incomplete picture task (Gollin, 1960)

Answer 9

Yes- not just motor

Measure of priming

Question 10

Could HM be classical conditioned

Answer 10

Yes, air blew in his eye with a beep he had a blink reflex.

Question 11

What was the precise problem with HMs memory

Answer 11

Anterograde explicit long term amnesia. (episodic)

• He had a problem with memory consolidation: the transfer of memories from STM to LTM but only for conscious explicit memories.

Question 12

What damage did RB have to the brain

Answer 12

damage of the pyramidal cell layer of CA1 sub field of the hippocampus due to an interruption of blood supply to the brain during heart surgery.

Question 13

what does RB show us about memory>

Answer 13

damage to the hippocampus alone is enough to get medial temporal lobe amnesia

Question 14

What damage did RB have to the brain

Answer 14

damage of the pyramidal cell layer of CA1 sub field of the hippocampus due to an interruption of blood supply to the brain during heart surgery.

Question 15

What kind of amnesia does Korsakoffs syndrome produce?

Answer 15

Medial diencephalic amnesia

Question 16

What kind of amnesia does Korsakoffs syndrome produce?

Answer 16

Medial diencephalic amnesia
(very similar to medial temporal lobe amnesia in that antergrode loss of explicit episodic memories are the main symptom- as the disease progresses get retrograde as well)

Question 17

what type of amnesia did NA have

Answer 17

medial dienchephalic amnesia

toy sword up the nose

Question 18

what is the pathology of HM

Answer 18

Bilateral medial temporal lobes removed.

Question 19

what is the pathology of RB

Answer 19

ischemia

The CA1 region of the hippocampus was damaged during a heart attack which left part of the brain without oxygen

Question 20

what is the pathology of Korsakoffs syndrome

Answer 20

medial diencephalic damage

mediodorsal nuclei of the thalamus and mammilary bodies

Question 21

What is the pathology of NA

Answer 21

Medial diencephalic damage

(mediodorsal nuclei of the thalamus and mammilary bodies).

Question 22

mediodorsal nuclei

Answer 22

A pair of medial diencephalic nuclei in the thalamus, damage to which is thought to be responsible for many of the memory deficits associated with Korsakoffs syndrome

Question 23

Medial diencephalon

Answer 23

Amnesia that is associated with damage to the medial diencephalon (e.g., Korsakoff’s amnesia)