Memory Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

Explain the Atkinson-Shiffrin model.

A

Sensory store - modality specific info, help for a few ms.
Short-term store - info held for a few secs. Can be extended via rehearsal. Limited capacity.
Long-term store - nearly limitless in duration + capacity. Includes; semantic, episodic, procedural and prospective memory.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Explain Baddeley’s working memory model (STM).

A

All info processed by the central executive.
Visuospatial sketchpad, episodic buffer, phonological loop - fluid systems.
Visual semantics, episodic LTM, language - crystallised systems.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What is the average visual and digit span STM capacity?

A

Visual: 4 items. Limit to storage capacity. When adding more items - capacity doesn’t increase.
Digit span: 7 ±2 items.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Where do neurons spike during retention of spatial locations (STM)? What about during a delay phase of a delayed match-to-sample task?

A

Retention - Parietal cortex.
Spike - increased number of APs.
Delay - Prefrontal.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What are the neural bases of visual-spatial STM?

A

Intraparietal sulcus - transient storage of visuospatial information.
Inferior-occipital areas - visual processing. Not storage.
Medial frontal brain areas - monitoring of task. Not storage.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What are the neural bases of verbal STM?

A

Large LH activity.
Broca’s area - rehearsal.
BA 40 - storage.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Where does chunking take place?

A

Prefrontal cortex.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What is the role of the prefrontal cortex?

A

Chunking.
Lie (2006) - Wisconsin car sorting test, fMRI study.
Medial + dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Increasing activity with increasing task difficulty.
Central executive in PFC.
STM + CE = working memory.
PFC involved in working memory.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Where is STM mostly stored?

A

Posterior areas.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What is non-declarative memory (LTM)?

A

Procedural + classical conditioning.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What does declarative memory split into (LTM)?

A

Semantic (facts) + episodic (events).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Where are declarative memories stored?

A

Volume of brain tissue destroyed correlated with memory performance - independent of location.
Lashley - no specific memory area. Whole brain involve in learning + memory. Study invalid.
Conclusion: memory not unitary. Different types of memory = different brain structures. Heterogenous memory. Memories are likely to be stored in brain areas involved in original sensory processing. What pathway + where pathway.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Which case study goes against Lashley’s principle?

A

Philipp - RH removed. Normal life - no memory deficits.
Lashley’s study - used worst possible laboratory task to study memory. Maze running involves many senses. Lashley only eliminated one sense.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Where are memories stored?

A

Inferior temporal cortex. Hippocampus.
Neurons in ITC can become tuned to a certain face! Spiking neurons correlates with memory trace.
Single neurons develops a preference to a particular object.
People with expertise in a certain area = stronger ITC response. Is this correlate of memory traces or visual perception though?

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Explain the relationship between the hippocampus and episodic memory.

A

Stronger activity of hippo and parahippocampal gyrus when recollecting material.
If remembered correctly = higher activity.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Explain the relationship between the hippocampus and spatial memory.

A

Mouse in radial arm maze study. Episodic memory task.
With hippo lesion - unsuccessful in task.
Experience-based spatial memory relies on hippo activity.

17
Q

What are hippocampal place cells?

A

Neurons that spike when a rat is in a particular location in an environment that has been previously explored. Place cell fires when approaching the neuron’s place field.

18
Q

Explain the London taxi driver study + results (Maguire).

A

London taxi drivers - larger posterior hippocampus.
Longer the drivers were on the job = larger posterior hippocampus (and smaller anterior part). Stops the cause and effect debate.

19
Q

Briefly explain the case of Henry Molaison (Milner).

A

Anterograde amnesia - could not store new episodic memories + new semantic long-term memories.
Intact procedural + STM.
Mirror drawing task. Performance improved over time even though he said he didn’t know the task beforehand. Normal performance in non-declarative memory task.

20
Q

What is retrograde amnesia?

A

Can’t remember recent past events.

21
Q

What is anterograde amnesia?

A

Can’t store new episodic memories.

22
Q

What is transient global amnesia?

A

Very severe retrograde + anterograde amnesia. Only lasts a day!
Aetiology not completely understood - temporary lack of blood to brain?

23
Q

What is man-made amnesia?

A

Overreliance on phones + internet to store all our information..
Store info in out-sources not in-sources.

24
Q

What is Korsakoff’s syndrome?

A

Lesion in thalamus.
Anterograde + retrograde amnesia. Thiamine deficit. Lower volume of medial thalami.
Preserved procedural memory.

25
Q

What can cause Korsakoff’s syndrome?

A

Alcohol abuse, anorexia, AIDS.

26
Q

What are grandmother cells?

A

Memory entries are stored by single neurons.

27
Q

Explain the theory of distributed representation.

A

Memories stored by many neurons which form distributed networks.
Neurons which fire together, wire together. Neurons which fire out of synch, lose their link (Hebb).
Distributed networks are set up by simultaneous activation during learning. One sub-population can re-activate the whole assembly.
Inferior temporal, parietal cortex, hippo, thalamus.
Declarative LTM.

28
Q

What is some evidence for the distributed representation theory?

A

Hebbian modification.
Neurons can exclusively respond to particular stimuli and not others.
Unlikely that complex memory traces are stored by only one single cell. E.g. if we lose that cell do we lose that concept? What if concepts overlap? Complexity of memory entries can’t be coded by one single cell.
Coding is relatively sparse but memories would still be implemented in distributed networks. Whole assembly codes for that concept.

29
Q

Which area is most important in non-declarative/procedural LTM?

A

Basal ganglia.

30
Q

Which two diseases show basal ganglia deficits?

A

Parkinson’s.

Huntington.

31
Q

Explain the role of the striatum in implicit memory.

A

Weather prediction task.
PD show issues with implicit memory formation (compared to amnesiacs + controls). PD perform normally in declarative memory tasks.
Activity in striatum increases, activity in medial temporal lobe decreases.

32
Q

Where is working memory stored?

A

Parietal + PFC.