Memory Flashcards
1
Q
Define Primary Memory according to William James
A
A portion of present space of time
Linked to conscious experience
Retrieval is effortless
2
Q
Define Secondary Memory according to William James
A
Genuine past
Unconscious - permanent
Retrieval is effortful
3
Q
Atkinsons Shiffrens Modal model of Memory
A
4
Q
Describe Sensory Memory
A
- sensations persist after the stimulus has disappeared
- decay’s rapidly, yet there are stores for visual(iconic) and auditory(echoic) sensory info.
5
Q
Sperling’s Experiment for Sensory memory
A
- matrix of letters for 1/20 seconds, recall the letters after
- sounded low, medium or high tone immediately after matrix disappeared
- the tone signalled 1 row to report
- recall was almost perfect
- memory for images fades after 1/3 seconds, making report of entire display hard to do
6
Q
What is working memory?
A
- a temporary store for information needs to be rehearsed/ encoded to become long term memory
- this is said to have a limited capacity
7
Q
Baddeley and Hitch’s working memory model
A
- Baddeley found error in Atkinson & Shiffrin’s model
- completing multiple tasks whilst remembering numbers, didn’t seem to affect the error in the number of digits remembered over a period of time.
- B&H argued that the working memory must comprise different components
- Visuospatial Sketch pad
- Central Executive
- Phonological loop
8
Q
What is the evidence for the Phonological loop?
A
The Phonological similarity effect Baddeley (1966)
- list of 5 words to be recalled
- showed a large effect of phonological similarity, there was no effect of semantic similar
- the greater the number of syllables the worse the recall, even if the list is shorter
9
Q
Impairment of the phonological loop
A
- some patients have been described who have severely reduced verbal spans for all types of unconnected items
- they still have intact word perception
- no problem with speech production
- lesion near the Sylvian fissure, near the parietal and temporal loop can impair the phonological loop
- as the contents are actively refreshed by an articulatory process (sub-vocal speech) disrupting this process results in poor retention in the phonological loop
10
Q
The Visuospatial Sketchpad and the evidence for it
A
- necessary for holding online a sequence of visually guided actions
- necessary for ‘seeing in the mind’s eye’
De Renzi & Nichelli - 1975
- some patients with brain damage had impaired digit spans and some had impaired spatial spans
- the “double dissociation” gave evidence for independent processes
Logie -1995
- Visual cache: passively stores visual info about form and colour
- Inner scribe: stores spatial and movement information and can rehearse the contents of the visual cache
Della Sala et al., - 1999
- Viewing abstract pictures interfered with the visual task, whereas tracing the outline of a series of pegs on a board interfered with the spatial task
11
Q
What other components have been added to the Baddeley & Hitch Working Memory Model
A
- Fluid Systems
- Visuospatial sketchpad
- Episodic buffer
- Phonological loop
- Crystallized systems
- Visual semantics
- Episodic LTM
- Language
12
Q
Craik & Lockhart 1972 ‘Levels of processing’
A
- participants asked to make judgments about words based on
- Orthographic information
- Phonological information
- Semantic reasoning
- recall improved with each orienting task
- shows that deep coding or elaboration is one of the best ways to learn new material
- is memory strong because encoding was “deep” or do we infer that strong memories must have been “deeply encoded”?
13
Q
Roediger & Karpicke 2206: Study-test vs study-study
A
- Advantage for the study-test conditions after delay
- Note: no feedback was provided in the “test” conditions
- Studying and then testing yourself leads to much better retention
14
Q
Encoding and Retrieval
A
Morris et al., 1977
Godden & Baddeley - 1975
15
Q
What is Amnesia
A
Damage to the medial temporal lobes and closely connected regions (Thalamus, fornix) is often the cause
Anterograde amnesia: when the ability to take in new information is severely and often permanently affected
- intelligence is intact, attentional span is intact, personality is unaffected
Retrograde amnesia: difficulty retrieving memories established prior to the cause of the neuropathology
- both forms of amnesia often found together but can present individually
16
Q
Procedural memory
A
- memory not detailly available to the consciousness
- involve skills and associations that are generally acquired and retrieved at an unconscious level
- thinking about how to perform these automatic activities might actually disrupt the ability to perform the activities, to begin with.
- Amnesiacs can learn new skills in this way
- Mirror Tracing (Corkin- 1968)
- Mirror Reading (Cohen & Squire- 1980)
17
Q
Declarative memory
A
- the storage and retrieval of material that is available to the consciousness and can be expressed in language (declared)
- Episodic
- Semantic
- the ability to remember the words of a song, phone number or a past event
- depends on the medial temporal lobes for their acquisition and short-term retention
18
Q
What brain systems are dedicated for procedural memory?
A
- Basal ganglia
- this is impaired in Huntingdon’s disease
19
Q
Priming
A
a change in the processing of a stimulus due to a previous encounter with the same or a related stimulus with or without conscious awareness of the encounter: the example of list of words ppl insisting ‘sweet’ was on the list even if it wasn’t
- Priming is resistant to brain injury, ageing and dementia or amnesia
20
Q
Episodic Memory
A
- memory for events and occurrences that are specific in time and place
21
Q
Semantic memory
A
- knowledge of facts, concepts, word meanings
- can be retrieved without knowledge about here and when the information was acquired
22
Q
Anterograde amnesia
A
- New episodic memories are always impaired in anterograde amnesis
- Evidence for new semantic learning in amnesia is mixed
- at best learning is limited o certain special situations
- Yes
- Sharon et al., (2011) - incidental learning was more successful than explicit learning
- No
- Bayley et al., (2008) - learning new vocabulary
23
Q
Retrograde amnesia
A
- All declarative memories (episodic and semantic) depend on medial temporal lobes for their acquisition and short-term retention
- Over time, declarative memories become consolidated to other brain regions
- (Standard Model of Consolidation)
- Semantic memory learnt long ago is fine
- Episodic memory for the distant past
- Intact
- Bayley et al. (2003) - detail about a narrative
- Not intact
- Viskontas et al., (2000) - patients with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy, over three time periods in the patient’s lives
- Intact
24
Q
Semantic Dementia
A
- Associated with lateral temporal cortex
- Poor knowledge of the meaning of words or concepts
- Naming difficulties
- Including semantically related errors (e.g. “dog” for rabbit).
- Not confined to one modality
- Deficits may include difficulty in recognizing sounds (e.g. doorbell or telephone)
25
How does the semantic knowledge of patients with Frontal Lobe Lesions present?
* **Janowsky et al., 1989**
* patients are able to retain information learnt
* however, are impaired in their ability to identify where they had learnt the information
* **Confabulation**
26
Confabulation
“erroneous memories, either false in themselves or resulting from ‘true’ memories misplaced in context an inappropriately retrieved or interpreted" Kopelman, 1995
* **Provoked:** a normal response to a demand for information which is not available
* **Spontaneous:** the person acts on their erroneous memories (leaving hospital bc they believe they have to go to work or cook)
* usually a result of frontal lobe damage | not due to damage to memory storage
* caused by a breakdown in memory “control processes” such as monitoring whether retrieved memories are relevant to now
27
What is the function of the Hippocampus in memory?
* episodic memory: e.g. what you had for breakfast
* encoding and recollection of long term memories: e.g. events, information, autobiographical experiences
* spatial navigation: e.g. place cells, grid cells
28
# subiculum (Latin for "support") is the most inferior component of the hippocampal formation. It lies between the entorhinal cortex and the CA1 subfield of the hippocampus proper.
What are the inputs and outputs of the Hippocampus?
_Inputs_
* multiple areas of the cerebral cortex, especially prefrontal, cingulate, temporal lobe and amygdala, olfactory bulb
* these project via the entorhinal cortex and into the hippocampus via the subiculum
_Outputs via the subiculum_
* prefrontal cortex, amygdala, septal nuclei, nucleus accumbens, mammillary bodies, anterior thalamus, hypothalamus
* the fornix is a major output pathway
29
How is the Hippocampus organised? and how does this affect its function?
Organized in layers, lateral and medially
: perforant pathways, Schaffer collaterals, mossy fibres, pyramidal cells and granule cells
30
What type of pathologies can affect the hippocampus and what is their effect?
_Pathologies_
* hypoxia, CO
* epilepsy
* •neurodegenerative disorders:
* Alzheimer’s Disease/
* vascular dementia etc
* infection
* stress/depression
* schizophrenia
_Effect of Pathologies_
* amnesia: anterograde
* difficulties in spatial navigation
* regulatory problems: sleep, impulse control
31
What other cortices are involved in memory and what is their function?
* Prefrontal cortex (dorsolateral)
* working memory, online, effortful
* Parahippocampal gyrus
* recognition memory, scenes (PPA)
* Other Temporal cortices
* categorical memory,
* word recognition for words,
* objects / faces (FFA)
* Association cortices
* semantic memory
* frontotemporal dementia semantic variant
32
What Subcortical structures are involved in memory?
* Amygdala
* reward association, fear conditioning / learning of threat
* emotional enhancement of episodic memory
* Striatum / Basal Ganglia
* caudate, putamen, globus pallidus
* procedural, habit
* Mamillary bodies, Fornix, Anterior thalamus
* Papez circuit
* new memories encoding and consolidation
* B12 thiamine Wernike-Korsakoff syndrome
33
What neurotransmitters are involved in memory?
* Acetyl Choline ACh
* from the basal nucleus of Meynert to neocortex medial septal nucleus to the hippocampus
* works in the motor pathways, brainstem and midbrain nuclei
* used in learning and memory: synaptic plasticity
* used in attention: selective and sustained
* Noradrenaline, dopamine
* working memory
* attention
34
What is the function of the Amygdala in relation to emotions?
* Threat detection and fear reactions
* physiology: sympathetic autonomic, heart rate, sweating, fainting
* behaviour: freeze, motor startle, expression, avoidant responses
* experience: anxiety & fear – with other areas
* Fear conditioning
* Pavlovian learning of threat US -\> UR; CS + US -\> CS+ -\>CR
* Emotional enhancement of memory
* Salience, Arousal, Intensity and Reward
* motivational behaviours
* sex, aggression, feeding
* Olfaction
35
Describe the location and structure of the Amygdala
found in the medial temporal lobe anterior to the hippocampus
* basolateral complex
* sensory input
* associative learning
* central nucleus
* visceromotor outputs – hypothalamus, PAG
* orbitofrontal cortex
* anterior cingulate
36
What areas of the brain does the Amygdala connect to?
has ascending monoaminergic pathways through _noradrenaline_
* Thalamus, sensory cortices
* ‘high and low roads’ for threat
* Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and
* Hippocampus – emotional memory
* Basal ganglia ventral striatum
* Insula, subgenual cingulate, orbitofrontal cortices
* mood, emotion feelings
* Hypothalamus, brainstem – escape/stress responses
* Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and dorsal anterior cingulate input in cognitive control of emotion
* •‘extended amygdala’, including ventral striatum (n. accumbens) for reward-related behaviours
37
What pathologies are associated with the amygdala and how do they impact emotion?
* lesions
* loss/absence of fear
* abnormalities in social behaviour
* psychiatry
* anxiety disorders: post-traumatic stress disorder
* mood disorders: depression, bipolar
* autism
* alexithymia
* psychopathy, personality disorders
38
What other cortices are linked with emotion?
* Dorsal anterior cingulate
* stress responses and arousal
* emotional awareness
* cognitive control of emotion
* Subgenual anterior cingulate cortex
* reward
* depression
* Insular cortex
* inner feelings; interoception
* cravings, urges
* anxiety
* Dorsal and lateral prefrontal cortex
* cognitive control
* Orbitofrontal, medial prefrontal
* reward, satiety
* relative reward, regret
* behavioural flexibility
* Occipitotemporal
* lateral occipital cortex, the fusiform face area
* Involved in social-emotional behaviour
39
How do subcortical structures affect emotion?
* Striatum / basal ganglia, caudate putamen, globus pallidus
* habits / motivation / urge / liking
* emotional expression
* Ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens)
* reward
* motivation
* wanting
* Hypothalamus
* stress responses, visceral states
* Brainstem
* arousal /alertness e.g. NA system
* visceral states
* expression
40
What neurotransmitter is involved with emotions?
_Dopamine: Reward_
* Mesolimbic system
* ventral tegmental area to the ventral striatum, prefrontal cortex etc
_Noradrenaline: Aurosal_
* Locus coeruleus:
* thalamic gating
* the amygdala, the hippocampus – memory enhancement
* cortices - attention
* Aurosal
* alertness, stress reactivity
* attention, activation
* behavioural salience
_5HT: Serotonin: vegetative functions_
* Raphe nuclei to the subcortical centres and the cortex
