Memory Flashcards
Define memory
the processes by which information is encoded, stored and retrieved for the purposes of remembering the past, informing current behaviour and planning the future
Name the 3 stages of memory as well as a short description about each
Encoding: converting the info acquired by your senses into patterns of activity within groups of neurons within the brain
Storage: retention of information acquired by your senses
Retrieval: recollection of information stored in memory
What is the “tip of the tongue” phenomenon?
a type of retrieval failure accompanied by the strong feeling that temporarily forgotten info is one the verge of being recalled
What is sensory memory?
persisting representation of a sensory stimulus for a brief period after it is no longer physically present
Name the 3 main types of sensory memory as well as the cortical areas in which they are mainly processed
- Visual: iconic memory (visual cortex)
- Auditory: echoic memory (auditory cortex)
- Tactile: haptic memory (somatosensory cortex)
Describe iconic memories (how much time they are stored for, example)
Iconic memories
Stored for less than 500 milliseconds
Essential to detect changes in the environment
• Ex: writing name in the air with a sparkler
Describe echoic memories (how much time they are stored for, example)
Echoic memories
Persist up to 10 seconds
• Ex: keeping track of speech during a conversation
Describe haptic memories (how much time they are stored for, example)
Haptic memories
Approx. 2 seconds
• Ex: manipulating and recognizing objects by touch
Define working memory
A memory register of limited capacity for both the amount of information it can store and the time for which information is retained. ( AKA short term memory)
WM is vulnerable to…
Vulnerable to disruption: if the info in working memory ceases to be the focus of our attention, it will be forgotten
• Ex: meeting a friend while going to the store, chatting, and forgetting what you rehearsed earlier
According to the multicomponent WM model, what are the 4 essential components of WM?
• Visuospatial sketch pad (stores visual images)
• Phonological loop (stores verbal info - rehearses and transforms images in phonological code)
• Episodic buffer (integrates info from loop and sketch pad with a sense of time, so they are remembered as a sequence of events)
• Central executive
○ Focuses attention
○ Divides attention
○ Permit switching from task to task
○ Interface with long-term memory
Name 2 ways in which WM interacts with LTM
- Subset of info in WM may be stored in LTM eventually
* Info in WM comes from focusing on info in LTM and incoming sensory info
Name a few of the functions of the prefrontal cortex
Prefrontal cortex: responsible for executive functions (AKA cognitive control) • Control of attention • Planning • Goal Setting • Judgement • Self-Control • Working Memory
Name the areas of the prefrontal cortex. Which of these are mostly associated with WM?
Areas of prefrontal cortex: • Orbitofrontal • Rostral • Dorsolateral** • Ventrolateral** • Dorsomedial • Ventromedial **: most associated with WM
What is the delayed response task?
1- food randomly placed on one of 2 plates in front of monkey
2- monkey’s view is covered for some time
3- monkey reaches for the food
What is the oculomotor delayed response task?
Oculomotor delayed-response task: Another similar task where monkeys had to remember where a square was on a blank screen indicated that neurons in the dorsolateral area were active during the task, confirming that the prefrontal cortex is involved in WM
Define Long Term Memory
Refers to a memory register of potentially unlimited capacity for both the amount of information it can store and the time for which information is retained
What are the 2 main types of LTM?
Declarative and nondeclarative memories
What is declarative memory? Name and describe its 2 sub types
Declarative memories: require the conscious recollection of information (AKA explicit memories)
Semantic Memories: memories for learned facts (no need to re-experience the context in which it was learned)
Episodic memories: memories for life events (rich in contextual details) - their retrieval requires mental time travel (re-experiencing the event)
Episodic memories require 2 important components, what are they?
- Include the awareness of the passage of subjective time (chronesthesia)
- Require autonoetic consciousness (ability to reflect on past event while being aware that those are your own memories)
Describe non declarative memories
expressed only through the performance of a task/habit without the need for conscious recollection of information (AKA implicit memory)
Name the 3 main ways in which nondeclarative memories can be acquierd
Acquired through:
Classical Conditioning
• Of emotional responses: pairing stimulus likely to trigger an emotional reaction with a neutral stimulus
• Of motor responses: pair stimulus likely to trigger a motor response with a neutral stimulus
Priming
• Type of nondeclarative memory in which exposure to a stimulus influences your response to a stimulus presented later
§ Ex: more likely to notice a piece of clothing on someone if you own the same piece
NonAssociative Learning
• Reflex pathway
There is 1 sub type of nondeclarative memory, what is it?
Procedural memory (a sub-type of nondeclarative memory)
• Type of nondeclarative memory that leads to the performance of skills and habit without the need for the conscious recollection of information
§ Ex: unlocking a lock without knowing what the numbers are
Name the 2 main brain regions involved in declarative memories
- Medial temporal lobes
- Including the hippocampus and related cortical areas; the perirhinal, entorhinal, and parahippocampal cortices and the amygdala
- Medial Diencephalon
- Includes the thalamus and the mammillary bodies of the hypothalamus
- Hippocampus is connected via bundle of fibers named fornix
