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Psychology > Memory > Flashcards

Memory Flashcards

1
Q

What can long term memory be divided into?

A

Explicit memory and implicit memory

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2
Q

What can explicit memory be divided into?

A

Semantic memory and episodic memory

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3
Q

What is explicit memory?

A

Requires conscious recall

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4
Q

What is implicit memory?

A

Doesn’t require conscious recall

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5
Q

What is semantic memory?

A

Describes facts and general knowledge

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6
Q

What is episodic memory?

A

Describes personally experienced events

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7
Q

What are two types of implicit memory?

A

Procedural and priming

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8
Q

What is procedural memory?

A

Motor and cognitive skills we ‘remember’

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9
Q

What is priming?

A

Enhanced identification of objects or words (i.e. degraded information)

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10
Q

What is short term memory?

A

Short-term memory is the capacity for holding, but not manipulating, a small amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time

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11
Q

What is working memory (compared with STM)?

A

Not just to storage but also manipulation of STM contents.

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12
Q

How short is short term memory?

A

Very short, 5-18 seconds, decays rapidly

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13
Q

Why does STM decay?

A

Decays rapidly if material cannot be rehearsed such as by subvocal repetition - much easier when not multitasking.

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14
Q

How is STM memory tested?

A

Measure the span of STM

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15
Q

What are two branches of STM?

A

Verbal and visuospatial

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16
Q

Verbal span of STM tested by

A

Number of digits recalled (>9)

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17
Q

Visuospatial span of STM tested by

A

Corsi test - how many locations can you tap

18
Q

Where is verbal STM stored?

A

Left parietal

19
Q

Where is visuospatial STM stored?

A

Right hemisphere

20
Q

What is a central feature of working memory?

A

Executive control mechanisms manipulate contents of STM

21
Q

What areas are crucial for working memory?

A

Frontoparietal networks

22
Q

Current anatomical model of working memory?

A

Parietal cortex maintenance / storage (slave systems)

(BUT now clear that even early sensory areas may play some role in STM storage)

Prefrontal cortex manipulation & monitoring information in STM

23
Q

What improves STM?

A

Development and maturation of frontoparietal networks

24
Q

What happens to STM and LTM with age?

A

Declines

25
Q

What did patient HM show?

A

Bilateral medial temporal lesions involving the hippocampus show severe deficits in long-term memory (LTM) but intact STM capacity

Severe anterograde amnesia, recent retrograde amnesia

26
Q

What does Ribot’s law state?

A

Old memories are more resistant to disruption or loss than new ones.

Temporal gradient in retrograde amnesia (First in, last out: earliest memories survive best)

27
Q

What causes Korsakoff’s syndrome?

A

Severe thiamine deficiency

28
Q

How does memory consolidation occur over time?

A

Initially hippocampal-cortical but eventually transfers to cortex.

So lesions of hippocampus won’t erase old memories which are consolidated and robustly represented in the cortex.

29
Q

What do primacy and recency effects mean?

A

We remember more from the beginning and end of a list

30
Q

Why is primacy and recency clinically relevant?

A

Patients recall best the information you give them at the beginning and end of the consultation.

31
Q

How can recency be lost?

A

Filled delay after list (i.e counting backwards from 30 in 3s)

32
Q

Why does a period of distraction (filled delay) reduce recency effect?

A

Prevents rehearsal and retention of words in STM.

33
Q

Recency effect is thought to be mediated by…

A

STM

34
Q

Amnesic patients show…

A

Intact recency but impaired primacy

35
Q

Primacy effect may be mediated by

A

LTM

36
Q

What is implied by the constructive nature of memory?

A

We reconstruct the past, sometimes based on previous knowledge, not always based on STM.

37
Q

Why is memory constructive?

A

Remembering is an imaginative reconstruction built out of past reactions or experience and a little outstanding detail.

Memories can be modified or even created by the power of suggestion using misleading post-event information

38
Q

What is confabulation?

A

False memories without conscious knowledge of their falsehood.

39
Q

What is a likely cause of confabulation?

A

After orbitofrontal cortex damage and in Korsakoff’s syndrome

40
Q

How does loss of semantic memory occur?

A

Shrinkage/ loss of left temporal pole (speech area)

Psychology (9 decks)

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