Memory and its Dysfunction

Question 1

What is the other term for explicit and implicit memory?

Answer 1

Explicit memory = Declarative memory

Implicit memory = Procedural memory

Question 2

What is long term potentiation (LTP)?

Answer 2

It is the increase in the efficiency of a specific synapse, which results from activity at the synapse.

Question 3

What are the 3 substances required for LTP?

Answer 3

NMDA receptors, glutamate and Calcium ions.

Question 4

Which ion must be removed to open the NMDA receptor?

Answer 4

Magnesium ion

Question 5

How is the ion removed from the NMDA receptor?

Answer 5

Through depolarization of the post-synaptic cell.

Question 6

Is declarative or procedural memory affected with damage to entorhinal cortex?

Answer 6

Declarative memory

Question 7

Is anterograde or retrograde amnesia a result of damage to the entorhinal cortex?

Answer 7

Anterograde memory

Question 8

Is long-term or short-term memory more severely impaired in Entorhinal cortex lesions?

Answer 8

Long-termed memory

Question 9

Greater deficits in memory storage for object recognition is found with damage to which areas of the brain as compared to hippocampal damage?

Answer 9

Parahippocampal cortex, perirhinal and entorhinal cortex.

Question 10

What is the function of the hippocampus?

Answer 10

It is crucial for spatial memory (remembering where you were previously) and “associative learning” (learning to associate information with each other)

Question 11

What is Kluver-Bucy’s syndrome and describe its symptoms.

Answer 11

Kluver-Bucy syndrome is damage to the bilateral medial temporal lobe, especially the amygdala.
Results in:
Visual agnosia
Hyperorality/Hyperphagia
Hypersexuality
Emotional changes: Tameness and flattened affect
EMotional memory impairments

Question 12

What is Korsakoff’s syndrome? Describe its symptoms.

Answer 12

Korsakoff’s syndrome is lesions in the diencephalon (thalamus), mamillary bodies, etc, which is caused by thiamin deficiency. Common in chronic alcoholism. Symptoms are confabulation and confusion.

Question 13

Is Parkinson’s a procedural or declarative disorder?

Answer 13

Procedural memory disorder

Question 14

Which area of the brain is damaged in declarative memory damage?

Answer 14

Entorhinal cortex

Question 15

Which area of the brain is damaged in procedural memory damage?

Answer 15

Striatum

Question 16

Is aphasia a procedural or declarative memory disorder?

Answer 16

Declarative

Question 17

Which cerebral artery affects procedural memory?

Answer 17

Middle cerebral artery

Question 18

Which cerebral artery affects declarative memory?

Answer 18

Posterior cerebral artery

Question 19

What protein aggregates are seen in:

a) Dementia with Lewy Bodies
b) Parkinson’s disorder
c) Alzheimer’s disease

Answer 19

a) Dementia with Lewy bodies: alpha-synuclein
b) Parkinson’s disorder: alpha-synuclein
c) Alzheimer’s disease: A-beta (1-40, 1-42), and tau proteins (3R, 4R)

Question 20

What changes in kinases and phosphorylases are there in Alzheimer’s disease?

Answer 20

Increased expression of kinases and decreased expression of phosphorylases in AD.

Question 21

Where does the amyloid plaques forms?

Where do the neurofibrillary tangles form? What are they made up of?

Answer 21

Amyloid plaques form in the extracellular matrix of the cerebral cortex.
Neurofibrillary tangles are formed from hyperphosphorylation of tau proteins. They are formed intracellularly.

Question 22

Where are the histological changes in Alzheimer’s disease first noticed? How does it progress?

Answer 22

Histological changes in Alzheimer’s disease is first noticed in the limbic system, which then progresses into the cerebral cortex.

Question 23

What is characteristically seen in Dementia with Lewy bodies?

Answer 23

Characteristic neuropathologic substrate are lewy bodies mainly composed of alpha-synuclein and ubiquitin.

Question 24

What consist of accumulations of both the beta-amyloid and tau proteins?

Answer 24

Neuritic plaques

Question 25

Which part of the brain are Lewy bodies seen in Dementia with Lewy bodies?

Answer 25

Hippocampus and Neocortex, and substantia nigra (neuronal loss is also seen in substantia nigra)

Question 26

What are the clinical presentations of individuals with Frontotemporal lobar degeneration?

Answer 26

1. Changes in social and personal conduct with difficulty in regulating behaviour.
2. Progressive non-fluent aphasia
3. Semantic dementia