Memory, Attention and perception and Brain and Behaviour

Question 1

What regions of the brain does episodic memory involve

Answer 1

The medial temporal lobes, including the hippocampus and parahippocampal cortex

Question 2

What are the stages of memory processing

Answer 2

Registration : Input from our senses into the memory system
Encoding : Processing and combining of received information
Storage : Holding of that input in memory system
Retrieval : Recovering stored info from memory system

Question 3

What are the different types of long term memory

Answer 3

Declerative

Non-declerative

Question 4

Describe declerative memory

Answer 4

It is available for conscious retrieval and can be declared
Involves the medial temporal lobe and diencephalon
Semantic memory is for general knowledge
Episodic memory is memory related to personal experience
To test ask recall questions

Question 5

Describe non-declerative memory

Answer 5

It is experience induced changes in behaviour that cannot be declared
Involves the striatum, neocortex, amygdala and cerebellum
Examples : Riding a bike (skills), phobias (conditioning)

Question 6

What are basic strategies of enhancing long term memory

Answer 6

PQRST - Preview, Question, Read, Summary, Test
Mnemonics
Assimilation - linking old and new knowledge

Question 7

Define sensation

Answer 7

A stimulus detection system by which our sense organs respond to and translate environmental stimuli into nerve impulses that are sent to the brain

Question 8

Define perception

Answer 8

The active process of organising the stimulus output and giving it meaning

Question 9

What is top down processing and what is it influenced by

Answer 9

Top down processing is processing in light of existing knowledge
It is influenced by : motives, expectations, previous experiences and cultural expectations

Question 10

What factors affect top down processing

Answer 10

Attention
Past experiences
Current drive state (hungry people notice food stimuli more)
Emotions (anxiety increases threat perception)
Individual values and expectations (if you expect something to hurt it hurts more)
Cultural background
Environment

Question 11

What is bottom up processing

Answer 11

Bottom up processing is the response to individual elements that sense organs detect and translation of environmental stimuli into nerve impulses that are sent out to the brain

Question 12

What factors affect visual perception

Answer 12

Continuity : Being compelled to move from one object to another
Similarity : More likely to group together similar objects
Proximity : Objects near each other are grouped together
Closure : Things are grouped together if they seem to complete some entity

Question 13

List some disorders of visual perception

Answer 13

Visual agnosia : Primary visual cortex is mainly intact
- Associated with bilateral lesions to occipital, occipotemporal and occipoparietal lobes
Apperceptive agnosia : Caused by damage to the lower level occipital regions
- Individual elements are perceived normally, so may be able to identify letters individually in a word but not the word itself
Associative agnosia : Caused by damage to the higher order occipital regions
- Can perceive colour, texture and shape all normally
- Typically can recognise objects by touch but not by sight

Question 14

What processes does attention require

Answer 14

Focus on the aspect

Filter out irrelevant information

Question 15

Describe 2 types of attention

Answer 15

Focused : Ability to respond to specific, visual, auditory or tactile stimuli
Divided : Ability to respond to multiple tasks or demands

Question 16

What factors are known to influence perception and attention

Answer 16

Stimuli based
- Intensity
- Novelty
- Movement
- Contrast
- Repetition
Personal factors
- Motives/interests
- Threats
- Mood
- Arousal

Question 17

What are the influences on language

Answer 17

Genetics (some mutations can cause language defects)
Conditions (autism, ADHD, developmental verbal dysbraxia, hearing impairments)
Environment (e.g. Genie was deprived of social interaction and was still linguistically incompetent after rehab)

Question 18

What is the critical period for language

Answer 18

From birth to 3 years old

From 3 to 8 years the ease of learning language decreases

Question 19

What brain regions are associated with language

Answer 19

Usually left hemisphere specialisation
Broca’s area (left frontal lobe) - production of speech
Wernicke’s area (post temporal lobe) - understanding language

Question 20

What would you see in someone with Broca’s aphasia

Answer 20

Problems responding to language
Non-fluent speech, impaired repetition, poor ability to produce functional sentences
Intact comprehension

Question 21

What would you see in someone with Wernicke’s aphasia

Answer 21

Fluent meaningless speech
Paraphasia - error producing certain words
- Can be semantic - similar meaning (house and barn)
- Can be phonemic - similar sounding (house and mouse)
Neoligms (non words), poor repetition, impaired writing

Question 22

What are executive functions

Answer 22

Mental processes that enable us to plan, focus, pay attention to, remember instructions or carry out multiple tasks successfull

Question 23

Describe some characteristics of dysexecutive syndrome

Answer 23

It is a disruption of executive function related to frontal lobe damage
Causes - trauma, tumours, degenerative disease, cerebrovascular disease
Has cognitive, emotional and behavioural symptoms

Question 24

State some symptoms of dysexecutive syndrome

Answer 24

The symptoms lie on a spectrum and can be the complete opposites

• Hypoactivity (hyperactivity)
• Lack of drive (impulsive)
• Apathetic (disinhibited)
• Poor initiation of tasks (perseverative)
• Emotional bluntness (Dysregulation)
• Socially inappropriate
• Reduced empathy (rude, crass, prone to swearing)

Question 25

What are the cognitive aspects of dysexecutive syndrome

Answer 25

Attentional/working memory difficulties
Poor planning and organisation
Difficulty :
- coping with novel situations
- switching between tasks
- keeping track of tasks
- with complex or abstract thinking