Neuropsychology of memory

Question 1

What features of brain function remain intact in amnesia?

Answer 1

Intelligence
Verbal and visual short term memory (phonological and visuospatial)
Attention span
Personality

Question 2

What features of brain function are disturbed in amnesia?

Answer 2

Ability to take in new information is severely and usually permanently affected.

Double dissociation with patients with impaired STM

Question 3

Briefly describe the case of Henry Molaison

Answer 3

Studied by Scoville & Milner (1957)

Removal of medial temporal lobe bilaterally to cure his epilepsy.
Included surgical removal of hippocampus
Caused amnesia
This can occur in head injuries, Alzheimers disease, epilepsy, and stroke.

Question 4

Define anterograde amnesia and outline how long-term memory can be further subdivided

Answer 4

The ability to lay down new memories since the injury.
Anterograde episodic memories are severely affected

(Corkin-2002)- Henry Molaison was severely impaired no matter the test

Long term memory divided into
1. Declarative (conscious)
Episodic(personal events) and semantic (facts knowledge)

2. Implicit (not conscious)
   Priming effects and procedural memory

Question 5

State which subdivisions of long-term memory are impaired and retained in Alzheimers and Huntington’s.

Answer 5

Declarative is GENERALLY impaired in Huntington’s. Semantic is retained in Alzheimers

Implicit is retained in Huntington’s.

Question 6

Define what episodic and semantic memory is

Answer 6

Episodic- memory for events specific in time and place (what?where?when?)

Semantic- knowledge of faces/concepts/word meanings
Can be retrieved without knowledge about where/when info was acquired.

Question 7

Describe where procedural memory occurs in the brain and evidence that supports it

Answer 7

Basal ganglia

Amnesics can learn new skills
Minor tracing (Corkin 1968) and minor reading (Cohen & Squire 1980)
Pursuit-rotor task (Butlers et al 1990)

Evidence for independent procedural memory system
Learning motor skills (e.g. bike) different from explicit long-term memory
Automaticity makes skills occur in the absence of awareness

Question 8

What is priming

Answer 8

Degraded picture identification

Warrington and Weiskrantz (1970)

Question 9

What did Squire say about declarative memory and what evidence is supporting and opposing it?

Answer 9

All declarative memories depend on medial temporal lobes for their acquisition and short-term retention

Supporting evidence
New semantic memories cannot be forced in amnesia
(Bayley et al 2008)-tested new vocabulary in 2 adult amnesics.

Opposing evidence
New semantic memories can be formed in amnesia
(Vargha-Khadem et al 1997)- sustained hippocampus damage after birth
- Grossly impaired episodic memory but completely