neuropsychology of memory

Question 1

what are the key features of amnesia?

Answer 1

Ability to take in new information is severely and usually permanently damaged
usually caused by damage to medial temporal lobe or surrounding areas following head injury, Alzheimers, epilepsy or stroke
Intelligent and personality unaffected
Attentional span intact
Verbal and visual short-term intact

Question 2

What is retrograde amnesia?

Answer 2

Amnesia after brain injury. Anterograde episodic events are severely affected regardless of modality information is presented

Question 3

What are the two types of long term memory?

Answer 3

Declarative and implicit

Question 4

What are the two types of declarative memory?

Answer 4

Episodic and semantic memory

Question 5

define episodic memory

Answer 5

memory for events/occurrences specific in time and place

Question 6

define semantic memory

Answer 6

knowledge of facts, concepts and word meaning. can be retrieved without knowledge of where/when information was acquired

Question 7

what are the two types of implicit memory?

Answer 7

priming and procedural

Question 8

define priming memory

Answer 8

responses are sped up after increased exposure due to learning effect

Question 9

define procedural memory

Answer 9

ability to learn new skills. distinct from explicit memory

Question 10

which memory type is affected in retrograde amnesia?

Answer 10

poor episodic memory. inconclusive evidence on semantic memory. Studies show cannot learn new words but then children with hippocampus damage still manage to complete school

Question 11

what is Squire’s declarative memory theory

Answer 11

all declarative memories rely on medial temporal lobes for acquisition and short term retention

Question 12

What is anterograde amnesia

Answer 12

amnesia before brain injury

Question 13

which memory type is affected in anterograde amnesia.

Answer 13

Always some degree of retrograde. Semantic memory is okay if long ago. Episodic is contested. Events long in the past may be remembered. however evidence in patients with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy shows loss of episodic memory across all period of life

Question 14

What is the standard model of consolidation?

Answer 14

All declarative memories rely on medical temporal lobe for acquisition and short term retention. Over time declarative memories become consolidated to other regions and MTL/hippocampus not required for retrieval

Question 15

what is semantic dementia?

Answer 15

loss of semantic memory. poor knowledge of meaning of words/concepts. not confined to one modality- unable to recognise sounds. Associated with lateral temporal cortex

Question 16

what are the 3 types of confabulation

Answer 16

1. erroneous memories: either false or result of true memories misplaced in context and inappropriately retrieved/interpreted
2. Provoked: a normal response to a demand for information which is not available.
3. Spontaneous: a person acts upon their erroneous memories

Question 17

What is usually the cause of confabulation

Answer 17

frontal lobe damage particularly in ventromedial lobe area. Not caused by damage to memory storage but by breakdown in memory control processes such as monitoring whether retrieved memories are relevant now