Remembering the Brain Flashcards

1
Q

What is memory divided into?

A

Multiple systems, each of which is responsible for encoding, storing and retrieving information for different durations, in different capacity and with variable levels of conscious awareness

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2
Q

what is the time course, capacity and conscious awareness status of sensory memory?

A
  • Time course: millseconds to seconds
  • Capacity: high
  • Conscious awareness: no
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3
Q

what is the time course, capacity and conscious awareness status of short term and working memory?

A
  • Time course: seconds to minutes
  • Capacity: limited (7 +/- 2)
    Conscious awareness: Yes
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4
Q

what is the time course, capacity and conscious awareness status of long term declarative memory?

A
  • Time Course: minutes to years
  • Capacity: high
  • Conscious awareness: no
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5
Q

what is the time course, capacity and conscious awareness status of long term declarative memory?

A
  • time course: minutes to years
  • capacity: high
  • conscious awareness: yes
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6
Q

Do function and structure of brain regions match exactly?

A

No: a structure can participate in multiple functions and a function can rely on multiple structures

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7
Q

What is episodic memory?

A
  • The result of associative learning
  • the what, where, when and its of an episode (its context) are associated and bound together and can then be retrieved and reexperienced as a single episode
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8
Q

What is autobiographical memory?

A

Personal memory consisting of:

  • events from personal past (like EM)
  • semantic personal past (facts about oneself e.g. address)
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9
Q

Where is the MTL system located?

A

It’s a deep structure in the temporal lobe

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10
Q

What are the three cortical areas in the MTL system called and what is each one called?

A

Pari hippocampal gyrus:

  • Rhinal sulcus
  • Perrihinal cortex
  • Parahippocampal cortex
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11
Q

What is the hippocampus subdivided into?

A

The dentate gyrus and Cornu Ammonis (CA) subfields

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12
Q

How does information flow within the MTL?

A
  • information is initially collected through the perirhinal and pari hippocampal cortices
  • then passes to the entorhinal cortex and ultimately reaches the hippocampus
  • the cortical regions don’t just funnel information to the hippocampus, they also perform extensive information processing
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13
Q

What is anterograde amnesia?

A

Difficulties in acquiring new memories

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14
Q

What is retrograde amnesia?

A

Remembering events from before their brain injury

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15
Q

What was patient H.M.s main deficit and which parts of the brain did he have removed?

A
  • bilateral medial temporal lobectomy

- could not acquire new memories

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16
Q

What type of amnesia does damage in the MTL produce?

A

anterograde amnesia and variable levels of retrograde amnesia

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17
Q

Which types of memory are intact when the MTL is damaged?

A

Short term memory/ working memory

and implicit memory

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18
Q

What is the MTL critical for?

A

Making new memories and retrieving old memories

19
Q

Does the brain activity at encoding predict which items are later going to be recognised and which will be forgotten?

A

activity in the left ventrolateral PFC and the left MTL was predictive of later remembered versus forgotten stimuli

20
Q

What is familiairity?

A

A sense of memory that a stimulus has been encountered before. No recall of information is taking place

21
Q

What is recollection?

A

Memory for the context or other associative information about a previous encounter with a stimulus

22
Q

What is the model proposed by Eichenbaum stating the hippocampus as a binder of relational memories?

A
  • The perihinal cortex processes item representations (important for familiarity)
  • The parahippocampal cortex is assumed to process ‘context’ (including scene perception)
  • the hippocampus (via the interhinal cortex) binds items in context (important for recollection)
23
Q

Under an fMRI scanned what was familiarity based recognition predicted by?

A

Activation in the perihinal cortex

24
Q

Under an fMRI scanner what was recognition predicted by?

A

Activation in the hippocampus

25
Q

In the experiment where they asked subjects to encode pictorial stimuli, then scanned them and asked to make recognition decisions of the images (indicate when items were new, familiar or had strong familiairty) what were the findings?

A
  • Hippocampus = recollection based recognition (but not familiarity) independently of the type of stimulus
  • the rest of the MTL = familiarity based recognition with a degree of material specialisation (different structures of MTL responded to stimuli familiarity for slightly different types of stimuli:
  • Perihinal cortex: objects
    Interrhinal: objects and faces
  • Parohippocampal: objects and scenes
  • Amygdala: faces
26
Q

What is consolidation?

A

A process that stabilises a memory over time after it is first acquired

27
Q

What are the different types of consolidation?

A

synaptic consolidation and system consolidation

28
Q

What is synaptic consolidation?

A

Structural changes in the synaptic connections between neurons

29
Q

What is system consolidation?

A

Gradual shift of memory from the hippocampus to the cortex

30
Q

Is synaptic or system consolidation quicker?

A

Synaptic

31
Q

What are the two theories of system consolidation related to hippocampal function?

A
  1. Standard consolidation theory -> temporary role of hippocampus
  2. Multiple trace theory -> permanent role of the hippocampus
32
Q

What is Ribot’s law?

A
  • memory loss following brain damage has a temporal gradient
  • more recent memories are more likely to be lost than remote memories
  • explanation is that remote memories have undergone systems consolidation - but they do not rely upon the MTL anymore and are cortex dependent
33
Q

What is the hypothesis with the standard consolidation model?

A

Initially the hippocampus plays and active role in ‘binding’ the activity of disparate cortical ‘modules’ (links together different kinds of information in many regions of the brain) and over time the hippocampus plays less of a role

34
Q

What is memory reactivation?

A

The core mechanism of system consolidation. Reactivation leads to the reinstatement of patterns of neural activity in the cortex. Such reactivation subsequently results in stabilisation and refinement of cortical traces which leads to storage and recall becoming completely dependent on the cortex and independent of the hippocampus

35
Q

If an event with audio spatial and visual information is encoded what happens when a retrieval cue containing only spatial and visual information is encountered before and after consolidation?

A
  • Before consolidation the hippocampus plays a critical role as the hippocampus contains a unified representation of the event
  • after consolidation the connections in the hippocampus become unnecessary and the retrieval cue accesses the memory directly from the cortical network of connections that form the unified representation of the memory
36
Q

In semantic dementia where is there damage to?

A

anterior temporal lobes (cortex)

37
Q

In amnesia where is there damage?

A

To the hippocampus and related structures?

38
Q

Why can semantic dementia patients remember recent but not old events?

A

Because memories are not yet completely dependent on the cortex - yet to be transferred out of the hippocampus

39
Q

To explain retrograde memory loss what do we assume when someone can’t remember some old memories?

A

That old memories are not fully consolidated at the time of injury

40
Q

What is the multiple trace theory?

A
  • The hippocampus never ceases to have an important role in episodic memory recall
  • older memories have been reactivated many times over the years
  • each reactivation creates new traces in the MTL and in other neocortical structures
  • older memories are more liekly to be remembered as they have multiple traces
41
Q

What were the results of and fMRI scan when people were accessing remote personal memories?

A
  • hippocampus activated for both recent and remote memories

- hippocampal activation was related to the richness of re-experiencing rather than the age of the memory

42
Q

What does the multiple trace theory state about system consolidation?

A
  • system consolidation should be thought of as transforming memories (from episodic like to semantic like) not as transferring memories
  • older memories become more semantic (like stories without episodic detail)
    • after hippocampal damage older memories can be successfully retrieved but may lack episodic detail
43
Q

Is the hippocampus implicated in spatial memory?

A

Yes