Role of the Frontal Lobe in Declarative Memory

Question 1

central theme of effect of frontal lobe damage on declarative memory

Answer 1

the effects of frontal damage on declarative memory in general appear to be a function of teh strategic demands of the task. Ex. Recall and context memory tests are more dependent on stragegy control processes and affected by frontal lesions than recognition memory tests are.

For example, frontal lobe damage creates more impairment in temporal order memory (contextual) than simple recognition memory.

Question 2

relation b/t episodic encoding and semantic retrieval

Answer 2

closely related: thinkinga bout the meaning of a piece fo information normally leads to the storage of this info in episodic memory, for example. Similarly, the attempt to learn new info (episodic encoding) requires semantic processing. So they use many of the same brain regions.

Question 3

left inferior frontal gyrus

Answer 3

implicated in episodic encoding AND semantic retrieval;

shows greater activity when participants processed the meaning of words than when they process their orthography (spelling);

since subsequent memroy for words much better for semantic than for perceptual processing, left prefrontal activation to both semantic retrieval and episodic encoding;

the posterior part hosts the Broca’s area, linked to phonological processing while anterior part is more activated during semantic processing

Question 4

subsequent memory paradigm

Answer 4

in order to isolate activity assocaited w/ successful encoding

1) participants study a series of items while brain activity recorded
2) perform encoding trials, remembering some of the studied items and forgetting others
3) on the basis of retrieval performance, these are coded as subsequently remembered or subsequently forgotten
4) activity during these two types of encoding trials is compared

greater activity for subsequently remembered thanf orgotten is assumed to reflect subsequent memory effects, or difference in memory (Dm) effects.

helped conform of the left inferior frontal gyurs in successful episodic encoding;

showed greater encoding activity in left inferior frontal gyrus for words taht were subsequently remembered than for words that were subsequently forgotten (difference in memory or Dm effects)

tended to occur in the left hemisphere for verbal stimuli, bilaterally for visual stimuli

Question 5

retrieval mode

Answer 5

sustained mental state involved in retrieving an episodic memory

1) retrieval cue
2) memory search
3) recovery of increasingly specific stored memory traces
4) information recovered evaluated by a monitoring process that can reject inapproporiate memories

Question 6

retrieval success

Answer 6

the amount of valid information recovered during retrieval mode

Question 7

retrieval effort

Answer 7

brain activity that is greater when recovery is low; possibly related to demanding search or monitoring processes