Short Term Memory and Working Memory

Question 1

Diencephalon: Thalamus

Answer 1

Large, dual lobed mass of grey matter cells located at top of the brainstem.

sensory gateway to the cortex (represents every modality excepto olfaction)

LGN: Vision

MGN: Auditory

Question 2

Basal Ganglia

Answer 2

Basal= Base

Ganglia; Cell bodies

for example; Parkinsons disease affects the basal ganglia; a major motor component and we can infer that the basal ganglia can play a role in motor function as well as cognitive functions, habits and implicit forms of memory particularly procedural memory.

The general function includes motor control, eye movements, cognitive function, emotion.

Question 3

Limbic System

Answer 3

Parts of the limbic system interact with each other

Limbic = border (controversial definition)

Older, primitive cortex (lower species that share some of these regions.

Functions; Smell, Emotion, and Memory that all influence each other.

Olfactory bulb which represents smell.

Hippocampus
Amygdala

Mamallary bodies and fornix .

Question 4

Limbic System (Hippocampal Complex)

Answer 4

Responsible for

Explicit Memory: Encoding, storage, retrieval

Memory consolidation; consolidating information with other parts of the brain.

Amygdala; Involved in the recognition of negative emotions (fear) and positive emotion

Emotional modulation of memory, attention, etc through interactions with other brain structures.

Question 5

Cerebral Cortex (Brodmann areas)

Answer 5

A system created based on cytoarchitectonics study of differents in cortical layers between areas

Most common delineation of cortical areas.

Question 6

Gyri

Answer 6

A series of bumps or ridges of cortex containing neurons; maximizes surface of brain.

Question 7

Sulci

Answer 7

A series of infoldings or crevices in between gyri; deep sulci are called fissures.

Question 8

Occipital Lobe

Answer 8

Processes visual input from eyes and from memory (visual imagery)

Different regions process different aspects of vision ( motion, color, and shape)

If occipital lobes are damaged, cortical blindness results

objection recognition, perceptual priming.

Question 9

Temporal Lobes

Answer 9

Processes auditory input

Posterior region of the left temporal lobe (Wernicke’s area) crucial for comprehending language

Anterior and lateral regions involved in semantic memory, conceptual priming and emotion processing

Inferior regions; object recognition, perceptual priming

Medial portion contains hippocampus and amygdala (subcortical)

Question 10

Parietal Lobes

Answer 10

Most anterior gyrus, somatosensory cortex (area S1)

represents sensations on different parts of your body with Left S1 representing right side of body and vice versa for right s1

Posterior regions in working memory, attention, representing space and ones relationship to it, and in representing tool knowledge (action like role with spatial component.)

Includes recollective qualities of memory (attention to memory)

Attention properties; influences memory, ability to attend to episodic memory.

Question 11

Frontal Lobes

Answer 11

Managing sequences of behaviors/mental activities

major role in producing speech (Brocas area)

controlling movements - area M1 most posterior gyrus of frontal lobes (also called motor strip) located just in front of S1

Involved in memory encoding, retrieval, planning and reasoning, affect processing.

Question 12

Patient H.M

Answer 12

Profound amnesia following bilateral resection of medial temporal lobe at age 27 for treatment of epilepsy

Anterior hippocampus (atrophy to posterior part) and dentate gyrus

amygdala

parahippocampal cortex, entorhinal cortex, perirhnal cortex

didnt lose all aspects of memory; multiple memory systems

responsible for enlightening us

Question 13

Anterograde Amnesia

Answer 13

Time of lesion defines

Unable to form new explicit memories. cant learn new things, some implicit memory does work. H.M would not have a memory trace of meeting a new person.

Able to learn some motor skills

Other aspects of memory preserved; sensory, short term, remote

Question 14

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 14

Unable to retrieve any memories from 11 years before his surgery.

Question 15

Sensory Memory

Answer 15

Large-capacity but very temporary holding device that allows people to choose which elements, from all of the stimuli arriving through their senses, should be further processed and stored.

(short duration 200 msec) with a capacity of ~12 items but 16-18 items

A delay confound

Question 16

Iconic Memory

Answer 16

Sensory memory for visual info- afterimage

Question 17

Echoic Memory

Answer 17

Sensory memory for auditory/verbal info - echo

Question 18

Haptic memory

Answer 18

sensory memory for tactile info

Question 19

Short-Term Memory

Answer 19

Refers to memory processes that retain information only temporarily, until information is either forgotten or becomes incorporated into a more stable, potential permanent store, without attention or rehearsal.

Duration: Seconds to minutes but smaller capacity then sensory memory

Can expand capacity through methods like chunking, meaning and visuali

Magic number is 7 + - 2

STM Tests include

verbal memory tests (stories, word pairs, word lists)

Visual memory tests (immediate recall of complex figure that is difficult to verbalize)

Question 20

Serial Position Effect

Answer 20

Better recall for items presented first (primacy) and last (recency) in a list

Dont benefit much from the middle items in the word list test.

Question 21

Primacy Effect

Answer 21

Believed to represent LTM

Memory system has enough resources to transfer items into LTM

Question 22

Recency Effect

Answer 22

Believed to represent STM

More available for recall

Question 23

Theories of Memory: Levels of Processing

Answer 23

LOP relates to the effectiveness of different encoding strategies.

Deeper encoding more effective; elaborative - relate info to previous knowledge

Shallow encoding not as effective 9 uppercase vs. lowercase)

processing only surface features

BUt inconsistent with modal model

short term memory isnt necessarily the gateway to long term memory

Question 24

Working Memory

Answer 24

Working memory is a limited capacity system, which temporarily maintains and stores information, supports human thought processes by providing an interface between perception, long-term memory, and action.

Question 25

Working Memory

Answer 25

Working memory is a limited capacity system, which temporarily maintains and stores information, supports human thought processes by providing an interface between perception, long-term memory, and action.

Baddeley 2003

The ability to hold an item of information transiently in mind in the service of comprehension, thinking, and planning. Working memory encompasses both storage and processing functions

In its most elevated form, working memory serves as a workspace for holding items of information in mind as they are recalled, manipulated.

Short term retention of information that is no longer accessible in the environment, and the manipulation of this information for subsequent use in guiding behavior.

Question 26

Baddeley’s Working Memory Model

Answer 26

Seen as the most prominent model

Challenge to STS as a unitary system

Patients with STS impairment show little difficulty with long-term learning and everyday cognitive activities ( e.g; reasoning)

dual-task technique (divided attention): partially depletes availability of STM resources as subjects perform reasoning or learning tasks

Reduced performance, but not total impairment, suggesting compensatory component within WM.

Verbal and Visuospatial working memories

Question 27

Phonological Loop

Answer 27

Enters into the phonological store (verbal working memory)

Holds memory trace for a few seconds before it fades

Evidence; phonological similarity effect

Question 28

Articulatory Rehearsal Process

Answer 28

Refreshes memory traces through rehearsal (subvocal speech); takes place in real time

Evidence

a) word length effect ( increase syllables, decrease span)

Articulatory suppression (repetition of an irrelevant word prevents subvocal rehearsal) if thinking about the phone number over and over again,

Irrelevant speech effect (background speech interferes with visually presented info)

Question 29

Neuropsychological Evidence of Phonological Loop

Answer 29

Patients with selective phonological STM deficits (left temporoparietal lesion)

Anarthic Patients (impaired overt articulation - but subvocal rehearsal fine)

Dysparic patients

Question 30

Visuospatial Sketchpad

Answer 30

Limited in capacity (3-4 objects)

Only features within a given dimension (color, shape, location) complete for storage capacity

Retention of objects depends on binding of features, which requires attention (Triesman feature integration theory)

Visual refers to visual appearance of object or scene (pattern span)

Spatial refers to object location/movement sequence memory (Corsi Span)

Question 31

Visuospatial Sketchpad Study

Answer 31

Corsi span disrupted by spatial interference (spatial tapping task) and pattern span by visual interference (looking at a series of abstract pictures)

Question 32

Visuospatial Imagery

Answer 32

Paired associate learning enhanced when items imageable (elephant/umbrella)

performance disrupted by simultaneously presenting pictures of objects, patches of colour, flickering patterns of visual noise

Visuospatial rehearsal process not well specified

Sequential allocation of attention?

Question 33

Central Executive

Answer 33

Attentional control system with no intrinsic storage capacity to focus, divide and switch attention

Adopted normal and Shallices attentional control model; schemas vs. SAS (supervisory activating system)

Evidence; slips of action, frontal patients