Task 2 - Long-term memory consolidation

Question 1

Amnesia

Answer 1

memory loss

Question 2

Medial temporal lobes

Answer 2

the medial (or inner) surface of the temporal lobes that contains the hippocampus, the amygdala, and other structures important for memory

Question 3

Episodic memory

Answer 3

memory for specific autobiographical events; it includes information about the spatial and temporal contexts in which the event occurred – where and when the event occurred (what we “remember”) – is autobiographical memory that pertains to a person’s particular history; you show episodic memory when you recall a specific episode or relate an event to a particular time and

– Inference effect - repeated exposure weakens the memory (is this called correctly)

Question 4

Semantic memories

Answer 4

memory for facts or general knowledge about the world, including general personal information (what we “know”) – is generalized memory, such as knowing the meaning of a word without knowing where or when you learned that word

Question 5

Declarative memory

Answer 5

as a broader term that includes both episodic and semantic memory, reflecting the fact that it is easy to verbalize (“declare”) or otherwise communicate your knowledge – what we usually think of as memory: facts and information acquired through learning. It is memory we are aware of accessing – deals with “what”

Question 6

Nondeclarative memory

Answer 6

are not always easy to communicate verbally – is shown by performance rather than by conscious recollection. It is sometimes called procedural memory – deals with “how”

– Skill learning is one kind of nondeclarative memory, as are classical and operant conditioning

Question 7

Explicit memory

Answer 7

term used to reflect the fact that episodic and semantic information is consciously accessible or “explicit” (you know that you know) (same as explicit) → declarative

Question 8

Implicit memory

Answer 8

memory that you may not be aware you’ve acquired → non declarative

Question 9

Which Comes First, Episodic or Semantic Memory?

Answer 9

• Episodic memory grows out of semantic memory
• Alternative possibility: semantic memory represents information we have encountered repeatedly—so often that the actual learning episodes are blurred and only the semantic “fact” content remains
• Third possibility: episodic and semantic memory are fundamentally interdependent: each can affect the other

Question 10

Levels-of-processing-effect

Answer 10

the more deeply you process new information during encoding, the more likely you are to remember the information later – The finding that, in general, deeper processing (such as thinking about the semantic meaning of a word) leads to better recall of the information than shallow processing (such as thinking about the spelling or pronunciation of the word)

Question 11

Transfer-appropriate processing effect

Answer 11

refers to the finding that retrieval is more likely to be successful is the cues available at recall are similar to those that were available at encoding (also sometimes called the encoding specificity effect)

– Perhaps deep processing during encoding will help only if the test also requires deep processing. if the test instead involves the physical attributes or sounds of a word (for example rhyming a word and not thinking of its semantic meaning), superficial processing may be preferable

Question 12

Format for testing memeory

Answer 12

1. free recall (hardest)
2. cued recall (medium)
3. recognition (easiest)

Question 13

Free recall

Answer 13

in which you are simply asked an open-ended question and you supply the answer from memory (f.e., latin word for “arch”)

Question 14

Cued recall

Answer 14

in which you are given some kind of a prompt or clue to the correct answer (f.e. Latin word for “arch” → F…)

Question 15

Recognition

Answer 15

in which you pick out the correct answer from the list of possible options (f.e. Latin word for “arch” → A. fenestra, B. fornix, or C. fundus)

Question 16

1. Forgetting

- -> Directed forgetting

Answer 16

occurs when information is forgotten on demand – A procedure in which subjects are first asked to learn information and later asked to remember or forget specific items; typically, memory is worse for items a subject was directed to forget

Question 17

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

Answer 17

an example of temporary failure

Question 18

Many failures of memory reflect one of four basic phenomena

Answer 18

1. simple forgetting
2. interference from other memories
3. false memory
4. source monitoring errors

Question 19

2. Interference

Answer 19

when two memories overlap in content, the strength of either or both memories may be reduced

Question 20

Proactive interference

Answer 20

disruption of new learning by previously stored information

– PRoactive interference means PReviously acquired information is at fault

Question 21

Retroactive interference

Answer 21

disruption of old (previously stored) information by new learning

– REtroactive interference means REcently acquired information is at fault

Question 22

Source monitoring errors / “source amnesia”

Answer 22

remembering information but being mistaken about the specific episode that is the source of the memory

Question 23

Crypto amnesia

Answer 23

patient currently thinks that their current thoughts/ideas are new/original

Question 24

False memory

Answer 24

memory of an event that never actually happened

• Example: researchers and family members telling one about a fake memory and oneself “remembers” additional details that were not present in the original story)

Question 25

Electroconvulsive shock

Answer 25

can help depressed people by making them forget certain things and so be “happier” - they forget what happened shortly beforehand - so long term but the shock only temporary

ECT - electroconvulsive treatment –> it interrupts consolidation process –> loss of a memory of the events leading to the ECT

Question 26

Sensory cortex

Answer 26

areas of cerebral cortex involved in processing sensory information such as sight and sounds

Question 27

Association cortex

Answer 27

meaning they are involved in associating information within and across modalities

Question 28

Hippocampus

Answer 28

a brain structure located in the medial temporal lobe that is important for new memory formation

Question 29

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 29

a severe loss of the ability to form new episodic and semantic memories

Question 30

Ribot gradient

Answer 30

A pattern of retrograde memory loss in which recently acquired memories are more prone to disruption than older memories

Question 31

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 31

loss of memory - access to events that occurred, or information that was learned, before an injury or the onset of a disease

Question 32

Standard consolidation theory

Answer 32

the theory that the hippocampus and related medial temporal lobe structures are required for storage and retrieval of recent episodic memories but not older ones

• consolidation is enhanced during sleep (& during different times of the day)

– holds that the hippocampus and related medial temporal lobe structures are required for the initial storage and retrieval of an episodic memory but that their contribution diminishes over time until the cortex is capable of retrieving the memory without hippocampal help

–> this theory predicts that hippocampal activity during memory retrieval should be greatest for recently acquired episodic memories (which are still dependent on the hippocampus) and lowest for very old memories (which should be fully consolidated and independent of the hippocampus)

Question 33

Multiple trace theory

Answer 33

The theory that episodic (and possibly semantic) memories are encoded by an ensemble of hippocampal and cortical neurons and that both hippocampus and cortex are normally involved in storing and retrieving even very old memories

• to account for such extensive retrograde amnesia, Morris Moscovitch and Lynn Nadel developed this theory

– individuals with medial temporal lobe damage lose the capacity for “mental time travel” and with it the capacity for true episodic memory

–> this theory predicts the opposite: the medial temporal lobes should be equally active during recall of autobiographical memory, whether the event occurred recently or long ago, because they are always involved in episodic memory retrieval

Question 34

Korsakoff’s syndrome

Answer 34

Damage to midline diencephalic structures and to the frontal cortex – Deny that anything is wrong, confabulate (fill memory gap with sth. They accept as true), fail to remember past

Question 35

Three kinds of nonassociative learning

Answer 35

1. Habituation
2. Dishabituation
3. Sensitization

Question 36

1. Habituation

Answer 36

is a decrease in response to stimulus as the stimulus is repeated (when the decrement cannot be attributed to sensory adaptation or motor fatigue)

• respond to an old stimulus as if it were new again

Question 37

2. Dishabituation

Answer 37

the increase in response amplitude over the baseline level (the habituation has been removed)

• refers to non associative learning –> the organism becomes more sensitive to the stimulus as time progresses

Question 38

3. Sensitization

Answer 38

the effect of dishabituation

Question 39

Associative learning

Answer 39

Learning that involves relations between events – in one form classical conditioning

Question 40

Sensory-sensory conditioning

Answer 40

when two stimuli occur in conjunction, one stimulus comes to predict the occurence of the other

Question 41

Instrumental conditioning (aka operant conditioning)

Answer 41

an association is formed between the animal’s behaviour and its consequence(s)

Question 42

Instrumental conditioning (aka operant conditioning)

Answer 42

an association is formed between the animal’s behaviour and its consequence(s)

Question 43

Dementia

Answer 43

is a syndrome characterized by failure of recent memory and other intellectual functions that is usually insidious in onset but steadily progresses

Question 44

3 causes of Alzheimers disease

Answer 44

1. Neurofibrillary tangles (collection of instrumental cytoskeletal filaments)
2. Abnormal protein in a matrix called amyloid in so called senile plaques → in hippocampus and amygdala
3. Diffuse loss of neurons

These changes are most apparent in neocortex, limbic structures (hippocampus, amygdala, and their associated cortices), and selected brainstem nuclei (especially the basal forebrain nuclei)

Question 45

Systems Consolidation

Answer 45

• the second form of memory consolidation
• It is a reorganization process in which memories from the hippocampal region, where memories are first encoded, are moved to the neo-cortex in a more permanent form of storage

Question 46

Encoding

Answer 46

• occurs when information is translated into a form that can be processed mentally.In other words, encoding is “a special way of paying attention to ongoing events” so that this information can be placed into the memory system
• A memory code for information is formed when that information has been encoded in some manner

Question 47

Storage

Answer 47

of encoded information occurs when it is maintained (held) in memory for some period of time. This period of time is anywhere from a fraction of a second to years (dependent on the kind of memory one is talking about)

– The mental “location” in which the encoded information is held is referred to as a memory store

Question 48

Retrieval

Answer 48

of stored information occurs when it is activated in such a way that it can influence other mental events and behaviors

Question 49

Forgetting occurs when information is …

Answer 49

1. experienced but not encoded (if it is not encoded, then it cannot be stored);
2. encoded but not stored (for instance, when we say that something we were told “went in one ear and out the other,” we mean that, although the information may have been phonemically encoded, it was not stored);
3. encoded and stored, but cannot be retrieved (which may happen, for instance, if you haven’t thought about the information in a long time)