Test 2: Learning, Memory, and Amnesia Flashcards

1
Q

What causes the brain to change its functioning?

A

Experience

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2
Q

Learning

A

How experience changes the brain

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3
Q

Memory

A

how changes are stored and reactivated

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4
Q

What did Ebbinghaus study

A

Retention of nonsense syllables

Consonant-vowel-consonant and all consonants

These have no emotional connotations or past experiences to connect to

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5
Q

Ebbinghaus - savings score

A

relearning ability

you learn forgotten material faster the second time around

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6
Q

What discoveries did Ebbinghaus make

A

primacy and recency effects

curve of forgetting

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7
Q

Primacy effect

Recency effect

Example of how to eliminate during studying

A

Remember things at the beginning better - no prior knowledge can interfere

Later material is remembered better - no post-material can interfere

Mixing up notecards

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8
Q

Lashley

What did he study and for what purpose

What was his method and how did it work out?

A

Studied memory organization

Searched for an engram: memory trace (a map of routes)

Had animals learn a task, then removed parts of the cortex one by one to figure out where memory was stored

He could never find a specific location for the trace

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9
Q

Describe the parts of the brain involved in memory formation (in general)

How do memories appear to be stored and how are they organized

A

Many regions along with the cortex are involved

In cortex, organized in a distributed and meaningless way

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10
Q

Penfield

A

First to use electrical stimulation to directly activate the cortex during brain surgery

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11
Q

Hebb

Who was he?

What did he believe about STM and LTM

A

A student of Lashley

STM is an active process, it’s short, there is no trace or engram, like writing an address on an envelope – no memory beyond

LTM is formed by structural changes in the brain

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12
Q

What did Hebb believe happened when you learn something?

What did he believe about cell assembly?

A

Loops of neurons become interconnected when you learn something - the repeated activation of those loops

Cell assemblies are connected neurons

Must have activation in some cells of assembly for memory

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13
Q

3 steps to remember something

A

Acquire

Retain

Retrieve

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14
Q

3 stages of memory

A

working memory

short term memory

long term memory

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15
Q

working memory

A

info held in for a few seconds - just long enough for you to use it

the brain’s “scratch pad”

involves ACTIVE CONSCIOUS PROCESSING

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16
Q

Short term memory

A

Passive storage + automated subconscious processing

lasts, seconds, minutes, possibly longer

not necessarily manipulated

ex: mental grocery list

holds 5-9 items

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17
Q

Chunking

How is it useful

What does it do

Example

What brain process is it an example of

A

can increase the capacity of STM

organizes items into a familiar and manageable unit

acronyms

example of an executive function of the prefrontal cortex

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18
Q

Long term memory

What is it

What helps STM info get to LTM

A

permanent info storage

repetition (rehearsal) helps transform STM info to LTM

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19
Q

Working memory: “where” system

What is it involved in

What part of brain

It’s development

A

spatial location

dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

develops slowly during year one

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20
Q

Working memory: “what” system

A

object recognition

orbitoprefrontal cortex

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21
Q

2 types of experimental tasks for spatial working memory

A

delayed response task

A not B task

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22
Q

What happens in a delayed response task

A

Put food in a well

Barrier goes up for a view seconds

animal must remember which well food was put in

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23
Q

A not B task

Who and what

Describe method

Results

What do the results mean

A

Piaget

delayed response but for humans

object is moved from A to B; delay; must retrieve

Youngest children would forget object ever moved - begin to start tolerating about 8 - 10 seconds around 1.5 years

This means the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex develops slowly

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24
Q

What part of the brain is associated with STM?

What does it include?

What does it play a role in?

How is it involved in memory process overall

A

Medial temporal lobe

Hippocampus and entorhinal cortex

Memory consolidation

Involved in forming a memory but NOT permanent storage

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25
Q

Quote by Larry Squire

A

May take years for memories to consolidate

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26
Q

Where is LTM stored and what could this explain developmentally?

A

Cerebral cortex

Infantile amnesia (can’t recall events before 3/4 yrs old)

Cortex region for LTM may not even fully develop until later in childhood

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27
Q

2 distinct mechanisms of memory that depend on what is being learned and remembered

A

Procedural and declarative memory

28
Q

Procedural memory

what is it

another name

examples

A

the memory for how to do something even if you’re unaware you’re doing it

implicit memory

Ex: habituation, classical conditioning, mirror tracing….

29
Q

What parts of brain does procedural memory involved

Examples

A

Many cortical areas depending on the task and type of memory being measured (visual priming in visual cortex; motor programs in basal ganglia)

Does NOT involve temporal lobe

30
Q

What happens in a serial reaction time task

A

Push button for corresponding light that appears

Measure time it takes to press button and remember the serial pattern

31
Q

Declarative memory

what is it like

what is it

what part of brain does it involve

A

Explicit and consciously retrievable

An accessible record of previous experiences and familiarity about them

medialtemporal lobe structures

32
Q

2 types of declarative memory and part of brain that is associated

A

episodic - memory of life events; time and place; rich in context (hippocampus)

semantic - memory of facts and general knowledge (entorhinal cortex)

33
Q

How do mnemonic devices work to make you more likely to remember something

A

Helps you become consciously aware of something

Imagery makes it meaningful

34
Q

Loci used by ancient Greeks

3 steps

How did the ancients use it

A

Think of a familiar place

Place items along it’s route

Take mental journey through the place

Used it to help remember long speeches

35
Q

What procedure did H.M. have done and why

What happened

What was the issue

A

bilateral medial temporal lobectomy to control for epilepsy

stopped seizures along with memory

could not transfer memories into LTM

36
Q

Types of amnesia

What type did H.M have

A

retrograde: backward acting; cannot remember past
anterograde: forward acting; cannot make new memories

mild retrograde and sever anterograde

37
Q

How did H.M. perform on the digit span test

What sense is involved

A

could repeat as long as time between learning and recall was within STM capabilities

38
Q

Block-tapping memory span test

How did H.M perform

What sense is involved

A

9 blocks; psych touches sequence then you have to repeat

Could never go beyond 5 blocks

Involves vision

39
Q

What does it mean to say that tests showed H.M.’s amnesia was global

A

Amnesia was present in all sensory modalities

40
Q

How did HM perform in mirror drawing task

A

improved with practice even though he couldn’t remember previous trials

41
Q

Rotary pursuit task HM performance

A

Pen on “record player”

improved but couldn’t remember ever doing it before

42
Q

what happened when H.M. learned a response via classical conditioning

A

CR still expressed years later….never remembered learning it

43
Q

3 scientific contributions of H.M.’s case

A
  1. MTL is involved in memory
  2. STM & LTM are seperate (he was unable to move things from one to the other - consolidation problem)
  3. Memories may have existed they just weren’t recalled (like when he showed improvement on skills he couldn’t remember learning)
44
Q

What plays a role in binding memories?

A

PKMZeta

45
Q

3 tests/examples of implicit memory

A

visual priming

word priming

mixed up letters

46
Q

How have others expressed mediotemporal lobe amnesia?

A

Not all unable to form new explicit memories

Semantic memory may function normally while episodic doesn’t - can learn facts just not when they did it

Both are declarative and consciously retrievable

47
Q

Skinner

A

Operant responses that are rewarded are more likely to be repeated

48
Q

Nature of responses and repititions

Nature of survival

A

Repeated if associated with positive emotions, not if negative

Survival depends on doing rewarding things and avoiding hurtful or scary behavior

49
Q

Korsakoff’s syndrome

Who is it mostly seen in

What causes it

Symptoms

Damaged locations

A

Alcoholics

Loss of vitamin B1 (thiamine)

Amnesia, confusion, personality changes, physical problems

Medial diencephalon and frontal cortex (medial thalamus and medial hypothalamus)

50
Q

How are Korsakoff’s syndrome and MTL amnesia similar and different

A

Early stages: anterograde amnesia for episodic memories

Later: severe retrograde amnesia

Progressive amnesia

51
Q

How does Alzheimer’s disease first appear

A

slight memory loss (dementia)

52
Q

Defecits predementia AD

types of amnesia with what kind of memory

Memory deficits

A

major anterograde and retrograde amnesia in tests of explicit memory

deficits in STM and some implicit memory tasks - both verbal (digit span) and perceptual (fill-in-the-blanks)

53
Q

What remains intact with AD

A

Implicit sensorimotor memory (swinging baseball bat)

54
Q

Where is AD damage found (3)?

What do these changes specifically do?

A

Basal forebrain degeneration (nucleus basalis) - decreases acetylcholine bc it is produced here

MTL

Prefrontal cortex (causes personality changes)

55
Q

What is likely the response for amnesia in people with AD?

A

Acl depletion and brain damage

56
Q

Types of posttraumatic amnesia

A

Concussions

Comas

57
Q

Amnesia in concussions

A

May cause retrograde amnesia for before the blow

Some anterograde for after

58
Q

Amnesia in comas

A

severity of amnesia correlates with duration of coma

59
Q

What does a period of anterograde amnesia suggest for posttraumatic events

A

a short period of time where memory consolidation fails

60
Q

Electroconvulsive shock treatment

What is it used to treat

What does it cause

How does it work

A

severe depression

causes loss of memory mostly for recent events (LTM remains intact)

Induces seizures in temporal lobe and probably disrupts the hippocampus

61
Q

reconsolidation

When is memory in STM susceptible to posttraumatic amnesia

T or F all memories are subject to consolidation

A

every time a memory is retrieved from the LTM it is held in STM for a little bit

Until it is reconsolidated

False

62
Q

What did Arsen et al. (2012) find in their study?

A

Disruption of reconsolidation erases a fear memory trace in the human amygdala

63
Q

place cells

A

cells that respond when you are in a particular place

64
Q

The role of hippocampus with ______ memory

A

spatial location

hippocampectomy produces deficits in radial arm maze

65
Q

2014 Nobel Prize winners

A

O’Keefe Moser and Moser

place and grid cells

66
Q

James McGaugh

A

The amygdala modulates emotional arousal via connections to hippocampus which can actually influence memory

(we best remember things with strong emotional content)

67
Q

Cerebellum and memory

A

stores memories of sensorimotor skills

Ex: conditioned eye blink