Wk4 - Implicit Long-Term Memory

Question 1

Is implicit memory unitary or non-unitary?

Answer 1

Non-unitary (priming, procedural, associative, non-associative)

Question 2

What is important in implicit memory?

Answer 2

Sensory modality of the information (e.g., visual things will be mediated to a certain degree by visual cortices)

Question 3

What region is important for implicit learning?

Answer 3

Striatum

Question 4

Where is the striatum located?

Answer 4

Part of the basal ganglia

Question 5

What comprises the striatum?

Answer 5

Caudate and putamen

Question 6

What disorders involve the striatum?

Answer 6

Parkinson’s Disease

OCD

Schizophrenia

Question 7

If the striatum is damaged what deficits could this result in?

Answer 7

Implicit learning deficits (less activation of the striatum)

Question 8

What connects the caudate and the putamen?

Answer 8

Anterior limb of the internal capsule

Question 9

What region is involved in disgust processing?

Answer 9

Insular cortex

Question 10

What has been found about Schizophrenics during implicit learning tasks?

Answer 10

They have reduced recruitment of left caudate during implicit learning tasks (deficient recruitment of the striatum)

Question 11

Explain fMRI findings of implicit learning in schizophrenics and controls

Answer 11

There is a greater amount of caudate activation in the healthy controls during implicit learning.

There is lower caudate activation in the schizophrenics. This indicates lowered implicit learning.

Question 12

What has been found in relation to OCD patients and implicit learning?

Answer 12

OCD patients have striatal dysfunction of the caudate.

During implicit tasks, there is reduced amount of striatal activity.

Question 13

How have some OCD patients compensated for their striatal dysfunction?

Answer 13

Recruit the hippocampus to use explicit memory strategies.

Increase their hippocampus activity.

Question 14

How can you tell if someone has been successfully primed?

Answer 14

If they show a behavioural response which has been influenced by something they experienced earlier on

Question 15

How is priming often tested?

Answer 15

Using word-stem completion tasks.

Participants are given a list of words.

Asked to complete word-stem with the first word that comes to mind. If participants have been primed, they would be expected to complete the word-stem with words from the list.

Question 16

Explain Squire et al’s. (1992) PET study of stem completion

Answer 16

Subjects studied a list of 15 words and rated how much they liked the words 1-5

4 between-subject conditions in which participants gave varying responses

Question 17

What were the 4 conditions used in Squire et al’s. (1992) PET study of stem completion?

Answer 17

No response

Baseline

Priming

Memory

Question 18

What happened in the no response condition?

Answer 18

Participants viewed 20 word stems, none of which could produce the study words. Participants didn’t have to give a response.

Question 19

What was the purpose of the no response condition?

Answer 19

Get rid of the brain activity related to giving a response / preparing to speak etc.

Question 20

What happened in the baseline condition?

Answer 20

Participants viewed 20 word stems, none of which could produce study words.

Completed the word stems with the first word that came to mind

Question 21

What was the point in the baseline condition?

Answer 21

Brain activity with NO implicit memory going on

Question 22

What happened in the priming condition?

Answer 22

Participants viewed 20 word stems, 10 of which could produce 10 of the study words.

Completed them with the first word that came to mind

Question 23

What was the purpose of the priming condition?

Answer 23

Brain activity when priming occurs

This was the main experimental condition of interest. Showing priming

Question 24

What happened in the memory condition?

Answer 24

Participants were shown 20 word stems, 10 of which could produce 10 of the study words.

Instructed to remember the study words which could complete them

Question 25

What was the purpose of the memory condition?

Answer 25

Shows brain activity for explicit memory

Question 26

What brain activity was found in the memory condition (explicit memory)?

Answer 26

Activation of the hippocampus and the hippocampal gyrus Significant increase of blood to the right posterior medial temporal lobe

Question 27

What brain activity was found for the priming condition (implicit memory)?

Answer 27

Significant decrease of blood to the right occipital cortex Found some hippocampal activation

Question 28

What does the finding of decreased blood to the right occipital cortex in implicit memory indicate?

Answer 28

Indicates that sensory modality is important in implicit memory

Question 29

What enhances explicit memory performance?

Answer 29

Deeper, more semantic encoding and processing of information/study words

Question 30

What findings support the idea that sensory modality is important in implicit memory?

Answer 30

Squire et al.'s (1992) PET stem-completion study found decreased blood to the right occipital cortex in the implicit memory condition Study-test modality changes reduce stem-completion priming effects, but explicit memory performance is unaffected

Question 31

Explain what the term study-test modality means?

Answer 31

If words are studied auditorily and tested visually then this is a change in study-test modality

Question 32

How do changes in study-test modality affect implicit memory?

Answer 32

Reduces priming effect / reduces implicit memory

Question 33

How do changes in study-test modality affect explicit memory?

Answer 33

Explicit memory is unaffected

Question 34

What is important about study-test modality for implicit memory?

Answer 34

There needs to be a consistent modality in order for priming effects/implicit memory

Question 35

What type of memory depends on sensory modality?

Answer 35

Implicit memory

Question 36

What type of memory does not depend on sensory modality?

Answer 36

Explicit memory

Question 37

What do findings of sensory modality tell us about the relationship between implicit and explicit memory?

Answer 37

There is dissociation between implicit and explicit memory. They are separable types of memory.

Question 38

What type of memory does depth of processing enhance?

Answer 38

Explicit memory

Question 39

Does increasing the semantic encoding of information affect priming effects/implicit memory?

Answer 39

No Priming effects on stem-completion are unaffected by increased semantic encoding of study words, as shown by depth of processing studies

Question 40

What 3 types of studies provide evidence for the idea that there is dissociation between implicit and explicit memory?

Answer 40

Study-test modality changes Depth of processing studies Studies of amnesiacs

Question 41

What type of brain damage do amnesiacs typically have?

Answer 41

Temporal lobe damage

Question 42

What type of memory does temporal lobe damage affect?

Answer 42

Explicit memory

Question 43

What have findings of stem-completion tasks with amnesiac patients shown?

Answer 43

Amnesiacs with temporal lobe damage cannot explicitly remember the words in the task but normal priming effects are shown Amnesiacs can complete the stem-completion tasks using implicit memory

Question 44

Does temporal lobe damage in amnesiacs affect implicit memory?

Answer 44

No - temporal lobe damage only effects explicit memory

Question 45

Is memory modular?

Answer 45

Yes

Question 46

Is memory mediated by distinct neural substrates?

Answer 46

Yes

Question 47

What disease did Clive Wearing have?

Answer 47

Amnesia

Question 48

What brain damage did Clive Wearing have?

Answer 48

Temporal lobe damage, including hippocampi

Question 49

What did Clive Wearing suffer from?

Answer 49

Suffered from cerebral encephalitis

Question 50

What type of memory was damaged for Clive Wearing because of his degeneration of temporal lobes?

Answer 50

Explicit memory was damaged

Question 51

What type of amnesia did Clive Wearing have?

Answer 51

Anterograde amnesia

Question 52

What does anterograde amnesia mean?

Answer 52

Cannot form new memories

Question 53

What can Clive Wearing still do, even though he has temporal lobe damage?

Answer 53

Play the piano. He can still carry out tasks which involve implicit memory. He could sight-read music. Music is an ingrained skill which he won't forget. Playing piano is an automatic skill for him.

Question 54

What case study supports the idea that memory is modular and has separable aspects/types which have different neurobiological substrates?

Answer 54

Clive Wearing

Question 55

What is retrograde amnesia?

Answer 55

Inability to remember things that happened before the brain damage

Question 56

What is Ribot's law of regression?

Answer 56

The dissolution of memory is inversely related to the recency of the event If someone has brain damage, they would find it harder to remember things that happened just before the brain damage, but would find it easier to remember things that happened from a very long time ago

Question 57

What evidence is there for Ribot's law of regression?

Answer 57

Autobiographical cueing in amnesiacs shows that recall is typically confined to childhood (can only remember things from very long ago. cannot remember things closer to the occurrence of brain damage)

Question 58

What is a limitation of Ribot's law of regression?

Answer 58

There is not consistent evidence. Warrington & Sanders showed that their sample of amnesiacs had severely impaired memory for events across ALL time periods sampled/tested

Question 59

Why are there difficulties measuring retrograde amnesia?

Answer 59

Depends on personal, autobiographical information

Question 60

What are 2 autobiographical methods for measuring retrograde amnesia?

Answer 60

Autobiographical cueing procedure Autobiographical memory interview

Question 61

What is a more general measure for measuring retrograde amnesia?

Answer 61

Memory for public events A public events questionnaire

Question 62

What is a psychological measure for measuring retrograde amnesia?

Answer 62

Boston Remote Memory Battery

Question 63

Is memory unitary or non-unitary?

Answer 63

Non-unitary

Question 64

What does non-unitary mean, in terms of memory?

Answer 64

There are observable dissociations between different aspects of memory Subtypes of memory are separable

Question 65

What neurobiological evidence is there for the idea that memory is non-unitary?

Answer 65

Specific parts of the brain seem to be important for different types of memory

Question 66

What brain regions are important for explicit memory?

Answer 66

Temporal lobes | Hippocampi

Question 67

What brain regions are important for implicit memory?

Answer 67

Sensory association cortices | Striatum

Question 68

What is a feature of memories stored in temporal lobe neurons?

Answer 68

Have very high conceptual specificity - we can see individuals neurons and networks of neurons that are associated with very specific concepts

Question 69

What mediates long-term memory?

Answer 69

Synaptic activity leading to physical changes in the brain (e.g., LTP)