PSYC 387 > Learning and Memory > Flashcards

Learning and Memory Flashcards

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1
Q

Case: MK

A

18-yo cis woman, severe memory impairment following treatment for a tumor at 13
Anterograde amnesia for episodic and semantic memories
Struggled in university even with supports
Memory Link program taught her how to use a smartphone as an aid which restored a lot of her functioning and independence

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2
Q

Case: PR

A

51-yo cis woman, spotty episodic memories for personal events/ conversations (destination memories)
Neuropsychological evaluation showed low performance for memory tests and impaired semantic memory
Diagnosed with semantic dementia

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3
Q

Case: TZ

A

74-yo cis man with Parkinson’s, undergone DBS treatment and regained a lot of functioning as a result
Procedural memory (episodic and semantic) working properly
Implicit memory impaired. Could not coordinate hands and movements, and everyday motions (like tying his shoes). Could no longer play the violin or play golf properly.

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4
Q

Multiple Memory Theory

A

We have different kinds of memories, which rely on different neural structures

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5
Q

Main types of Memory

A

Short Term
Long Term (Explicit, Implicit, and Emotional)

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6
Q

Short Term Memory

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Working and Temporal Memory
Sensory, Motor, and Cognitive information

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7
Q

Long Term Memory

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Permanent
No clear distinction in terms of times, but processes differ
Includes Explicit, Implicit, and Emotional Memory)

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8
Q

Explicit

A

Events and Facts that can be spontaneously recalled
Episodic and Semantic
Conscious

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9
Q

Episodic Memory

A

Type of Explicit Memory
Specific Events with contextual knowledge
Time, Feelings, Location incorporated
Autobiographical (about the self)
“Mental Time Travel”

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10
Q

Semantic Memory

A

Facts and Knowledge
Actively Recalled
Can be general knowledge or autobiographical (about the self)
People and places

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11
Q

Implicit Memory

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Unconcious
Learned Skills
Stronger when not intentional
Cognitive and motor aspects
data-driven; bottom-up

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12
Q

Emotional Memories

A

Concious + Unconcious
Affective properties of stimuli and events
Recalling emotions associated with a memory
Top-down and bottom-up properties

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13
Q

Amnesia

A

Loss of memory and/or the ability to create new memories
Two types: Anterograde and Retrograde

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14
Q

Anterograde Amnesia

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Loss of ability to form new memories

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15
Q

Retrograde Amnesia

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Inability to access old memories, with more recent memories being more likely to be lost (Time-Dependent Retrograde Amnesia)

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16
Q

Autobiographical vs. Episodic Memories

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Autobiographical: memories involving the self.
All episodic memories are autobiographical, but not all autobiographical memories are episodic

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17
Q

Kent Cochrane

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Motorcycle accident at 30 years
Cognitive abilities preserved but episodic memory was gone
retro+anterograde amnesia, only short term memory (1-2 minutes)

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18
Q

Lobes important to Episodic Memory

A

Medial Temporal lobe and Ventral Frontal lobe
+ connections between these brain areas

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19
Q

Brain areas needed for Episodic Memory

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(In the ventral frontal and medial temporal lobes)
Uncinate Fasciculus: connects frontal and temporal lobe
Insular cortex

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20
Q

Uncinate Fasciculus (based on slides)

A

White Matter Tract connecting Frontal and Temporal Lobe areas
Connects areas needed for Memory Consolidation, knowing Social Context, Autonoetic Consciousness, Knowledge of ourselves

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21
Q

TBI and Amnesia

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Often produces time-dependent Retrograde Amnesia
Amnesia generally shrinks as time passes
Prospective Memory and Destination Memory dysfunctions

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22
Q

Prospective Memories

A

Memories for things one intends to do, such as appoinments
Impairement consistent with Anterograde Amnesia
Associative cues (e.g. reminders) used when this occurs

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23
Q

Destination Memories

A

Impairment associated with retrograde amnesia
Memories of past interactions (such as remembering a conversation w a friend)

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24
Q

Childhood (infantile) amnesia

A

Inability to remember events from first 4 years + fewer memories up to ~7-11 years
Implicit memories exist much earlier than semantic, which comes before episodic

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25
Why do we have such few memories from our early childhoods?
Episodic memories develop much later than implicit and semantic Our brain also deletes memories, potentially to make room for new ones
26
Fugue state
Memory loss of personal history Dissociative state- sudden onset, transient
27
Cause of a fugue state
Theory: temporary supression of the medial-temporal lobe memory systems May create new "memories" to substitute the lost ones
28
Korsakoff disease + memory loss
Memory Impairment caused by Alchohol Abuse Confabulates new memories to subsitute for lost memories (similar to fugue state)
29
Semantic Memory in the Brain
Much more distributed than Episodic Temporal and Frontal dominantly (not medial temporal) No hippocampus + related areas
30
Neural Substrate of Explicit Memory (practice diagram from slide 23)
Memory largely in in the Prefrontal Cortex and Temporal Lobe structures, but in different parts (depending on Episodic vs. Semantic) Medial Thalamus - important nucleus, part of limbic system Most structures are in the temporal lobe/ closely related to it, incl. hippocampus, rhinal cortex, PFC, nuclei in the thalamus Recieve info from neocortex + from brainstem (ACh, NA, 5HT systems)
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Structures important to Explicit Memory
Basal forebrain, Thalamus, PfC, Rhinal Cortex, Hippocampus, Neocortex
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Neural Substrate of Episodic Memory
Relies on limbic system + hippocampi Hippocampus is multisensory ("reliving" memories) Perforant Pathway
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Highlighted areas of the limbic system for episodic memory
Fornix, mamillary bodies, hippocampus Also: cingulate gyrus
34
Hippocampus subfields important to episodic memory
Dentate gyrus: CA1 - CA4; Amnon's Horn Differentially vulnerable to toxins, hypoxia, especially CA1
35
Neural substrate of episodic memory diagram (draw out diagram from slide 25) OR just say what the connections are
white matter tracts connect entorhinal cortex and other parts of the hippocampal formation, which connects to the perihinal and perihippocampal cortices (which connect to the neocortex) Hippocampal formation sends information to the rest of the limbic system (specifically, anterior thalamus, mamillary bodies, and nucleus accumbens)
36
Hippocampus is essential for:
Spatial memory Association/ contextual memory
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Rhinal cortex is essential for:
Specific object recognition, necassary for semantic memory and retrieval
38
Hemispheric Asymmetry in the temporal lobe
RH: More spatial/ facial (not "visual") LH: More object-based, words, stories (but not "verbal")
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Hemispheric asymmetry in the frontal lobe
(To a small extent) Encoding > more left PFC Retrieving > more right PFC Storage > both both hemispheres active for all functions
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HERA
Hemispheric Encoding and Retrieval Asymmetry Model exploring frontal lobe asymmetry
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Procedural Memory
learned motor skills, any motor skill HM example: explicit is impaired but implicit is spared
42
Priming
Initial exposure to a stimulus makes it easier to recognize the stimulus/ a similar stimulus You can be primed to give a specific response
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Gollim Incomplete Figures Test
A way to test for Priming in patients Patients are given an incomplete picture and asked to name it. If they fail to, they are shown a slightly more complete image, until they can guess what it is. In repeated sessions, patients can guess the image faster despite having no memory of completing the task before
44
Conditioned Reactions
Classical conditioning Emotional responses to specific stimuli Type of procedural memory
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Depth-of-processing effect
An improvement in subsequent recall of an object that a person has given thought to (in terms of, e.g., its meaning or shape)
46
Study-Test Modality Shift
The process by which people, when presented with information in one modality (reading) and tested in another modality (aurally), display poorer performance than when they are instructed and tested in the same modality
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Types of Implicit Memory
Procedural, Priming, Conditioned. Motor Skills, Recognition
48
Two competing views that support implicit memory
1. All brain regions (minus circuitry involved in explicit memory) support implicit memory 2. There is a dedicated neural circuit for implicit memory
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Implicit Memory Circuit
Cortical connections from neocortex to the basal ganglia and back to the neocortex Basal ganglia recieve info from neocortex and dopamine cells in the substantia nigra Basal ganglia sends info > Ventral Thalamus > Premotor Cortex
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Basal Ganglia for Implicit Memory
Control Hub for Motor Learning Damage/ Symptoms associated w Huntingon's and Parkinson's occurs here
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Cerebellum for implicit memory
Conditioning, association Motor learning
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Neural Basis for Implicit Memory
Not a lot is known, but sensory and motor information is key Single Neural circuit in slide 38 is only one theory
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Premotor Cortex for implicit memory
Command centre for appropriate implicit behaviour
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JK + implicit memory
Basal ganglia + implicit memory Parkinson's led to difficulty remembering how to do implicit tasks
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Neurotransmitters implicated in memory
cholinergic, serotonergic, noradrenergic, and dopaminergic Cell loss of a combination of these leads to learning and memory impairements and can cause amnesia
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Loss of Cholinergic cells is related to or may even lead to...
Alzheimers, Acetylcholine is affected in this disease
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Role of Cholinergic Cells
Project from basal forebrain to the frontal lobes + temporal lobes; helps maintain waking EEG pattern in neocortex Selective damage NOT associate w memory impairement
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Role of Seritonergic Cells
Located in the Midbrain Project to Limbic system and Cortex Maintains waking EEG, esp for movement Isolated removal = no serious memory deficits
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Damage to Cholinergic and Serotonergic Cells together leads to:
Profound Amnesia In animals, damage/ removal impairs waking EEG and behave as if the entire neorcortex is removed (no longer display intellectual behaviour)
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Blocking both cholinergic and noradrenergic systems leads to:
Motor impairement
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Theory of Memory Formation
NO UNIFIED THEORY No universally agreed on neural signature of memory processes and systems
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System Consolidation Theory
The oldest theory Consolidation = making permanent Memories held in the hippocampus, gradually consolidated/ intergrated into the neocortex, then moved outside the hippocampus and into the neocortex No clear distribution for how this happens
63
Multiple Trace Theory
Memories are integrated in multiple regions concurrently (information is stored as different types of memories simultaneously) Memories change over the lifetime (episodic > semantic) Starts similar to systems consolidation (memories begin in hippocampus) but the consolidation itself differs When an episodic memory becomes semantic the hippocampus is no longer used for recall
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Reconsolidation Theory
Memory starts as a single trace/ neural substrate. Every time a memory is used, it is reconsolidated Using a memory puts it in a labile stage, after which it is encoded as a new memory During the labile state the memory can change/ be manipulated Can have many traces for the same event
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Bottom-up emotional memory
Nonconcious, Affective properties of stimuli or events React to situations with no specific memory
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Top-down emotional memory
Arousing, vivid, and available on prompting Conscious React to identifiable stimuli
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Fear conditioning
Pairing a noxious stimulant with a neutral stimulus can lead to a conditioned fear response to the neutral stimulant even when the noxious stimulant isn't present
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Brain areas that mediate fear conditioning
Circuits of the amygdala
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Panic Disorder
A disorder characterized by recurrent attacks of intense terror that arise without warning and without any apparent relationship to external circumstances Can be seen as evidence that emotional memory is seperate from other types of memory
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Structure of the Amygdala
Nuclei, Basolateral complex, cortical nucleus, medial nucleus, central nucleus
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Basolateral complex can be divided into...
Lateral, basal, and accessory basal nuclei
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Amygdala connects to:
Autonomic systems (blood pressure, heart rate) - Hypothalamus (hormonal systems) - Brainstem Periaqueductal Gray Matter (PAG)
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Neural circuit for emotional memory (diagram page 462 textbook)
Key structure is the amygdala Amygdala and Hypothalamus + PAG are connected Unit is connected to Frontal, Parietal, Temporal, Occipital, and Cingulate cortices Amygdala is connected to Basal Ganglia and Medial Temporal Cortex
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Emotional Memory in demented patients
Patients with no ability to recongize photograph of close relatives consistently chose images of relatives vs. strangers as the people they liked better, despite no conscious knowledge that they knew those individuals
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Emotion and Memory
Emotionally vivid experiences reactivate hormonal and brain systems that act to stamp in these memories by modulating circuits in the rest of the brain. Future experiences can reactivate these circuits and modulate an implicit response
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Brain regions involved in multiple trace theory
Autobiographical memory: hippocampus and frontal lobes Factual semantic memory: temporal lobe structures General semantic memory: the remaining cortical areas
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Brain regions involved in systems consolidation theory
Memories are held in the hippocampus until they are consolidated, after which they are integrated in the neocortex
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What constitutes a labile phase?
Not clear: may involve a decrease in syntactic connections that represent an old memory, the inclusion of new neurons in the memory, or other transitory biochemical activity.
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Trace Transformation Theory
Perceptual features of events are stored in the posterior hippocampus, and with time are shifter to the anterior hippocampus (which represents the gist of the memory). The memory is then further encoded in the medial PFC that houses schemas. Representations change and shift throughout the lifetime.
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Scene construction theory
The hippocampus does NOT store memory, it creates memory by consolidating neocortical elements into spatially coherent scenes, which forms the basis of unfolding memory events.
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Associative interference
One of the ways we reconstruct memory. We associate new information with existing knowledge. Creating memories based on multiple events and inference, updating memories based on new information.
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Remembering as reconstruction
Memory is never entirely accurate and is subject to change. Remembering is an active process of reconstruction.
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Gist
Essence/ bottom line of something; the end result/ objective of reconstructing a memory is the get the gist of it. Works as a memory shortcut, and since it's just the essense of something, it is adaptive and allows for recreation of the past and anticipation of the future.
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Weakness of the 'gist'
Prone to errors of omission and commission Can be primed to remember false details since it does not provide the full picture
PSYC 387
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