Memory

Question 1

Define Primary Memory according to William James

Answer 1

A portion of present space of time

Linked to conscious experience

Retrieval is effortless

Question 2

Define Secondary Memory according to William James

Answer 2

Genuine past

Unconscious - permanent

Retrieval is effortful

Question 3

Atkinsons Shiffrens Modal model of Memory

Answer 3

Question 4

Describe Sensory Memory

Answer 4

• sensations persist after the stimulus has disappeared
• decay’s rapidly, yet there are stores for visual(iconic) and auditory(echoic) sensory info.

Question 5

Sperling’s Experiment for Sensory memory

Answer 5

• matrix of letters for 1/20 seconds, recall the letters after
• sounded low, medium or high tone immediately after matrix disappeared
  
  • the tone signalled 1 row to report
  • recall was almost perfect
• memory for images fades after 1/3 seconds, making report of entire display hard to do

Question 6

What is working memory?

Answer 6

• a temporary store for information needs to be rehearsed/ encoded to become long term memory
• this is said to have a limited capacity

Question 7

Baddeley and Hitch’s working memory model

Answer 7

• Baddeley found error in Atkinson & Shiffrin’s model
  
  • completing multiple tasks whilst remembering numbers, didn’t seem to affect the error in the number of digits remembered over a period of time.
• B&H argued that the working memory must comprise different components
  
  • Visuospatial Sketch pad
  • Central Executive
  • Phonological loop

Question 8

What is the evidence for the Phonological loop?

Answer 8

The Phonological similarity effect Baddeley (1966)

• list of 5 words to be recalled
• showed a large effect of phonological similarity, there was no effect of semantic similar
• the greater the number of syllables the worse the recall, even if the list is shorter

Question 9

Impairment of the phonological loop

Answer 9

• some patients have been described who have severely reduced verbal spans for all types of unconnected items
  
  • they still have intact word perception
  • no problem with speech production
• lesion near the Sylvian fissure, near the parietal and temporal loop can impair the phonological loop
• as the contents are actively refreshed by an articulatory process (sub-vocal speech) disrupting this process results in poor retention in the phonological loop

Question 10

The Visuospatial Sketchpad and the evidence for it

Answer 10

• necessary for holding online a sequence of visually guided actions
• necessary for ‘seeing in the mind’s eye’

De Renzi & Nichelli - 1975

• some patients with brain damage had impaired digit spans and some had impaired spatial spans
  
  • the “double dissociation” gave evidence for independent processes

Logie -1995

• Visual cache: passively stores visual info about form and colour
• Inner scribe: stores spatial and movement information and can rehearse the contents of the visual cache

Della Sala et al., - 1999

• Viewing abstract pictures interfered with the visual task, whereas tracing the outline of a series of pegs on a board interfered with the spatial task

Question 11

What other components have been added to the Baddeley & Hitch Working Memory Model

Answer 11

• Fluid Systems
  
  • Visuospatial sketchpad
  • Episodic buffer
  • Phonological loop
• Crystallized systems
  
  • Visual semantics
  • Episodic LTM
  • Language

Question 12

Craik & Lockhart 1972 ‘Levels of processing’

Answer 12

• participants asked to make judgments about words based on
• Orthographic information
• Phonological information
• Semantic reasoning
• recall improved with each orienting task
• shows that deep coding or elaboration is one of the best ways to learn new material
• is memory strong because encoding was “deep” or do we infer that strong memories must have been “deeply encoded”?

Question 13

Roediger & Karpicke 2206: Study-test vs study-study

Answer 13

• Advantage for the study-test conditions after delay
• Note: no feedback was provided in the “test” conditions
• Studying and then testing yourself leads to much better retention

Question 14

Encoding and Retrieval

Answer 14

Morris et al., 1977

Godden & Baddeley - 1975

Question 15

What is Amnesia

Answer 15

Damage to the medial temporal lobes and closely connected regions (Thalamus, fornix) is often the cause

Anterograde amnesia: when the ability to take in new information is severely and often permanently affected

• intelligence is intact, attentional span is intact, personality is unaffected

Retrograde amnesia: difficulty retrieving memories established prior to the cause of the neuropathology

• both forms of amnesia often found together but can present individually

Question 16

Procedural memory

Answer 16

• memory not detailly available to the consciousness
• involve skills and associations that are generally acquired and retrieved at an unconscious level
  
  • thinking about how to perform these automatic activities might actually disrupt the ability to perform the activities, to begin with.
• Amnesiacs can learn new skills in this way
  
  • Mirror Tracing (Corkin- 1968)
  • Mirror Reading (Cohen & Squire- 1980)

Question 17

Declarative memory

Answer 17

• the storage and retrieval of material that is available to the consciousness and can be expressed in language (declared)
  
  • Episodic
  • Semantic
• the ability to remember the words of a song, phone number or a past event
• depends on the medial temporal lobes for their acquisition and short-term retention

Question 18

What brain systems are dedicated for procedural memory?

Answer 18

• Basal ganglia
• this is impaired in Huntingdon’s disease

Question 19

Priming

Answer 19

a change in the processing of a stimulus due to a previous encounter with the same or a related stimulus with or without conscious awareness of the encounter: the example of list of words ppl insisting ‘sweet’ was on the list even if it wasn’t

• Priming is resistant to brain injury, ageing and dementia or amnesia

Question 20

Episodic Memory

Answer 20

• memory for events and occurrences that are specific in time and place

Question 21

Semantic memory

Answer 21

• knowledge of facts, concepts, word meanings
• can be retrieved without knowledge about here and when the information was acquired

Question 22

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 22

• New episodic memories are always impaired in anterograde amnesis
• Evidence for new semantic learning in amnesia is mixed
  
  • at best learning is limited o certain special situations
  • Yes
    
    • Sharon et al., (2011) - incidental learning was more successful than explicit learning
  • No
    
    • Bayley et al., (2008) - learning new vocabulary

Question 23

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 23

• All declarative memories (episodic and semantic) depend on medial temporal lobes for their acquisition and short-term retention
• Over time, declarative memories become consolidated to other brain regions
  
  • (Standard Model of Consolidation)
• Semantic memory learnt long ago is fine
• Episodic memory for the distant past
  
  • Intact
    
    • Bayley et al. (2003) - detail about a narrative
  • Not intact
    
    • Viskontas et al., (2000) - patients with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy, over three time periods in the patient’s lives

Question 24

Semantic Dementia

Answer 24

• Associated with lateral temporal cortex
• Poor knowledge of the meaning of words or concepts
• Naming difficulties
  
  • Including semantically related errors (e.g. “dog” for rabbit).
• Not confined to one modality
  
  • Deficits may include difficulty in recognizing sounds (e.g. doorbell or telephone)

Question 25

How does the semantic knowledge of patients with Frontal Lobe Lesions present?

Answer 25

* **Janowsky et al., 1989** * patients are able to retain information learnt * however, are impaired in their ability to identify where they had learnt the information * **Confabulation**

Question 26

Confabulation

Answer 26

“erroneous memories, either false in themselves or resulting from ‘true’ memories misplaced in context an inappropriately retrieved or interpreted" Kopelman, 1995 * **Provoked:** a normal response to a demand for information which is not available * **Spontaneous:** the person acts on their erroneous memories (leaving hospital bc they believe they have to go to work or cook) * usually a result of frontal lobe damage | not due to damage to memory storage * caused by a breakdown in memory “control processes” such as monitoring whether retrieved memories are relevant to now

Question 27

What is the function of the Hippocampus in memory?

Answer 27

* episodic memory: e.g. what you had for breakfast * encoding and recollection of long term memories: e.g. events, information, autobiographical experiences * spatial navigation: e.g. place cells, grid cells

Question 28

# subiculum (Latin for "support") is the most inferior component of the hippocampal formation. It lies between the entorhinal cortex and the CA1 subfield of the hippocampus proper. What are the inputs and outputs of the Hippocampus?

Answer 28

_Inputs_ * multiple areas of the cerebral cortex, especially prefrontal, cingulate, temporal lobe and amygdala, olfactory bulb * these project via the entorhinal cortex and into the hippocampus via the subiculum _Outputs via the subiculum_ * prefrontal cortex, amygdala, septal nuclei, nucleus accumbens, mammillary bodies, anterior thalamus, hypothalamus * the fornix is a major output pathway

Question 29

How is the Hippocampus organised? and how does this affect its function?

Answer 29

Organized in layers, lateral and medially : perforant pathways, Schaffer collaterals, mossy fibres, pyramidal cells and granule cells

Question 30

What type of pathologies can affect the hippocampus and what is their effect?

Answer 30

_Pathologies_ * hypoxia, CO * epilepsy * •neurodegenerative disorders: * Alzheimer’s Disease/ * vascular dementia etc * infection * stress/depression * schizophrenia _Effect of Pathologies_ * amnesia: anterograde * difficulties in spatial navigation * regulatory problems: sleep, impulse control

Question 31

What other cortices are involved in memory and what is their function?

Answer 31

* Prefrontal cortex (dorsolateral) * working memory, online, effortful * Parahippocampal gyrus * recognition memory, scenes (PPA) * Other Temporal cortices * categorical memory, * word recognition for words, * objects / faces (FFA) * Association cortices * semantic memory * frontotemporal dementia semantic variant

Question 32

What Subcortical structures are involved in memory?

Answer 32

* Amygdala * reward association, fear conditioning / learning of threat * emotional enhancement of episodic memory * Striatum / Basal Ganglia * caudate, putamen, globus pallidus * procedural, habit * Mamillary bodies, Fornix, Anterior thalamus * Papez circuit * new memories encoding and consolidation * B12 thiamine Wernike-Korsakoff syndrome

Question 33

What neurotransmitters are involved in memory?

Answer 33

* Acetyl Choline ACh * from the basal nucleus of Meynert to neocortex medial septal nucleus to the hippocampus * works in the motor pathways, brainstem and midbrain nuclei * used in learning and memory: synaptic plasticity * used in attention: selective and sustained * Noradrenaline, dopamine * working memory * attention

Question 34

What is the function of the Amygdala in relation to emotions?

Answer 34

* Threat detection and fear reactions * physiology: sympathetic autonomic, heart rate, sweating, fainting * behaviour: freeze, motor startle, expression, avoidant responses * experience: anxiety & fear – with other areas * Fear conditioning * Pavlovian learning of threat US -\> UR; CS + US -\> CS+ -\>CR * Emotional enhancement of memory * Salience, Arousal, Intensity and Reward * motivational behaviours * sex, aggression, feeding * Olfaction

Question 35

Describe the location and structure of the Amygdala

Answer 35

found in the medial temporal lobe anterior to the hippocampus * basolateral complex * sensory input * associative learning * central nucleus * visceromotor outputs – hypothalamus, PAG * orbitofrontal cortex * anterior cingulate

Question 36

What areas of the brain does the Amygdala connect to?

Answer 36

has ascending monoaminergic pathways through _noradrenaline_ * Thalamus, sensory cortices * ‘high and low roads’ for threat * Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and * Hippocampus – emotional memory * Basal ganglia ventral striatum * Insula, subgenual cingulate, orbitofrontal cortices * mood, emotion feelings * Hypothalamus, brainstem – escape/stress responses * Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and dorsal anterior cingulate input in cognitive control of emotion * •‘extended amygdala’, including ventral striatum (n. accumbens) for reward-related behaviours

Question 37

What pathologies are associated with the amygdala and how do they impact emotion?

Answer 37

* lesions * loss/absence of fear * abnormalities in social behaviour * psychiatry * anxiety disorders: post-traumatic stress disorder * mood disorders: depression, bipolar * autism * alexithymia * psychopathy, personality disorders

Question 38

What other cortices are linked with emotion?

Answer 38

* Dorsal anterior cingulate * stress responses and arousal * emotional awareness * cognitive control of emotion * Subgenual anterior cingulate cortex * reward * depression * Insular cortex * inner feelings; interoception * cravings, urges * anxiety * Dorsal and lateral prefrontal cortex * cognitive control * Orbitofrontal, medial prefrontal * reward, satiety * relative reward, regret * behavioural flexibility * Occipitotemporal * lateral occipital cortex, the fusiform face area * Involved in social-emotional behaviour

Question 39

How do subcortical structures affect emotion?

Answer 39

* Striatum / basal ganglia, caudate putamen, globus pallidus * habits / motivation / urge / liking * emotional expression * Ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens) * reward * motivation * wanting * Hypothalamus * stress responses, visceral states * Brainstem * arousal /alertness e.g. NA system * visceral states * expression

Question 40

What neurotransmitter is involved with emotions?

Answer 40

_Dopamine: Reward_ * Mesolimbic system * ventral tegmental area to the ventral striatum, prefrontal cortex etc _Noradrenaline: Aurosal_ * Locus coeruleus: * thalamic gating * the amygdala, the hippocampus – memory enhancement * cortices - attention * Aurosal * alertness, stress reactivity * attention, activation * behavioural salience _5HT: Serotonin: vegetative functions_ * Raphe nuclei to the subcortical centres and the cortex