Neurophysiology - Memory

Question 1

Memory Process (3)

Answer 1

Encoding → Storage → Retrieval

Question 2

Memory Process - Encoding

Answer 2

Process of interpreting inputs, creating a context or label, through a mixture of conscious and preconscious components, based on perception, experience and expectation.
Observing an action and being able to see myself doing it.

Question 3

Memory Process - Retrieval

Answer 3

Ability to replicate the information stored.
Can be spontaneous or need prompting.

Question 4

Memory Process - Storage

Answer 4

Keeping information to be used, in short or long term.
Depends mostly on the usefulness of the information encoded, creating neural loops.

Question 5

Properties of Memory (5)

Answer 5

Span
Recognition
Recall
Relearning
Forgetting

Question 6

Properties of Memory - Span

Answer 6

Nr of items an individual can recall in a working memory test.
Average: 7 +/- 2

Question 7

Properties of Memory - Recognition

Answer 7

Process of remembering a pattern, event or procedure when faced with the situation. Involved in awareness and perception.
You always have a cue! multiple choice Q.

Question 8

Properties of Memory - Recall

Answer 8

Ability to spontaneously replicate previous knowledge on a matter, with purpose of solving a problem.
Relying on your own memory, no cue. Short answer Q.

Question 9

Properties of Memory - Relearning

Answer 9

Correlation between previous knowledge that was not used for many years but is still necessary for acquiring new information.
Taking a skill and modifying it.

Question 10

Properties of Memory - Forgetting

Answer 10

Loss of information/non consolidation of information that was already stored in long term memory.
Spontaneous or gradual.
No possibilities for recognition, recall and relearning.
We need energy to maintain connections so useless info needs to be forgotten.

Question 11

Types of Long Term Memory

Answer 11

Explicit (declarative): memories that can be declared, consciously discussed.
Procedural (implicit:non-declarative): Relates to memories that describe a procedure or performance of a skill.

Question 12

Short Term Memory

Answer 12

Everything that hasn’t been consolidated yet or forgotten.
Closely related to working memory.

Question 13

Working Memory

Answer 13

Everything immediate, up to 2 minutes.
Describes the activation of the necessary neural pathways, involving PFC, visual cortex and Broca, known as the visual loop and phonological loop.

Question 14

Sensory Memory

Answer 14

Retain of sensation after the stimulation has ceased, in the sensory register in the parietal cortex. Subdivided:
- Iconic: image
- Echoic: sound
- Haptic: touch

Question 15

Priming

Answer 15

Non-conscious form of memory, involved in perception of objects, words or concepts, by identifying associations before concluding a task.
Red, blue, gr…
Plum, pear, gr…

Question 16

Long Term Memory

Answer 16

Describes information kept for future use with time varying from minutes/hours to days.

Question 17

Which neurotransmitters are involved in the consolidation of memory?

Answer 17

↑ SE (pleasure): we want to remember what we were doing that lead to ↑ SE so that we can do it again.
↑ NE: we want to remember what we were doing that lead to ↑ NE so that we know its a threat.
If there is too much NE we wake up (nightmare).
We only consolidate memory if it was associated with ↑↑SE and ↑NE.
Responsible for developing weaker and stronger memories.

Question 18

Which pathway is involved in the consolidation of memory?

Answer 18

AM → HPC → Striatum → AM
AM → LC (NE)
Striatum → Raphe nuclei (SE)

Question 19

Procedural Memory

Answer 19

Implicit long term memory related to motor skills, mostly non-conscious, with cortical and subcortical elements.

Question 20

Declarative Memory - Divisions (2)

Answer 20

Explicit long or short term.
Related to events that can be described through any form of verbal communication.
Episodic memory
Semantic memory
both together: autobiographical memory.

Question 21

Episodic Memory

Answer 21

Memory of specific events, reconstructing what happened at any given point in life.
Remembering something because it had a strong emotional effect on you.

Question 22

Semantic Memory

Answer 22

Structured record of facts, definitions and general knowledge of external world. Factual knowledge, free of personal experience and spatial/temporal context.
Based on episodic memory but now stand alone as factual knowledge.

Question 23

Memory and Prospection

Answer 23

Recalling the past and imagining the future, needed for planning, overlap in brain networks. Memory acts as a foundation to recognize expectation based on previous experiences (memory-based prospection).