6C - Role of Episodic and Semantic Memory Flashcards
(20 cards)
what are episodic memories?
memories of personal events and experiences
what are semantic memories?
knowledge of factual information; general knowledge
what aids in the retrieval of episodic memories ?
hippocampus
what helps shape autobiographical events?
episodic and semantic memories
what are autobiographical events?
personally lived experiences; include btoh episodic and semantic components
what is reconstruction?
the combining of stored information with other avaliable information to form a more coherent, complete, accurate memory
what are possible imagined futures?
hypothetical experiences and situation that an individual has the ability to create and conceptualise in their mind
what is a neurodegenerative disease?
diseases that are characterised by progressive loss of neurons in the brain
what is the steps/progession of alzheimers disease?
- begins with neuron death in the hippocampus
- neuron death spreads to the cereberal cortex
- it affects previously stored LTM’s and the processing of new STM’s
what does alzheimers disease do?
damages the brain, resulting in impaired memory, thinking and behaviour
what does the neuron death mean in the brain
the overall mass of the brain reduces in size
symptoms of alzheimers disease (4)
- congnitive functions impaired
- mood & emotions
- confusion & disorientation
- language difficulties
when can alzheimers disease be diagnosed?
post - mortem
what are lesions?
areas of tissue that have been damaged due to disease or injury
what are amyloid plaques? where do they form?
- insoluble plaques around the neurons, inhbiting communication between neurons.
- they form on the OUTSIDE of neurons, stopping communication
what are neurofibrillary tangles? where do they form?
- insoluble tangles within neurons, inhibiting the transport of essential substances through the neuron and eventually killing it entirely.
- form on the INSIDE of the neurons
what does alzheimers disease effect? hippocampus & cerebral corex.
hippocampus - new explicit memories cannot be encoded or consolidated
cerebral cortex - loss of stored explicit long term memories
what happens when autobiographical memories are lost?
capacity for episodic future thinking is also lost
what is aphantasia?
a phenomenon in which individuals lack the capacity to generate mental imagery
what does aphantasia make it difficult to do?
construct possible imagined futures.
