7.2 and 7.3

Question 1

Primacy effect

Answer 1

Higher memory performance for items at beginning of a list

Question 2

Recency effect

Answer 2

Higher memory performance for items towards end of the list

Question 3

Serial Position effect

Answer 3

Combines primacy effect and recency effect; we have higher memory performance for items towards beginning and end of lists than for items in the middle

Question 4

Glanzer and Cunitz 1966

Answer 4

Recency effect is disrupted when there is a delay before recalling items

Question 5

Hippocampal System

Answer 5

Hippocampus and neighboring structures in the medial temporal lobe
-quick formation of memories but lost easily; supports initial learning of arbitrary, new information
-one-shot loearning

Question 6

Neocortex

Answer 6

Long-term memories are stored in the neocortex
-it takes a long time to cement memories in the neocortex but they are solid once there; the effects of experiences take time to accumulate

Question 7

Complementary memory system

Answer 7

The hippocampal system and the neocortex form a complementary memory system

Question 8

Reactivation

Answer 8

During retrieval of a memory, brain mechanisms that were involved in the initial perceptual and cognitive experiences show patterns of activity similar to what accurred during initial encoding

Question 9

The subsequent memory effect/paradigm

Answer 9

Brain activity is higher for remembered items than for forgotten ones at the time of initial encoding

Question 10

Consolidation

Answer 10

The act of stabilizing memories
-synaptic consolidation and system consolidation

Question 11

Synaptic Consolidation

Answer 11

Happens over seconds to hours
-form of long-term potentiation
-occurs when the second cell fires immediately after the first
-synapses are potentiated by creating new receptor sites-more NT can be released

Question 12

Long-term potentiation

Answer 12

communication across a synapse strengthens future communication between the pre and post synaptic neurons

Question 13

System Consolidation

Answer 13

Re-organization of brain circuits to store new memories
-occurs over weeks, months, and years

Question 13

Hebbian learning/ Hebb’s Rule

Answer 13

cells that fire together wire together

Question 14

Standard Model of Consolidation (for explicit memories)

Answer 14

Consolidation begins in the hippocampus and is slowly transferred to other parts of the cortex
-The hippocampus has the structure to work as an auto-associator; a particular type of network that “remembers” specific configurations

Question 15

Consolidation and Multiple Trace Memory Model

Answer 15

-In initial state, cortical neurons are not active
-When learning something for the first time specific neurons will be activated in different areas of the cortex
-The hippocampus tracks which of these cells were active in each area
-The event/learning takes place repeatedly and the hippocampus continues tracking neurons active in each area
-With recall, memories are retrieved from the hippocampus and the hippocampus re-activates cortical patterns and we re-experience the event/learning/moment that was previously experienced
-With repeated recall, the different patterns are united
-Eventually the hippocampus is not needed anymore, these memories are stored in the cortex

Question 16

Multiple Trace Theory and Distributed Code

Answer 16

We create multiple “traces” or associations of neurons when an event repeatedly takes place
-our final memory comes involves the associations of neurons that were present in all traces/exposures

Question 17

Memory Retrieval

Answer 17

Reactivation of the brain regions involved during the initial encoding

Question 18

Population coding

Answer 18

representation or coding by a group of neurons - information is represented as patterns across neurons and not within individual neurons alone
advantages of using patterns of activity across neurons: virtually limitless combinations of possible representations or objects, and therefore encoding memories

Question 19

Sleep and consolidation (Louie and Wilson 2001)

Answer 19

REM sleep is essential for consolidation of memories of not just facts but also perceptual and motor skills
Experiment: Rat runs in a maze and finds treats; track the firing of place cells at specific locations in the maze
Findings: During REM sleep, patterns of neural activation across place cells corresponded with activity of the same cells while the rat was running the maze

Question 20

Cognitive Map Theory

Answer 20

The hippocampus constructs a map of the environment, providing a basis for spatial memory and navigation

Question 21

Hippocampus Place Cells

Answer 21

Fire when an individual is in a certain environmental location
-more allocentric representation

Question 22

Entorhinal Cortex Grid Cells

Answer 22

Fire when the individual moves around around in space; tracks movement and positions

Question 23

Head Direction Cells

Answer 23

Encode the direction of the rat’s head

Question 24

Hippocampal volume and correlation with spatial navigation ability (Weisberg and Ekstrom 2021)

Answer 24

Larger hippocampal volumes in certain individuals (such as taxi drivers) may be driving a correlation but in the general population there is no correlation

Question 25

Spatial Frameworks

Answer 25

A way of representing locations in reference to other points

Question 26

Egocentric framework

Answer 26

Spatial relation of other objects to oneself ie. turn right, turn left -parietal cortex

Question 27

Allocentric framework

Answer 27

Spatial relation of other objects with eachother -hippocampus (place cells) -objective location

Question 28

View-point depended

Answer 28

Spatial memory is view-point dependent: it relies on egocentric representations