Human Learning and Memory Flashcards
What are the two main types of memory and what do they involve?
Declarative - facts and events - for conscious recollection
Procedural - habits and associations - do not require conscious recollection
What are the subtypes of declarative memory and what do they involve?
Episodic - specific events in time
Semantic - familiar objects/facts
Working - short-term hold
What are the characteristics of short-term memory?
Lasts for a few minutes
Usually involves mental rehearsal
Easily disturbed
What are the characteristics of long-term memory?
More permanent
Does not required continued rehearsal
Greater capacity
Fairly resistant to disturbance
What is the serial model of memory?
Sensory information - short-term memory - consolidation - long-term memory
What is the parallel model of memory?
Sensory information - direct to short and long-term memory - consolidation for long-term so transfer takes longer than to short-term
What are the types of amnesia and what do they involve?
Retrograde - lost memory of events before trauma - early childhood memories usually still intact
Anterograde - unable to make/retrieve new memories after trauma
What is the effect of a bilateral medial temporal lobe lesion?
No declarative memory - partial retrograde amnesia and profound anterograde amnesia
Retrieval mechanism intact
Short-term memory fairly normal
Procedural memory normal
What is the effect of midline diencephalon damage (particularly left dorsomedial thalamus)?
Profound anterograde amnesia
Partial retrograde amnesia
What is the effect of a hippocampal lesion?
Impaired declarative memory - especially spatial memory - due to place cell loss
What is the effect of a prefrontal cortex lesion?
Impaired working memory for problem-solving
