Lecture 12: Memory & Amnesia Flashcards
Multiple Memory Theory
the idea that we have a number of different kinds of memory, each of which is dependent on different neural structures
Anterograde Amnesia
inability to acquire new memories subsequent to a disturbance such as head injury, electroconvulsive shock, or certain degenerative diseases
Retrograde Amnesia
an inability to remember events that took place before the onset of amnesia
Time-Dependent Amnesia
amnesia that is typically induced by traumatic brain injury, the severity of which determines how far back in time the amnesia extends, from the present to the more-distant past and generally shrinking over time, often leaving a residual amnesia of only a few seconds to a minutes for events immediately preceding the injury
Childhood (Infantile) Amnesia
an inability to remember events from infancy or early childhood
Fugue State
a sudden, usually transient, memory loss of personal history accompanied by abrupt departure from home and assumption of a new identity
Explicit Memory
a memory in which a participant can retrieve an item and indicate that he or she knows the item (i.e. conscious memory)
conscious, intentional remembering of events, facts, and personal experiences (episodic memories) that depends on conceptually driven, top-down processing in which a person reorganizes the data to store it
Episodic (Autobiographical) Memory
memory of life experiences that is centered on the person him- or herself
a person’s recall of singular events that enables human beings to remember personal experiences
Autonoetic Awareness
awareness of one’s self, or self-knowledge
Uncinate Fasciculus
a fiber pathway connecting temporal and frontal cortices
a hooked or curved tract
Semantic Memory
a memory of world knowledge stored independently of the time and place at which it was acquired
Ammon’s Horn
a region of the hippocampal formation named for the mythological horn of plenty
Dentate Gyrus
the region of the hippocampal formation
Granule Cells
sensory cells of the hippocampus
neurons that are round in appearance
Perforant Pathway
a pathway that connects (“perforates”) the hippocampus to medical temporal (limbic) regions
when disrupted, results in major hippocampal dysfunction
Fimbria Fornix
a pathway that connects the hippocampus to the thalamus, prefrontal cortex, basil ganglia, and hypothalamus
Entorhinal Cortex
cortex on the medial surface of the temporal lobe that provides a major route for neocortical input to the hippocampal formation
often shows degeneration in Alzheimer disease
Implicit Memory
a nonconscious and nonintentional memory of learned skills, conditioned reactions, and events
Priming
an experimental technique that involves using a stimulus to sensitive the nervous system to a later presentation of the same or a similar stimulus
Depth-of-Processing Effect
an improvement in subsequent recall of an object that a person has given thought to (in terms of, e.g. its meaning or shape)
Study-Test Modality Shift
the process by which people, when presented with information in one modality (reading) and tested in another modality (aurally), display poorer performance than when they are instructed and tested in the same modality
Huntington Disease
a hereditary disorder characterized by chorea (ceaseless, involuntary jerky movements) and progressive dementia, ending in death
Classical (Pavlovian) Conditioning
a form of nonconscious learning in which a neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus that evokes behavior
Emotional Memory
a memory for the affective properties of stimuli or events that is arousing, vivid, and available on prompting
Fear Conditioning
a form of learning in which a noxious stimulus is paired with a neutral stimulus to elicit an emotional response
Panic Disorder
a disorder characterized by recurrent attacks of intense terror that arise without warning and without any apparent relationship to external circumstances
