Memory Flashcards
(42 cards)
Define memory
the processes by which information is encoded, stored and retrieved for the purposes of remembering the past, informing current behaviour and planning the future
Name the 3 stages of memory as well as a short description about each
Encoding: converting the info acquired by your senses into patterns of activity within groups of neurons within the brain
Storage: retention of information acquired by your senses
Retrieval: recollection of information stored in memory
What is the “tip of the tongue” phenomenon?
a type of retrieval failure accompanied by the strong feeling that temporarily forgotten info is one the verge of being recalled
What is sensory memory?
persisting representation of a sensory stimulus for a brief period after it is no longer physically present
Name the 3 main types of sensory memory as well as the cortical areas in which they are mainly processed
- Visual: iconic memory (visual cortex)
- Auditory: echoic memory (auditory cortex)
- Tactile: haptic memory (somatosensory cortex)
Describe iconic memories (how much time they are stored for, example)
Iconic memories
Stored for less than 500 milliseconds
Essential to detect changes in the environment
• Ex: writing name in the air with a sparkler
Describe echoic memories (how much time they are stored for, example)
Echoic memories
Persist up to 10 seconds
• Ex: keeping track of speech during a conversation
Describe haptic memories (how much time they are stored for, example)
Haptic memories
Approx. 2 seconds
• Ex: manipulating and recognizing objects by touch
Define working memory
A memory register of limited capacity for both the amount of information it can store and the time for which information is retained. ( AKA short term memory)
WM is vulnerable to…
Vulnerable to disruption: if the info in working memory ceases to be the focus of our attention, it will be forgotten
• Ex: meeting a friend while going to the store, chatting, and forgetting what you rehearsed earlier
According to the multicomponent WM model, what are the 4 essential components of WM?
• Visuospatial sketch pad (stores visual images)
• Phonological loop (stores verbal info - rehearses and transforms images in phonological code)
• Episodic buffer (integrates info from loop and sketch pad with a sense of time, so they are remembered as a sequence of events)
• Central executive
○ Focuses attention
○ Divides attention
○ Permit switching from task to task
○ Interface with long-term memory
Name 2 ways in which WM interacts with LTM
- Subset of info in WM may be stored in LTM eventually
* Info in WM comes from focusing on info in LTM and incoming sensory info
Name a few of the functions of the prefrontal cortex
Prefrontal cortex: responsible for executive functions (AKA cognitive control) • Control of attention • Planning • Goal Setting • Judgement • Self-Control • Working Memory
Name the areas of the prefrontal cortex. Which of these are mostly associated with WM?
Areas of prefrontal cortex: • Orbitofrontal • Rostral • Dorsolateral** • Ventrolateral** • Dorsomedial • Ventromedial **: most associated with WM
What is the delayed response task?
1- food randomly placed on one of 2 plates in front of monkey
2- monkey’s view is covered for some time
3- monkey reaches for the food
What is the oculomotor delayed response task?
Oculomotor delayed-response task: Another similar task where monkeys had to remember where a square was on a blank screen indicated that neurons in the dorsolateral area were active during the task, confirming that the prefrontal cortex is involved in WM
Define Long Term Memory
Refers to a memory register of potentially unlimited capacity for both the amount of information it can store and the time for which information is retained
What are the 2 main types of LTM?
Declarative and nondeclarative memories
What is declarative memory? Name and describe its 2 sub types
Declarative memories: require the conscious recollection of information (AKA explicit memories)
Semantic Memories: memories for learned facts (no need to re-experience the context in which it was learned)
Episodic memories: memories for life events (rich in contextual details) - their retrieval requires mental time travel (re-experiencing the event)
Episodic memories require 2 important components, what are they?
- Include the awareness of the passage of subjective time (chronesthesia)
- Require autonoetic consciousness (ability to reflect on past event while being aware that those are your own memories)
Describe non declarative memories
expressed only through the performance of a task/habit without the need for conscious recollection of information (AKA implicit memory)
Name the 3 main ways in which nondeclarative memories can be acquierd
Acquired through:
Classical Conditioning
• Of emotional responses: pairing stimulus likely to trigger an emotional reaction with a neutral stimulus
• Of motor responses: pair stimulus likely to trigger a motor response with a neutral stimulus
Priming
• Type of nondeclarative memory in which exposure to a stimulus influences your response to a stimulus presented later
§ Ex: more likely to notice a piece of clothing on someone if you own the same piece
NonAssociative Learning
• Reflex pathway
There is 1 sub type of nondeclarative memory, what is it?
Procedural memory (a sub-type of nondeclarative memory)
• Type of nondeclarative memory that leads to the performance of skills and habit without the need for the conscious recollection of information
§ Ex: unlocking a lock without knowing what the numbers are
Name the 2 main brain regions involved in declarative memories
- Medial temporal lobes
- Including the hippocampus and related cortical areas; the perirhinal, entorhinal, and parahippocampal cortices and the amygdala
- Medial Diencephalon
- Includes the thalamus and the mammillary bodies of the hypothalamus
- Hippocampus is connected via bundle of fibers named fornix
