Memory, Attention and perception and Brain and Behaviour Flashcards
(25 cards)
What regions of the brain does episodic memory involve
The medial temporal lobes, including the hippocampus and parahippocampal cortex
What are the stages of memory processing
Registration : Input from our senses into the memory system
Encoding : Processing and combining of received information
Storage : Holding of that input in memory system
Retrieval : Recovering stored info from memory system
What are the different types of long term memory
Declerative
Non-declerative
Describe declerative memory
It is available for conscious retrieval and can be declared
Involves the medial temporal lobe and diencephalon
Semantic memory is for general knowledge
Episodic memory is memory related to personal experience
To test ask recall questions
Describe non-declerative memory
It is experience induced changes in behaviour that cannot be declared
Involves the striatum, neocortex, amygdala and cerebellum
Examples : Riding a bike (skills), phobias (conditioning)
What are basic strategies of enhancing long term memory
PQRST - Preview, Question, Read, Summary, Test
Mnemonics
Assimilation - linking old and new knowledge
Define sensation
A stimulus detection system by which our sense organs respond to and translate environmental stimuli into nerve impulses that are sent to the brain
Define perception
The active process of organising the stimulus output and giving it meaning
What is top down processing and what is it influenced by
Top down processing is processing in light of existing knowledge
It is influenced by : motives, expectations, previous experiences and cultural expectations
What factors affect top down processing
Attention
Past experiences
Current drive state (hungry people notice food stimuli more)
Emotions (anxiety increases threat perception)
Individual values and expectations (if you expect something to hurt it hurts more)
Cultural background
Environment
What is bottom up processing
Bottom up processing is the response to individual elements that sense organs detect and translation of environmental stimuli into nerve impulses that are sent out to the brain
What factors affect visual perception
Continuity : Being compelled to move from one object to another
Similarity : More likely to group together similar objects
Proximity : Objects near each other are grouped together
Closure : Things are grouped together if they seem to complete some entity
List some disorders of visual perception
Visual agnosia : Primary visual cortex is mainly intact
- Associated with bilateral lesions to occipital, occipotemporal and occipoparietal lobes
Apperceptive agnosia : Caused by damage to the lower level occipital regions
- Individual elements are perceived normally, so may be able to identify letters individually in a word but not the word itself
Associative agnosia : Caused by damage to the higher order occipital regions
- Can perceive colour, texture and shape all normally
- Typically can recognise objects by touch but not by sight
What processes does attention require
Focus on the aspect
Filter out irrelevant information
Describe 2 types of attention
Focused : Ability to respond to specific, visual, auditory or tactile stimuli
Divided : Ability to respond to multiple tasks or demands
What factors are known to influence perception and attention
Stimuli based - Intensity - Novelty - Movement - Contrast - Repetition Personal factors - Motives/interests - Threats - Mood - Arousal
What are the influences on language
Genetics (some mutations can cause language defects)
Conditions (autism, ADHD, developmental verbal dysbraxia, hearing impairments)
Environment (e.g. Genie was deprived of social interaction and was still linguistically incompetent after rehab)
What is the critical period for language
From birth to 3 years old
From 3 to 8 years the ease of learning language decreases
What brain regions are associated with language
Usually left hemisphere specialisation
Broca’s area (left frontal lobe) - production of speech
Wernicke’s area (post temporal lobe) - understanding language
What would you see in someone with Broca’s aphasia
Problems responding to language
Non-fluent speech, impaired repetition, poor ability to produce functional sentences
Intact comprehension
What would you see in someone with Wernicke’s aphasia
Fluent meaningless speech
Paraphasia - error producing certain words
- Can be semantic - similar meaning (house and barn)
- Can be phonemic - similar sounding (house and mouse)
Neoligms (non words), poor repetition, impaired writing
What are executive functions
Mental processes that enable us to plan, focus, pay attention to, remember instructions or carry out multiple tasks successfull
Describe some characteristics of dysexecutive syndrome
It is a disruption of executive function related to frontal lobe damage
Causes - trauma, tumours, degenerative disease, cerebrovascular disease
Has cognitive, emotional and behavioural symptoms
State some symptoms of dysexecutive syndrome
The symptoms lie on a spectrum and can be the complete opposites
- Hypoactivity (hyperactivity)
- Lack of drive (impulsive)
- Apathetic (disinhibited)
- Poor initiation of tasks (perseverative)
- Emotional bluntness (Dysregulation)
- Socially inappropriate
- Reduced empathy (rude, crass, prone to swearing)
