Memory - Chps. 8 & 9

Question 1

Memory?

Answer 1

Processes by which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved.

Question 2

Encoding?

Answer 2

Also called learning. The incorporation of new information into a memory store, which requires the modification or creation of memory traces.

Question 3

Storage?

Answer 3

The retention of information over time.

Question 4

Retrieval?

Answer 4

The recovery or accessing of stored memory traces.

Question 5

Learning?

Answer 5

The combined effect of all encoding, storage, and retrieval in gradually enhancing the performance of a particular task.

Question 6

Working Memory?

Answer 6

Memory help briefly in the mind that enables completion of a particular task.

Question 7

Declarative Memory?

Answer 7

Also called explicit memory. Memory available to consciousness that can be expressed by language.

Question 8

Nondeclarative Memory?

Answer 8

Also called implicit memory. Memory expressed through performance; assumed to operate unconsciously.

Question 9

Amnesia?

Answer 9

The pathological inability to remember or to establish memories.

Question 10

Childhood Amnesia?

Answer 10

Also called pediatric amnesia. In adults, the inability to remember the early years of childhood.

Question 11

Anterograde Amnesia?

Answer 11

The inability to lay down new memories.

Question 12

Retrograde Amnesia?

Answer 12

The inability to recall memories for events that happened before the lesion or brain disorder that causes the memory loss.

Question 13

Priming?

Answer 13

Facilitated processing of a particular stimulus based on previous encounters with the same or a related stimulus.

Question 14

Skill Learning?

Answer 14

Gradual improvement in the performance of a motor or cognitive task as a result of extensive experience and repeated practice.

Question 15

Conditioning?

Answer 15

The generation of a novel response that is gradually elicited by repeated pairing of a novel stimulus with a stimulus that elicits the response being studied.

Question 16

Direct Priming?

Answer 16

Also called repetition priming. The facilitation of recall in which the prime and the target are identical or have the same name.

Question 17

Indirect Priming?

Answer 17

The facilitation of recall by an item that is not directly related to that item.

Question 18

Semantic Priming?

Answer 18

A form of indirect priming in which the prime and the target are semantically related.

Question 19

Perceptual Priming?

Answer 19

A form of direct priming in which the test cue and the target are perceptually related.

Question 20

Conceptual Priming?

Answer 20

A form of direct priming in which the test cue and the target are semantically related.

Example: “Doctor” primes you to recognize the word “nurse” faster.

Question 21

Levels of Processing?

Answer 21

Declarative memory encoding is usually better when information is processed at a semantic (deep) level rather than at a perceptual (shallow) level.

Question 22

Repetition Suppression?

Answer 22

Also called neural priming. A phenomenon observed in functional neuroimaging studies in which previously encountered stimuli evoke smaller hemodynamic responses than do novel stimuli.

Question 23

Sharpening Theory?

Answer 23

Priming theory which proposes that when a stimulus is repeated neurons that are not essential fire less, leading to a more efficient “sharpened” representation and a reduction in neural activity.

Question 24

Spreading Activation?

Answer 24

Hypothetical mechanism whereby the activation of a node in the semantic network spreads to associated nodes.

Question 25

Classical Conditioning?

Answer 25

Also called conditioned reflex. The modification of an innate reflex by associating its normal triggering stimulus with an unrelated stimulus. The unrelated stimulus comes to trigger the original response by virtue of this repeated association.

Question 26

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)?

Answer 26

In classical conditioning, the stimulus that naturally triggers the innate reflex.

Question 27

Unconditioned Response (UR)?

Answer 27

In classical conditioning, the innate reflex that is naturally triggered by a particular stimulus.

Question 28

Conditioned Response (CR)?

Answer 28

In classical conditioning, the reflex that is triggered by a novel stimulus by virtue of repeated association.

Question 29

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)?

Answer 29

In classical conditioning, the novel stimulus that eventually comes to trigger the innate reflex by virtue of repeated association.

Question 30

Operant Conditioning?

Answer 30

The altered probability of a behavioral response engendered by associating responses with rewards (or punishments).

Question 31

Skinner Box?

Answer 31

A device, used in operant conditioning, in which animals such as pigeons or rates learn to press a lever to receive a food pellet.

Question 32

Acquisition?

Answer 32

In conditioning, the gradual learning of a conditioned response.

Question 33

Extinction?

Answer 33

The gradual disappearance of a conditioned response that is no longer being rewarded.

Question 34

Eyeblink Conditioning?

Answer 34

A paradigm in which a puff of air is repeatedly paired with a tone until the tone by itself elicits blinking.

Question 35

Delay Conditioning?

Answer 35

A form of classical conditioning in which the conditioned stimulus is still ongoing when the unconditioned stimulus starts, and they both terminate at the same time.

Question 36

Trace Conditioning?

Answer 36

A form of classical conditioning in which there is a brief time interval between the end of the conditioned stimulus and the start of the unconditioned stimulus.

Question 37

Engram?

Answer 37

Also called memory trace. The physical basis of a stored memory.

Question 38

Hebbian Learning?

Answer 38

The idea, proposed by Donald Hebb in the late 1940s, that when presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons fire action potentials together, the strength of the synaptic connections between them is enhanced. Hebb's rule is often stated as "cells that fire together wire together".

Question 39

Habituation?

Answer 39

The process by which a behavioral response to the same stimulus decreases in intensity, frequency, or duration when that stimulus is repeated over and over.

Question 40

Sensitization?

Answer 40

The process by which a behavioral response to an otherwise benign stimulus increases in intensity, frequency, or duration when that stimulus is paired with an aversive stimulus.

Question 41

Long-term Potentiation (LTP)?

Answer 41

A long-lasting enhancement of synaptic strength as a result of repetitive activity.

Question 42

Specifity?

Answer 42

In LTP, only the synapses activated during stimulation show enhancement; other synapses, even on the same neuron, are not affected.

Question 43

Associativity?

Answer 43

In long-term potentiation, the enhancement of a weakly activated group of synapses when a nearby group is strongly activated.

Question 44

Long-term Depression (LTD)?

Answer 44

A long-lasting diminishment of synaptic strength as a result of repetitive activity.

Question 45

Behavioral LTP?

Answer 45

A change in synaptic efficacy similar to LTP that follows an actual learning experience.

Question 46

Dendritic Spine?

Answer 46

A small extension from the surface of a dendrite that receives synapses.

Question 47

Episodic Memory?

Answer 47

Declarative memory that refers to memory for personally experiences past events.

Question 48

Autobiographical Memory?

Answer 48

Memory of one's personal experiences.

Question 49

Recollection?

Answer 49

Remembering a past event, as well as specific associations and contextual details.

Question 50

Familiarity?

Answer 50

The feeling of having experienced an event at some point in the past, even though no specific associations or contextual detail come to mind.

Question 51

Consolidation?

Answer 51

The strengthening of memory traces following encoding.

Question 52

Retrieval Cue?

Answer 52

Any information that leads to the retrieval of memories, such as the hits provided by memory tests.

Question 53

Cognitive Map Theory?

Answer 53

A theory positing that the hippocampus mediates memory for spatial relations among objects in the environment.

Question 54

Relation Memory Theory?

Answer 54

A theory positing that the hippocampus is involved in primarily encoding and retrieving associations between items, including spatial associations but also other types of associations.

Question 55

Episodic Memory Theory?

Answer 55

A theory positing that the hippocampus is critical for episodic memory but not for semantic memory.

Question 56

Semantic Dementia?

Answer 56

A memory deficit that impairs semantic memory rather than episodic memory and is associated with left-lateralized atrophy of the anterior temporal lobe.

Question 57

Sensory / Functional Theory?

Answer 57

Theory which postulates that semantic memory is organized by sensory and functional properties of real objects.

Question 58

Domain-specific Theory?

Answer 58

Theory which postulates that semantic memory is organized by semantic categories, such as living vs. nonliving things.

Question 59

Trans-appropriate Process?

Answer 59

The hypothesis that memory performance depends on a match between the conditions surrounding the encoding and retrieval of a stimulus.

Question 60

Subsequent Memory Effect (SME)?

Answer 60

In functional neuroimaging studies, greater study-phase activity for items that are remembered rather than forgotten in a later memory test.

Question 61

Memory search?

Answer 61

A process during memory retrieval that explores possible locations of a target memory.

Question 62

Recovery?

Answer 62

During memory retrieval, the process of accessing stored memory traces.

Question 63

Monitoring?

Answer 63

The process that evaluates the appropriateness of a given behavior for the current context.

Question 64

Retrieval Mode?

Answer 64

The mental state of episodic retrieval, which is assumed to be qualitatively different from the mental states of other cognitive abilities.

Question 65

Item Recognition Test?

Answer 65

Memory test that measure memory for the occurrence of items independently of their contexts.

Question 66

Source Memory Test?

Answer 66

Also called context memory test. An explicit test of memory that asks participants to remember not merely what events happened in the past but where, when, or how they happened.

Question 67

Recall Test?

Answer 67

Memory test that requires generating the target information.

Question 68

Confabulation?

Answer 68

In patients with memory disorders, the generation of false memories for complex autobiographical events.

Question 69

Synaptic Consolidation?

Answer 69

Memory consolidation involving changes in synapses that presumably allow the persistence of some forms of memory traces at the cellular level.

Question 70

System Consolidation?

Answer 70

Memory consolidation involving a reorganization of the brain regions that support the memory in question. In the case of declarative memory, refers to a decrease in the role of the hippocampus and an increase in the role of the cortex over time.

Question 71

Standard Consolidation Theory?

Answer 71

A theory positing that the hippocampus rapidly encodes an integrated representation of an event or concept, which is then slowly transferred to the cortex and eventually becomes independent of the hippocampus.

Question 72

Multiple Trace Theory?

Answer 72

A theory positing that episodic memories, consolidated or otherwise, always depend on the hippocampus.

Question 73

Echoic Memory?

Answer 73

Auditory sensory input.

Question 74

Iconic Memory?

Answer 74

Visual sensory input.

Question 75

Double Dissociation between LTM & STM?

Answer 75

**Double dissociation** of **Long-Term Memory (LTM)** and **Short-Term Memory (STM)** refers to the idea that these two types of memory are controlled by separate brain processes. This means that damage to one type of memory can affect it without impacting the other. For example, a person could have difficulty remembering things for a short period, like a phone number (which would indicate a problem with STM), but still retain the ability to remember past events (indicating intact LTM). Conversely, someone could struggle with recalling past experiences (indicating damage to LTM), but still remember something briefly, like a phone number, suggesting their STM is still functional. This demonstrates that STM and LTM are distinct systems in the brain.

Question 76

Double dissociation between verbal STM and visual STM​?

Answer 76

**Double dissociation between verbal STM (Short-Term Memory) and visual STM** refers to the idea that these two types of memory are controlled by different brain mechanisms, and damage to one can affect only that type of memory without impacting the other. For example, a person might have trouble remembering spoken information, like a list of words (indicating damage to verbal STM), but still be able to remember visual information, like the arrangement of objects in a scene (indicating intact visual STM). On the other hand, another person might struggle to remember visual information, such as the location of objects, but still have no problem remembering spoken information. This shows that verbal STM and visual STM are separate systems, each relying on different brain processes, and damage to one does not necessarily affect the other.

Question 77

What are the components of the Hippocampal Complex?

Answer 77

Hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, perirhinal cortex, and the parahippocampal cortex.

Question 78

Hippocampus in Hippocampal Complex? Damage results in?

Answer 78

Seems to be involved in spatial memory. Damage = difficulty forming new memories, past memories are intact, but there is an issue with making new ones. Also spatial disorientation.

Question 79

Entorhinal Cortex in Hippocampal Complex? Damage results in?

Answer 79

Sends information from the Perirhinal cortex to other areas in the hippocampus; responsible for how we navigate ourselves in space. Damage = can lead to early stages of alzheimer's disease; it is similar to damage of the hippocampus. "Bridge", it sends info. from parahippocampal and perirhinal cortexes to hippocampus.

Question 80

Perirhinal Cortex in Hippocampal Complex? Damage results in?

Answer 80

Is responsible for object recognition and memory. Damage = difficulty recognizing familiar objects / faces; see an object but no memory of its significance.

Question 81

Parahippocampal Cortex in Hippocampal Complex? Damage results in?

Answer 81

Provides information to memory about context; active for recollection. Damage = you might still remember the facts (like someone's name or an event) but struggle to recall the details around it, such as where you were or what else was going on at the time. This could lead to memories that feel incomplete or unclear because the context is missing.

Question 82

Hippocampal Complex?

Answer 82

Is important for episodic memory. Its most prominent role is consolidation. Denate gyrus --> CA3 --> CA1

Question 83

Double dissociation between episodic memory and semantic memory?

Answer 83

Amnesia affects episodic memory (loss of personal experiences) but leaves semantic memory (general knowledge) relatively intact. In contrast, semantic dementia affects semantic memory (loss of facts and knowledge) while leaving episodic memory relatively preserved, especially in the early stages. This shows that episodic memory and semantic memory are controlled by different brain regions and processes, demonstrating a double dissociation.