Week 4: Chapter 18 - Learning and Memory

Question 1

How did Frederic Bartlett describe memory?

Answer 1

As an active process of reconstruction, not passive recording.

Question 2

What is the ‘gist’ in memory according to Schacter and Addis?

Answer 2

A simplified memory trace that supports future planning but is prone to errors.

Question 3

Why are amnesic individuals less prone to false recognition in memory tests?

Answer 3

They form more accurate item-specific memories but lack semantic gist.

Question 4

What is an example of perceptual encoding differences in memory?

Answer 4

Drawing a tilted waterline vs. horizontal waterline in a tilted glass sketch.

Question 5

What is recommended for effective studying and memory recall?

Answer 5

Mimicking test conditions using active recall and top-down processing.

Question 6

What brain area is critical for memory and affected in H.M.?

Answer 6

The medial temporal lobe, including the hippocampus.

Question 7

What is childhood amnesia and what may cause it?

Answer 7

The inability to recall early life events; possibly due to hippocampal immaturity or neurogenesis.

Question 8

What are fugue states?

Answer 8

Transient amnesias where personal memory is lost but skills and language are retained.

Question 9

What are category-specific amnesias?

Answer 9

Selective memory loss for specific categories, like fruits or animals.

Question 10

What memory impairments are seen in Alzheimer’s disease?

Answer 10

Extensive anterograde and retrograde amnesia beginning in the medial temporal lobe.

Question 11

What is anterograde amnesia?

Answer 11

Inability to form new memories after brain injury.

Question 12

What is retrograde amnesia?

Answer 12

Loss of memories formed before a brain injury.

Question 13

What is time-dependent retrograde amnesia?

Answer 13

Temporary memory loss surrounding a trauma that gradually shrinks over time.

Question 14

What is the system consolidation theory of memory?

Answer 14

Memories are initially stored in the hippocampus and then transferred to neocortex.

Question 15

What does multiple-trace theory propose?

Answer 15

Memories are distributed across brain regions and re-encoded over time, especially autobiographical ones.

Question 16

What is reconsolidation theory?

Answer 16

Memories become labile upon recall and can be modified before being stored again.

Question 17

How does reconsolidation affect memory accuracy?

Answer 17

Each recall can alter the memory, blending original and reconstructed elements.

Question 18

Why are older memories more resistant to brain injury?

Answer 18

They have had more chances to be re-encoded in various formats and regions.

Question 19

What is explicit memory?

Answer 19

A conscious, intentional form of memory including episodic and semantic types.

Question 20

What characterises episodic memory?

Answer 20

Personal recall of singular autobiographical events with subjective and emotional context.

Question 21

What is autonoetic awareness?

Answer 21

The ability to mentally travel through time, connecting past, present, and future experiences.

Question 22

What brain regions are involved in autonoetic awareness?

Answer 22

Right ventral prefrontal cortex and uncinate fasciculus.

Question 23

What is semantic memory?

Answer 23

General knowledge about the world, language, and facts independent of personal experience.

Question 24

Which brain regions support semantic memory?

Answer 24

Temporal and frontal areas near, but distinct from, those supporting episodic memory.

Question 25

What are the main neural substrates of explicit memory?

Answer 25

Hippocampus, rhinal cortices, prefrontal cortex, and thalamic nuclei.

Question 26

What are the two main hippocampal pathways?

Answer 26

The perforant pathway and the fimbria-fornix.

Question 27

What is the function of the hippocampus?

Answer 27

Supports episodic memory, integrates sensory input, and guides behavioural regulation.

Question 28

What symptoms result from extensive hippocampal damage?

Answer 28

Loss of episodic memory and ability to imagine future personal events.

Question 29

How do children with early hippocampal damage present?

Answer 29

Impaired spatial and autobiographical memory but intact language and semantic knowledge.

Question 30

What roles do anterior and posterior hippocampus play?

Answer 30

Anterior processes general memories; posterior supports detailed recollections.

Question 31

What do the perirhinal and entorhinal cortices do?

Answer 31

Support semantic memory and object recognition.

Question 32

What does damage to the rhinal cortex impair?

Answer 32

Recognition of objects.

Question 33

What does damage to the hippocampus impair (in monkeys)?

Answer 33

Memory for context and spatial location.

Question 34

What is the right temporal lobe specialised for?

Answer 34

Nonverbal memory: faces, spatial location, maze learning.

Question 35

What is the left temporal lobe specialised for?

Answer 35

Verbal memory: word lists, digit sequences.

Question 36

What memory test is affected by right temporal damage?

Answer 36

Corsi block-tapping test.

Question 37

What is the Hebb recurring-digits test used for?

Answer 37

Assessing verbal memory, especially affected by left temporal lobe damage.

Question 38

What deficits occur with parietal and occipital damage?

Answer 38

Colour amnesia, prosopagnosia, object anomia, topographic amnesia.

Question 39

What is the HERA model?

Answer 39

A model explaining hemispheric differences in memory encoding and retrieval.

Question 40

What does the HERA model say about the left prefrontal cortex?

Answer 40

It is involved in encoding both semantic and episodic memory.

Question 41

What does the HERA model say about the right prefrontal cortex?

Answer 41

It is more active during retrieval of episodic memory.

Question 42

Which other brain region contributes to memory retrieval?

Answer 42

The posterior parietal cortex.

Question 43

What is implicit memory?

Answer 43

Non-conscious, unintentional memory for skills, habits, and conditioned behaviours.

Question 44

How does implicit memory differ from explicit memory?

Answer 44

It relies on bottom-up processing and does not require conscious recollection.

Question 45

What did studies with H.M. reveal about implicit memory?

Answer 45

Despite explicit memory loss, he improved in tasks like mirror drawing, showing intact implicit memory.

Question 46

What is priming in the context of implicit memory?

Answer 46

Improved response to a stimulus due to previous exposure, without conscious awareness.

Question 47

How do modality effects influence implicit memory?

Answer 47

Implicit memory declines when learning and recall occur in different sensory modes.

Question 48

What brain areas support implicit memory?

Answer 48

Motor cortex, basal ganglia (caudate nucleus and putamen), and cerebellum.

Question 49

What is the cerebellum’s role in memory?

Answer 49

Supports motor learning and classical conditioning (e.g., eyeblink response).

Question 50

What is emotional memory?

Answer 50

Memory involving affective components, which may be vivid and long-lasting.

Question 51

How is fear conditioning used to study emotional memory?

Answer 51

A neutral stimulus is paired with an aversive one, later triggering a fear response.

Question 52

What brain structure is key for emotional memory?

Answer 52

The amygdala.

Question 53

What does the amygdala connect to for emotional responses?

Answer 53

The hypothalamus and autonomic nervous system.

Question 54

What happens when the amygdala is damaged?

Answer 54

Impairment in emotional memory but preservation of explicit and implicit memory.

Question 55

What is LeDoux’s concept of the amygdala’s function?

Answer 55

A 'survival circuit' triggering defensive responses.

Question 56

What helps consolidate emotional memories?

Answer 56

Hormonal responses and brainstem arousal systems.

Question 57

How can emotional memories influence behaviour without conscious recall?

Answer 57

Through nonconscious recall and physiological reactions.

Question 58

What did Sainsbury and Coristine (1986) find about emotional memory in dementia?

Answer 58

Patients preferred photos of relatives without recognising them, showing nonconscious emotional recall.

Question 59

What is short-term memory (STM)?

Answer 59

Temporarily holds sensory, motor, or cognitive info for seconds to minutes.

Question 60

What brain pathways support STM?

Answer 60

Ventral stream (to ventrolateral PFC) for object info; dorsal stream (to dorsolateral PFC) for spatial info.

Question 61

How can STM be impaired without affecting long-term memory?

Answer 61

Lesions in the left posterior temporal lobe can selectively impair verbal STM.

Question 62

What is the role of the frontal lobes in STM?

Answer 62

Frontal lesions cause difficulty maintaining/updating info and suppressing interference.

Question 63

What are the effects of frontal-lobe damage in recency tasks?

Answer 63

Impaired nonverbal recency (right frontal); verbal recognition (left temporal).

Question 64

What does Moscovitch’s interference task reveal about STM?

Answer 64

Frontal patients fail to release from proactive interference when context changes.

Question 65

What do monkey studies reveal about STM systems?

Answer 65

Premotor cortex handles spatial STM; DLPFC supports object STM.

Question 66

What do human imaging studies show about STM tasks?

Answer 66

Spatial STM activates left area 8; object STM activates right mid-dorsolateral PFC.

Question 67

What is transient global amnesia?

Answer 67

Sudden, temporary memory loss that typically resolves but may leave subtle deficits.

Question 68

What are the effects of herpes simplex encephalitis on memory?

Answer 68

Causes severe bilateral temporal damage, leading to profound anterograde and retrograde amnesia.

Question 69

What brain region may be crucial for accessing old memories?

Answer 69

The insula.

Question 70

What memory impairments occur in Alzheimer's disease?

Answer 70

Starts with anterograde amnesia, progresses to retrograde; primarily affects explicit memory early.

Question 71

What are six key symptoms of Korsakoff’s syndrome?

Answer 71

Anterograde amnesia, retrograde amnesia, confabulation, sparse content, lack of insight, apathy.

Question 72

What brain areas are damaged in Korsakoff’s syndrome?

Answer 72

Medial thalamus, mammillary bodies, and often the frontal lobes.

Question 73

What are the three major neurotransmitter systems for memory?

Answer 73

Cholinergic (basal forebrain), serotonergic (midbrain), noradrenergic (brainstem).

Question 74

What happens with damage to two neurotransmitter systems?

Answer 74

Severe amnesia and sleep-like EEG patterns despite wakefulness.