Flashcards
Memory Disorders
Cards in this deck (31)
- 1Parts of the brain involved in memoryAmygdala, Basal ganglia, Cerebellum, Frontal lobes, Occipital lobes
- 2AmygdalaRetains emotional content of episodic memories. Amygdala dysfunction is a theory of psychopathy(memories but no emotional content)
- 3Basal gangliamotor skills
- 4Cerebellumautomatized skills (motor skills which are already well-learnt e.g. riding a bike)
- 5Frontal lobesworking memory (central executive), prospective memory
- 6Occipital lobesvisual Perceptual, store faces and visual imagery
- 7‘Amnesic syndrome’memory is impaired more extensively than other cognitive functions. Most cases are usually impure, accompanied by other cognitive impairments.
- 8Organic amnesic syndromepure, result of biological damage not trauma
- 9Anterogradeinability to acquire new episodic memories
- 10Retrogradeinability to access earlier memories prior to the incident (episodic learning).
Positive correlation between anterograde and retrograde amnesia and organic amnesic syndrome - 11Causes of anterograde amnesiaalcoholic Korsakoff syndrome, bilateral brain lesions, infections
- 12Causes of organic retrograde amnesiatraumatic brain injuries, such as a blow to the head
- 13Intact memory aspects with impure amnesiaProcedural memory (motor skills) (HM):
Brooks et al (1976) similar improvement between amnesics and controls in a pursuit rotor task. Other evidence from priming, classical condition studies (Claparède, 1911)
Semantic memory e.g. ability to converse.
Able to access language from semantic stores.
IQ scores remain unchanged
Working memory. Hold and manipulate information for a short period of time.
van Geldorp, et al. 2013 Equal amongst amnesics and controls repeating random digit sequences - 14Encoding deficit hypothesislevels of processing, lack of deep semantic encoding. Cermak, Reale (1978) alcoholic Korsakoffs normal increase in recognition when deep processing.
Contradictory findings = Mayes, Meudell, and Neary (1980) amnesics and controls showed no increase in recognition in deep encoding
Sui and Humphreys (2013) self-referential encoding improves memory in amnesia. - 15Contextual processingLack the ability to link episodic memories to specific temporal and spatial context.
Huppert and Piercy (1976a) showed amnesics pics either once or twice a day on two days. Amnesics said pictures presented twice on day one were actually presented on day two - 16Retrieval deficit hypothesisdue to other competing memories.
Warrington and Weiskrantz (1970) partial information superior to a yes-no recognition test.
Contrast = Hubert and Piercy’s (1978b) two choices equally assisted controls and amnesics - 17Theories of Organic Retrograde amnesiaConsolidation theory and Multiple trace hypothesis (MTT)
- 18Consolidation theoryBiological evidence implicate the hippocampus (Baddeley et al., 2009).
Episodic memories are initially encoded and stored in the hippocampus (store for new info until it's processed into more cortical areas). Reactivation for retrieval is impaired.
(earlier memories stronger) - 19Multiple trace hypothesis (MTT)several replicas of a memory stored in the hippocampus (Nadel and Moscovitch, 1997)
Hippocampus damage causes retrieval of older memories (more replicas) recent memories lost. Gomez et al. (2012) MTT only suggests the brief involvement of the hippocampus. - 20HMRetrograde amnesia = 10-15 years prior to the operation (persevered young memories).
Intact procedural memory (got better at tracing the star but no memory of ever doing it).
- Memory loss as a result of = psychosurgery is rare - 21Korsakoff’s SyndromeCaused by thiamine deficiency (Vitamin B1 usually due to alcoholism). Patients often appear to be drunk, uncoordinated, confused, memory problems and have normal STM but anterograde amnesia. They have retrograde amnesia (temporal gradient).
- 22Viral EncephalitisCaused by herpes virus / blood-brain barrier. Sudden onset of acute fever, headache, nausea, usually extensive bilateral temporal lobe damage.
Severe amnesic disorder e.g. Clive Wearing, similar to Korsakoff’s but better insight and flatter temporal gradient (early memories may also be lost). Spatial and semantic deficits e.g. face recognition (surface dyslexia – differentiate between surface characteristic e.g. knowing pint is a form of measurement, unable to pronounce it) - 23Common cause of non-pure amnesiaDementia makes it difficult to target the memory problem. Alzheimer’s occurs in 62% of people and is a progressive disease cased by a degeneration of the brain. Impairment involves information processing deficits, and amnesia.
In 1907 Alois Alzheimer described the case of Auguste D (died age 55) who had memory loss, disorientation, hallucinations. ‘An unusual disease of the cerebral cortex’ - 24Transient Global AmnesiaRare sudden onset of anterograde and retrograde amnesia for recent events. No loss of personal identity (recognise family members). Resolves within 12 hrs (mean of 4 hours). Mostly occurs in men over 50, and triggers include emotional upset and vigorous exercise. Caused by disruption of blood flow to thalamic/medial temporal cortex. Symptoms = anxious, agitate, repetitive questioning.
- 25Psychogenic AmnesiaUncommon amnesia that isn’t due to organic factors (no biological injury). Two types of fugue states (loss of identity) and dissociative.
- 26Fugue StatesTypically wandering a long way from home. Triggers include stress, depression, and history of transient organic amnesia. Lasts hours or days and after recovery memory from the fugue state is lost.
- 27Dissociative TypeLoss of memory for specific events due to trauma (not anterograde or retro) claimed by 25-45% of homicide suspects. Pope et al., (2007) found no cases of selective amnesia reported before 1800 so could be culture bound.
- 28Intact memory in amnesics demonstratesdistinction between explicit and implicit memory. Amnesics implicit memory works automatically.
- 29Life with anterograde amnesia depends on the extent.Wilson and Hughes (1997) = anterograde amnesic was able to retrain as a furniture refinisher. Uses a Filofax to record activates with his new girlfriend.
- 30Temporal Gradient in retrograde amnesiaKnown as ‘Ribot’s (1881) law of retrograde amnesia’ recent memories are more likely to be lost (opposite of forgetting). Temporal gradient may be due to slow consolidation processes, earlier memories have had longer to be consolidated
- 31Accelerated forgetting (theory of anterograde)Info is encoded but forgotten quickly.
Patients with hippocampal lesions forget faster than controls (Huppert & Piercy, 1979; Squire, 1981). In other studies forgetting rate is the same.
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- Flashcards on Memory Disorders, created by lauradavies94 on 21/05/2014.
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