Flashcards
Functional Aspects of Memory
Cards in this deck (5)
- 1LEARNING - process of acquiring (encoding) new information MEMORY - the ability to store and retrieve information (outcome of learning) ENGRAM - memory trace - a mental representation of a previous experience (associated to physical changes in brain) ENCODING - creating memory trace STORAGE - maintaining this over time RETRIEVING - accessing old memory tracesSCOVILE AND MILNER (1957) - HM -
head injury at 7, seizure at 10,
EXPERIMENTAL SURGERY in 1953 - target was hippocampus, took from both hemispheres, very deep - COULD NOT FORM MEMORIES
able to show improvement in motor skills but could not remember performing them
intact STM - 2KEY FINDINGS memory could be impaired selectively without loss of other cognitive functions memory function = localised to medial temporal lobes HIPPOCAMPUS - thought to be key structure for memory but impairment may be due to combined damage of hippocampus and amygdalaAMNESIA
ANTEROGRADE - inability to form memories AFTER onset of amnesia - impaired (KC)
RETERGORADE - the loss of memories formed BEFORE onset of amnesia - partially spared (HM) - 3THIS SUGGESTS THAT THE MTL ARE CRITICAL FOR THE INITIAL FORMATION/ENCODING OF NEW MEMORIES BUT NOT THE PLACE WHERE WELL ESTABLISHED LT MEMORIES ARE STORED2 KINDS OF LTM -
DECLARATIVE
NON DECLARATIVE - 4DECLARATIVE - deals with WHAT - facts and information acquired through learning KC severe anterograde amnesia + partial reterograde - semantic (prior) memory intact EPISODIC - unique events, highly personal, remember SEMANTIC - facts, culturally shared/personal, knowNEUROANATOMY -
- brain areas affected in HM: amygdala, parahippocampal cortex, hippocampus
- MDL damage causes impairment on delayed nonmatching-to-sample task
- amygdala = NOT necessary for declarative memory tasks
- hippocampus and perhinal cortex - 5NON DECLARATIVE - implicit/procedural - HOW, shown by performance rather than conscious recollection SKILL LEARNING - learning to perform a task requiring motor coordination PRIMING - change in stimulus processing due to prior exposure to stimulus CONDITIONING - association of 2 stimuli C = A between events O = association = stimulus + response