Other Brain Areas in Memory

Other Brain Areas in Memory

1. INV asked 2 patients with parietal lobe damage to describe various events from their past

   • when tested this way, their episodic memory appeared sparse, almost devoid of details
     • However, INV asked follow up q's
       • patients answered reasonable detail indicating their episodic memories were intact as well as speech and willingness to cooperate
         • what was lacking was ability to elaborate on memory spontaneously
   • Usually, when we recall events, one thing reminds us of another and we add details until we say all we know
     • In people with parietal lobe damage that process of associating one piece of another is impaired

2. other brain areas are important for learning and memory

   • Amygdala important for fear of memory

3. People with damage to anterior and inferior regions of temporal lobe suffer semantic dementia

   • loss of semantic memory
   • one patient while riding down road saw some sheep and asked what they were
     • problem wasn't that he couldn't remember the word it was that he never seen sheep before
       • lost the concept not the word
   • not sole point of storage for semantic memory
     • areas store some of info and serve as hub for communicating with other brain areas to bring together a full concept

4. serious deficits in semantic memory occur only after bilateral damage

   • people with damage to temporal cortex is just one hemisphere perform approximately normally

5. parts of prefrontal cortex are important for learning about rewards and punishments

   • basal ganglia also learn about ears values of various actions but learn slowly based on average reward over long period of time
   • prefrontal cortex responds more quickly, based on most recent events

6. cells in orbitofrontal cortex respond based on how that reward compares to other possible choices.

   • cells in orbitofrontal cortex are also important for self control
   • once between small reward and large you try to retrain your impulse to take immediate reward
     • if orbitofrontal cortex is damaged or temporarily inactivated you become more likely to tai the immediate reward

7. Children have trouble restraining their impulses, because the prefrontal cortex is slow to mature