Biopsychology: Chapter 5 - Learning, Memory, and Amnesia

Learning

deals with how experience changes the brain.

Memory

deals with how these changes are stored and subsequently reactivated.

Digit Span + 1 Test

classic test of verbal long-term memory where the patient should recite the series of digits first spoken by the neuropsychologist or doctor.

Block-tapping memory-span test

array of 9 blocks; neuropsychologist touch a sequence of them and then to repeat the same sequence of touches.

Mirror-Drawing Test

used for anterograde amnesia; asked to trace the star 10 times on each of 3 consecutive days.

Rotary-Pursuit Test

subject tries to keep the tip of a stylus in contact with a target that rotates on a revolving turntable.

Incomplete-Pictures Test

a nonsensorimotor test of memory that employs five sets of fragmented drawings.

Pavlovian Conditioning (classical conditioning)

producing a change in behavior forming association between thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors and an event or emotional state. (skill learning)

Henry Gustav Molaison

Patient HM; most important patient in the history of brain science.

Profound Amnesia

Severe memory loss (containes Retrogade/Anterograde Amnesia.

Bilateral Medial Temporal Lobe Ressection / Bilateral Medial Temporal Lobectomy

Removing a portion of temporal lobe including parts of the hippocampus and amygdala, from both sides of the brain.

Amnesic Effects of Bilateral Medial Temporal Lobectomy

Retrograde and Anterograde Amnesia

Retrograde

(backward-acting) unable to remember the past.

Anterograde

(forward-acting) unable to form new memories

Explicit Memories

conscious memories (declarative); involves conscious recall of facts and events.

Implicit Memories

unconscious memories, shows the benefits of prior experience (procedural memory); memory involves unconscious memory for skills and habits, like riding a bike.

Repetition priming test

used to assess implicit memory; performance in identifying word fragments is improved when the words have been seen before

Memory Consolidation

Ability to move STM (Short-term memories) to LTM (Long-term memories).

Motor Learning

process of acquiring, modifying, and retaining new movement skills through practice and experience, leading to relatively permanent changes in behavior and the nervous system.

Medial Temporal Lobe Amnesia

Difficulty in forming explicit long term memories while retaining the ability to form implicit long-term memories of the same experiences.

Semantic Memory

General knowledge and facts and the world.

Episodic Memory

Personal recollection of specific events.

Medial temporal Lobe Amnesiacs

Trouble imagining future events.

Cerebral Ischemia

An interruption of blood supply to the brain; patients who suffer from this experience medial temporal lobe amnesia

Korsakoff‟s syndrome

a disorder of memory that is common in people who have consumed large amounts of alcohol.

Thiamine Defficiency

Effects of Korsakoff’s syndrome

Adverse effects of Korsakoff’s syndrome

amnesia, confusion, personality changes, and physical problems; damage in medial thalamus + medial hypothalamus

Addiction

Urge to do something; can be explained biologically (genes).

Amnesia of Alzheimer’s Disease

Caused by decreased Acetylcholine; is progressibe; is terminal.

Concussion

a mild traumatic brain injury, is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning.

Electroconvulsive Shock/Therapy (ECS/ECT)

a medical procedure where a brief, controlled seizure is induced in a patient under general anesthesia by passing a small electrical current through the brain.

Posttraumatic Amnesia

Retrograde amnesia caused by concussions

Reconsolidation

Each time a memory is retrieved from LTM, it is temporarily held in STM

Hippocampus

spatial location

Perinhinal Cortex

Object Recognition

Medial Dorsal Nucleus

Korsakoff‟s symptoms

Basal Forebrain

Alzheimer‟s symptoms

Inferotemporal cortex

Visual perception of objects

Amygdala

Emotional learning

Prefrontal cortex

Temporal order of events and working memory; tasks involving a series of responses.

Cerebellum

Stores memories of sensorimotor skills

Striatum

Habit formation

Infantile Amnesia

the common inability of adults to remember personal experiences from their first few years of life, typically before the age of 3 or 4.

Nootropics

"smart drugs," are substances that aim to enhance cognitive functions like memory, focus, and learning.

Sensory register/buffer

stores information for a second or so

Short term memory

(15-30 seconds); we can consciously use that information.

Long term memory

lasts a lifetime

Rehearsal (conscious repetition)

helps retain information in STM and may help consolidation into LTM.

Primacy effect

improved recall of the beginning of a list

Recency Effect

improved recall of the end of the list.

Cued Recall

participant is provided some hints about the desired information

Free Recall

participant must retrieve the items without any cues

Proactive interference

previous memories make it difficult for us to memorize new material.

Retroactive interference

learning new information makes it hard to recall old memories.

Retrieved memories

susceptible to distortion.

Misinformation effect

arises when the physical record of memory (memory trace) is altered then reconsolidated in distorted form.

Flashbulb memories

detailed memories we have of particularly momentous events can become distorted as we recount them to others.