Long Term Memory (Organization)

Cog Exam 2

Anterograde Amnesia

can’t encode new memories but old memories are mostly intact

Retrograde Amnesia (type from the movies)

old memories are lost but new memories are encoded normally

Anterograde patients don’t learn: (4)

• words

• faces

• stories

• rhythms

Anterograde patients can learn: (3)

• motor skills

• stem completion

• Gollin figures (less complete versions of a picture)

Why can anterograde patients learn motor skills?

parts of the brain supporting memory and motor skills are different

What part of the brain learns in mirror tracing?

basal ganglia

What did early tests with HM conclude?

amnesia is memory minus some single process

Repetition Priming

previous experiences bias “new” perception of stimulus

what were the three wrong hypotheses about the missing process?

1. poor encoding

2. fast forgetting

3. can’t retrieve memory

Multiple Processes Theory

there is more than one type of long-term memory

Explicit Memory

conscious memories associated with a time and place

What area of the brain is explicit memory tied to?

hippocampus

Implicit Memory

memory shown by performance

What area of the brain is responsible for repetition priming?

visual cortex

Which type of memory can be tested directly?

explicit

skeletal conditioning

overt response of the motor system

What area of the brain is responsible for skeletal conditioning?

cerebellum

Emotional Conditioning

conditioned response is emotion

What area of the brain is responsible for emotional conditioning?

Amygdala

What are the four distinctions of implicit memory?

1. Repetition Priming

2. Skeletal Conditioning

3. Motor Learning

4. Emotional Conditioning

What are the two distinctions of explicit memory?

1. episodic

2. semantic

Episodic Memory

autobiographical, has spatial and temporal (time) context

Semantic Memory

factual, no context needed

Which type of explicit memory can be learned in a single exposure?

episodic

What is important about the relationship between episodic and semantic memory?

episodic memories turn into semantic memories

What are some characteristics of episodic memory?

• involved events

• encoding is rapid

• retrieval process is required and depends on cues

• is reconstructive (not perfect)

Two types of evidence for explicit memory:

1. neuroscientific: selective loss of either episodic or semantic

2. neuroimaging: left versus right frontal cavity, lateralization of brain areas

Who were the primary sources of evidence for theories on long-term structure?

amnesic patients

What properties of memory do theories have to account for?

1. quantity and speed

2. near miss

3. relevant information

4. resistance to faulty input

Addressing System Theory

memories have addresses like hard drives or libraries

Why doesn’t the addressing system work? (4)

1. more memories mean slower search

2. slight errors mean big mistakes

3. no “relevant information” if answer is unknown

4. not resistant to faulty information

What is the solution to the addressing system?

content-addressable storage

Content-addressable Storage

content itself is the address

Collins & Quillian Hierarchical Theory

node becomes active after input from environment

What are the problems with the hierarchical theory?

model is inconsistent and properties don’t seem to be stored only once

Collins & Loftus Spreading Activation Theory

when a node gets activated, it can spread to related nodes

Why is the spreading activation theory good?

it creates defaults and connections when making assumptions

Property Inheritance (in hierarchical theory)

concepts inherit properties from higher on the hierarchy

What is the structure of the spreading activation theory?

web of linked concepts based on semantics