W11 - Memory

Confabulation

The unintentional creation of false or distorted memories to fill gaps in memory, often occurring after brain damage or memory disorders.

Short-term memory

A memory system that temporarily holds a small amount of information in an accessible state for a few seconds to minutes

Long-term memory

A memory system responsible for the relatively permanent storage of information, knowledge, skills, and experiences over extended periods.

Explicit memory

A type of long-term memory that involves the conscious recollection of facts and events; also known as declarative memory.

Implicit memory

A type of long-term memory that influences behaviour without conscious awareness, including skills, habits, and conditioned responses.

Habituation

A decrease in response to a repeated, harmless stimulus over time.

Sensitisation

An increased response to a stimulus following exposure to a strong or noxious stimulus.

Hebbian synapse

A synapse that becomes stronger when the presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons are repeatedly active at the same time, often summarised as "neurons that fire together wire together."

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

A long-lasting increase in synaptic strength following repeated stimulation, considered a major neural mechanism underlying learning and memory.

AMPA receptor

A type of glutamate receptor that mediates fast excitatory neurotransmission and plays a key role in synaptic transmission and plasticity.

NMDA receptor

A type of glutamate receptor that allows calcium ions to enter the neuron when activated and is critical for synaptic plasticity and long-term potentiation.

Consolidation

The process by which newly acquired memories are stabilised and transformed into long-term memories.

Central executive

The attentional control system of working memory that coordinates cognitive processes and allocates mental resources to tasks.

Phonological loop

A component of working memory that temporarily stores and rehearses speech-based and auditory information.

Episodic buffer

A component of working memory that integrates information from different sources and links working memory with long-term memory.

Visuospatial sketchpad

A component of working memory responsible for temporarily storing and manipulating visual and spatial information.

Anterograde amnesia

The inability to form new long-term memories after the onset of brain injury, illness, or trauma.

Retrograde amnesia

The loss of memories formed before the onset of brain injury, illness, or trauma.

Episodic memory

A form of explicit memory involving the recollection of personally experienced events and their associated contexts, such as time and place.

Semantic memory

A form of explicit memory involving general knowledge, concepts, facts, and meanings that are not tied to specific personal experiences.

Procedural memory

A form of implicit memory that stores knowledge of how to perform skills and actions, such as riding a bicycle or typing.

Statistical learning

The process of unconsciously detecting patterns, regularities, and probabilities in sensory input through exposure and experience.

Broca’s aphasia

A language disorder typically caused by damage to Broca’s area, characterised by slow, effortful, and grammatically simplified speech with relatively preserved comprehension.

Wernicke’s aphasia

A language disorder typically caused by damage to Wernicke’s area, characterised by fluent but often nonsensical speech and impaired language comprehension.

Wernicke’s area

A region of the left temporal lobe that is primarily involved in the comprehension and processing of spoken and written language.

Phonemic paraphasias

Speech errors involving the substitution, omission, addition, or rearrangement of speech sounds within words.

Anomia

A language impairment characterised by difficulty retrieving and producing the correct words, particularly object names.

Conduction aphasia

A language disorder characterised by fluent speech and relatively intact comprehension but a marked difficulty repeating spoken words and phrases.

Arcuate fasciculus

A bundle of white matter fibres that connects Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area, allowing communication between language production and comprehension regions.