Physiological Psychology - Ch.11 Learning, Memory And Amnesia From John P.j. Pinel

Front 1

What virus did Clive Wearing has?

Back 1

Herpes Simplex Encephalitis

Front 2

Where does Herpes Simplex encephalitis usually reside? and what does it usually cause?

Back 2

It usually reside in trigeminal nerves and causes cold sores.

Front 3

Where does Herpes Simplex encephalitis rarely descend to just as in Clive Wearing?

Back 3

The brain, destroys left frontal lobe and temporal lobe. Clive had no hippocampus left

Front 4

What were the symptoms of Clive Wearing?

Back 4

He cannot form new memory, as well as loosing some old memory. Most memory disruption in explicit memory.

Front 5

Why is Clive Wearing refer to as the "Abyss"?

Back 5

Because he has no connect to the past nor the future, he just lives in the present. He often thinks that he just "regain consciousness", just woke up from a coma. He can play the piano but he claims that he doesn't know it.Clive

Front 6

You are playing softball when a fly ball heads your way. Unfortunately, another outfielder heads for the ball at the same time and you run into each other, clunking heads. Both of you are knocked unconscious. What will you likely experience in terms of amnesia as a result of this bump on the head/loss of consciousness?

Back 6

I will likely experience posttraumatic amnesia (PTA, that is amnesia following a nonpenetrating blow to the head.

Front 7

What does posttraumatic amnesia involve?

Back 7

0) Victim regain consciousness but in a confused state.
1) Retrograde amnesia for events that occurred during the period just before the blow.
2) Anterograde amnesia for events that occurred durring the period of confusion after regaining consciousness.

Front 8

In Posttraumatic amnesia, explain in detail what causes any amnesia that is present.

Back 8

Retrograde amnesia occurs because STM did not have time to be consolidated into LTM yet.

Anterograde amnesia occurs because during period of confusion, the brain cannot store memory like they normally would - abnormal cognitive function.

Front 9

How did the location of Clive Wearing’s brain damage allow him to remember how to play the piano but prevent him from forming new memories about facts and events?

Back 9

His Medial temporal lobe (hippocampus, amygdala, rhinal cortex) had degenerated and prevents him from forming new memory. However, his BASAL GANGLIA is still intact, which allows him to remember movement.

Front 10

Follow-up to a: How is it possible that Clive Wearing can have the ability to do something, such as conducting and playing the piano, without being aware that he knows how to do it? (explain at the level of the brain).

Back 10

Clive still knows how to play the piano because that is his implicit memory. His implicit memory circuit (cortex + basal ganglia) are still intact; the implicit memory circuit does not involve the frontal cortex, therefore, these memories are "unconscious". However, he does not "know" that he can play the piano because explicit memory feedback loop involves the medial temporal lobe, which was destroyed in Clive's brain. The explicit memory feedback loop is as follows: sensory + prefrontal cortex -> medial temporal lobe -> prefrontal cortex. The cortex is the brain part that help us become "aware" of our experiences.

Front 11

3. How can electroconvulsive shock (ECS) be used to study memory?

Back 11

ECS induces seizures and disrupts new memory before it is processed and stored. If a shock is administered at various time after a piece of info is learnt, one can discover how long does consolidation take.

Hint 11

Pinel's Rat Experiment (1969)
- teach rats where "secret" water source is in test box.
- adminster ECS at different time after learning takes place. (e.g. 5 mins, 10 mins, 1 hr etc)
- Put rats in test box again, DV is to see how often rats go back to water source.
Results: no memory retention if ECS administered at 10 sec - 10 mins; memory retention (they looked for water fountain) if ECS administered from 1hr - 3 hrs + control.

Front 12

What is the medial temporal lobe responsible for?

Back 12

Formation of explicit long-term memory

Front 13

What is the perirhinal cortex responsible for?

Back 13

responsible for object recognition; it is part of the rhinal cortex.

Front 14

What is the mediodorsal nucleus in the thalamus responsible for?

Back 14

Implicated by Korsakoff's Disease

Front 15

What is the basal forebrain responsible for?

Back 15

Implicated by Alzheimer's Disease; it is the main source of Acetylcholine.

Front 16

What is the Basal Ganglia responsible for?

Back 16

It is responsible for movement.

Front 17

What is the frontal lobe responsible for?

Back 17

Retrieval of information as well as awareness.

Front 18

Where does memory consolidation happen?

Back 18

In the 3 layers of hippocampus, STM is converted into LTM.
Long-term memory is stored in the cortex.

Front 19

What does animal research of the hippocampus reveal?

Back 19

The more lesions, the increase likelihood of memory lost; but researches do not know where the physical location of memory is.

Front 20

What is involved in an implicit memory task?

Back 20

Procedural task such as classical/operant conditioning. e.g. riding a bike, brewing tea.

Front 21

What is involved in an explicit memory task?

Back 21

Testing on conscious, factual information. E.g. word lists, object recognition.
An example of such test would be the Delayed Nonmatching to sample task. Monkeys had MTL lesions (monkey H.M.). With short delays (secs) after learning, they perform well, longer delays (few mins) they cannot perform memory tasks anymore. The Rhinal cortex seems to be responsible for this.

Front 22

What does the rhinal cortex seems to be responsible for?

Back 22

Object recognition task.
E.g. monkey's delayed non-matching to sample task.

Front 23

What is the inferotemporal cortex responsible for?

Back 23

Responsible for visual perception and visual memory (when working with perirhinal cortex).

Front 24

What is the Amygdala responsible for?

Back 24

It plays a role in memory with strong emotional significance

Front 25

What is the prefrontal cortex responsible for?

Back 25

Organizing information temporally and responsible for our working memory as well as attention span.

Front 26

What is the cerebellum responsible for?

Back 26

Mesencephalic structure that participate in the storage of memories of learned sensorimotor skills through its various neuroplastic mechanisms. E.g. retention of eye-blink conditioning with sound and puff of air.

Front 27

What is the striatum responsible for?

Back 27

A subcortical structure that store memories for consistent relationships between stimuli and responses the type of memories that develop incrementally over many trials. Also referred as habit formation.

Front 28

What is the hippocampus responsible for?

Back 28

A medial temporal lobe structure that is involved in spatial memory (esp. right hippo.) and STM storage/consolidation.
It has "place cells" that response to different locations of the room. and it is larger in animals who hide food (birds/squirrels) and London taxi drivers.

Front 29

What is episodic/autobiographical memory?

Back 29

Memories of events that are tied to place and time contexts.

Front 30

What deficit does a person suffering from episodic amnesia has?

Back 30

The ability to recall personal role in an event and personally experienced events. They can only recall facts about an event, have intact STM and procedural memory.

Front 31

J.K is 74 yrs old and use to be an engineer. His basal ganglia is damged, what symptoms do you expect him to have?

Back 31

Parkinson-like symptoms, movement difficulties and implicit amnesia. E.g. forgets how to turn off the radio, or open the fridge.

Front 32

What is declarative memory?

Back 32

Explicit memory. Facts and experiences, consciously know.

Front 33

What is procedural memory?

Back 33

Implicit memory. It is independent of conscious recollection. E.g. skills
Implicit memory is influenced by recent experiences without knowing it. A person like H.M cannot recall word list but still show normal priming effect (spring, winter, summer; tumble, run, sun - what does FALL means?)

Front 34

Can emotional memory have both implicit and explicit elements?

Back 34

Yes.

Front 35

Is amygdala responsible for connectin implicit and explicit memory?

Back 35

Yes.
Connects to basal ganglia for implicit memory.
Connects to medial temporal lobe for explicit memory.

Front 36

Where is the amygdala connected to that is responsible for fight or flight?

Back 36

The autonomic nervous system.

Front 37

In patients with cortical degeneration - dementia, their amygdala is still intact. What happens to them if they were shown four pictures where one of it is their family member?

Back 37

They will not be able to explicitly point out family members, but when asked who they think they like the best, they would still point out to family member.

Front 38

How does the amygdala enhance memories with emotional significance?

Back 38

Amygdala causes the release of hormone (e.g. cortisol) and chemicals through the ANS. This "stamps" important memory into brain.

Front 39

People typically remember emotional experiences more and bad memories are never forgotten, but what happens to people whose amygdala is dysfunctional or lesioned?

Back 39

They do not remember emotional events better than emotional ones.