Memory & Learning

"Experiencing difficulty organizing and processing written letters and words often due to a deficiency in the left and back regions of the brain." is a simple definition to describe which disorder?

Dyslexia

What type of memory involves memory of your first day of college?

Episodic memory

T/F Declarative memory is a kind of memory that deals with procedural memory and associations such as associating a campfire with pleasant feelings and the promise of tasty food.

False

T/F The same areas of the brain DO NOT become active when an object is initially perceived and when it is vividly recalled after memorization.

False

Judging from what you have heard in NS2002, which of the following encoding strategies would be most useful in enhancing long-term memory so that the memory is useful to solve problems?

First becoming familiar with the material through rehearsal, mnemonic devices and self-referencing and then practicing it on practice problems.

What is the function of the mesocortical pathway?

Forming associations and habits through conditioning the reward system.

What type of memory involves remembering what kiwi (fruit) skin feels like?

Haptic memory

A person was in a car accident and sustained severe head trauma. The person now suffers from memory loss and is unable to retain and learn new declarative memories. What part of the brain was most likely affected?

Hippocampus

Explicit memory is to ___________ as implicit memory is to ___________.

Hippocampus; cerebellum

What disorder might omeone in their late 30's with jerky movements and trouble producing speech be diagnosed with?

Huntington's disease

Describe Dyscalculia.

"Math dyslexia"; inability to learn and perform basic math functions and associating math symbols with their meaning. Difficulty understanding math equations and numbers.

Describe how Alzheimer's affects the brain and why this effects a person's ability to learn and retain memories.

1. In the early stages, Alzheimer's destroys neurons which are connected to areas of the brain responsible for memory - including the hippocampus and associated areas. As it gradually gets worse, it also affects areas in the cerebral cortex responsible for language, reasoning, and social behavior. This leads to a shrinkage in the overall size of the cerebral cortex as well as Dementia. A progressive illness which leads to the death of brain cells. This loss of brain cells leads to memory loss, challenges thinking, behavioral problems, and sometimes death.

If an experimenter trained a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell, he would have demonstrated what kind of conditioning?

Classical

Describe dyslexia.

A difficulty organizing and processing written letters and words often due to a deficiency in the left and back regions of the brain. Results in trouble reading and therefore writing.

Describe Dysgraphia.

A learning disability which effects the motor skills used in writing (output).

If a person had an accident and was only able to remember memories _______ the accident, the person most likely suffered from ________ (more than one answer may be correct) A. After; Retrograde amnesia B. After; Anterograde amnesia C. Before; Anterograde amnesia D. Before; Retrograde amnesia

A. After; Retrograde amnesia C. Before; Anterograde amnesia

Which of the following would least likely effect language learning? A. Hyperthymesia B. Dysgraphia C. Dyslexia D. Auditory Processing Disorder

A. Hyperthymesia

Which is the most typical alteration of brain activity in Post traumatic stress disorder/syndrome can explain its most typical symptoms best? A. Increased activity of the amygdala B. Decreased activity of the basal ganglia C. Increased activity of the Cerebellum D. Decreased activity of the Hippocampus

A. Increased activity of the amygdala

All of the following are types of immediate memory sensory modalities EXCEPT: A. Episodic memory B. Iconic (visual) memory C. Echoic (acoustic) memory D. Haptic (tactile) memory

A. episodic memory

What does the cerebellum facilitate in learning?

Adjusting a reflexive movement to make it more accurate or learning to respond with a reflex to a stimulus through classical conditioning.

Amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles are a feature of a specific form of Dementia, called...

Alzheimer's disease

What disorder might an elderly person with severe trouble with memory recall and genetic markers be diagnosed with?

Alzheimer's disease

In the case of Henry Molaison (HM), in the course of the treatment of his epilepsy, one of the deficits he incurred was the loss of fear perception. The removal of which brain part most likely caused this particular deficit?

Amygdala

Explain the relationship between memory and aging. What happens to the brain with age and how does this affect memory?

As we age, our brains experience a decrease in synapses, suggesting that it is the connections between neurons that are lost, which is consistent with the idea that its the network that represents memory.

What would be the best example of proactive interference of memory? A. 6 months years later, you have absolutely no idea any more what exactly you did on March 27th. B. The memory of a dog attacking you a week ago altered the memory of a dog you met last night while walking home in the dark C. You can't remember where you put your car key last night when you came home, so you mentally retrace your steps, and find the key within seconds. D. The memory of the extremely friendly and gentle dog you met last night altered your terrifying experience you had with a dog a week ago.

B. The memory of a dog attacking you a week ago altered the memory of a dog you met last night while walking home in the dark

Which of the following symptoms IS NOT associated with a diagnosis of ADHD: A. Lack of attention B. Increased likelihood of becoming distracted by stimuli C. Higher activity in the prefrontal cortex D. Impulsivity

C. Higher activity in the prefrontal cortex

All of the following are associated with nondeclarative memory except for: A. Motor skills B. Conditioned cues C. Life History D. Associations

C. life history

What would be the best example of declarative working memory? A. The memory in which order to carry out muscle movements to tie shoelaces B. The memory of the question you are currently trying to answer (question # 25) C. The memory of the background information about memory that is needed to be able to answer the current question (question #25) D. A slight feeling of fear if someone runs into a question they are not sure how to answer as they do the practice questions.

B. The memory of the question you are currently trying to answer (question # 25)

All of the following can cause anterograde amnesia but only those who have an intact hippocampus have a high chance of regaining partial or full memory function. Which of those affected most likely can regain memory function? A. Alzheimer's disease B. Alcohol abuse C. Having had an accident that caused substantial wide spread brain damage such as seen in case K.C D. Having had a portion of the hippocampus removed, such as case H.M

B. alcohol abuse

Declarative memory is best described as...

Can be brought to by consciousness

What is the modification of an innate reflex by associating its normal triggering stimulus with an unrelated stimulus? This unrelated stimulus comes to trigger the original response by virtue of this repeated association.

Classical conditioning

A person suffers from hyperthymesia, a condition in which the person is able to remember most life events in vivid detail. What adverse effects might this most likely have? | A. The person might feel overwhelmed by memories that keep playing in their head B. The person might withdraw to avoid being exposed to too much information C. School can feel overwhelming because of too much information D. All of the above

D. all of the above

Based on what was covered in NS2002, where is long term nondeclarative memory information least likely stored? A. Cerebellum B. Basal ganglia C. Amygdala D. Sensory cortices

D. sensory cortices

Identify as Non-declarative or Declarative memory: Involves the midline diencephalic and medial temporal lobe structures (the hippocampus and associated structures).

Declarative

Identify as Non-declarative or Declarative memory: The cerebral cortex is the major long-term storing.

Declarative

Describe language processing disorder.

Difficulty receiving, recognizing, and understanding language; also involves difficulty expressing language.

What disorder might a child unable to understand numbers and mathematical equations be diagnosed with?

Dyscalculia

Name the category of declarative memory: registering a bird during a glance out of the window.

Immediate

Name the category of declarative memory: seeing that the person sitting next to you is wearing a red hat.

Immediate

Describe auditory processing disorder.

Impacts a person's ability to hear and understand sounds. No cure, however, there are training methods and strategies that patients can utilize

Memories which are not easily vocalized and includes procedural information is called ________ memory.

Implicit memory

What type of memory involves remembering/knowing how to drive a car?

Implicit memory

Compare and contrast "Vier-Stufen-Methode" and "Kognitive Unterweisung" teaching and learning methods. For each, provide an example for which the method is thought to be well suited and explain why.

In the "Vier-Stufen-Methode" method is better for learning stereotypic tasks while the "Kognitive Unterwisung" method is better suited for the learning of tasks that require problem solving. A disadvantage of the "Kognitive Unterwisung" method is that it requires background knowledge while the "Vier-Stufen-Methode" is less overwhelming and requires little to no background knowledge. Some examples for which the "Vier-Stufen-Methode" method would be more suitable are tying a shoe and learning new math equations. Some examples for which the "Kognitive Unterwisung" would be more efficient are for learning content taught in high level college courses and for doing independent research. Also, the "Kognitive Unterwisung" in itself is a transferable skill.

What disorder might an alcoholic be diagnosed with?

Korsakoff's syndrome

If you are learning a new instrument and found that, after some practice, you are able to play with fewer mistakes and faster. Explain which parts of the brain are responsible for this and how the learning relates to the function of the brain parts.

Learning a new instrument is a motor skill. The parts of the brain responsible for this are the cerebellum, basal ganglia, and the motor cortices. The cerebellum is responsible for recognizing and adapting the way the notes are played from the mistakes made, such as fine finger movements that need to be adapted to avoid mistakes. The basal ganglia is responsible for coordination and sequential learning, such as the sequence of finger movements. The motor cortices receive signals from these two regions and establishes motor programs to carry out the playing of the instrument.

What does the amygdala facilitate in learning?

Learning to become vigilant or relaxed in response to information input (stimuli) via classical conditioning.

Describe in 2-3 sentences Long Term declarative Memory and provide an example.

Long Term Memory is information stored in a more permanent form for days, weeks, or even a lifetime. Working memory of significance can become long term memory by conscious and unconscious rehearsal or practice. Memory Consolidation occurs when short term memories are gradually encoded as long-term memories. An example for long term declarative memory would be having stored the adequate information to be able to quickly give this answer.

Name the category of declarative memory: recalling what you wore for your 16th birthday

Long term

Name the category of declarative memory: remembering your favorite family vacation.

Long term

Karl Lashley found that the location of the lesions in the brain of rats did not matter much only the extent of the tissue destruction and the difficulty of the task seemed consequential. His conclusion from this finding was that ______________, which can explain why degradation in learning and memory depends on the amount of cortex destroyed; and that the more complex the learning task, the more disruptive the lesion.

Long-term memory is stored all over the cortex. Memory cannot be localized to a single cortical area but is instead distributed throughout the cortex. (For the advanced, going beyond the expected vocabulary: this is called mass action principle)

Process by which short-term memories are gradually encoded as long-term memories is called...

Memory consolidation

What are the two different pathways of basal ganglia?

Mesocortical pathway and Nirgostriatal pathway

What disorder might someone who suffered a stroke and is at times getting lost and forgetting what they were trying to say be diagnosed with?

Mild-cognitive impairment

What is the function father Nigrostriatial pathway?

Motor sequence learning, this influences motor control through influencing the motor cortex

Identify as Non-declarative or Declarative memory: Does not involve the temporal lobe and associated deeper structures such as the hippocampus.

Nondeclarative

Identify as Non-declarative or Declarative memory: Involves the basal ganglia, prefrontal cortex, amygdala, sensory association cortices, and the cerebellum.

Nondeclarative

Skill learning, priming, and conditioning are forms of __________.

Nondeclarative memory

A person rides a bike to work without difficulty even though the person hasn't ridden a bike since being a child. What type of memory accounts for this?

Procedural memory

Name 3 disorders affecting declarative memory formation or retrieval and for each provide a brief description which distinguishes it from the others.

Retrograde Amnesia: This is an overarching term for the inability to retrieve memory prior to the indecent that caused the memory loss. Cause could be anything that can cause that. Korsakoff's syndrome: memory deficits caused by vitamin B deficiency Dementia: Causes memory deficits typically due to aging or aging related issues

Define retrograde amnesia, name one typically affected area of the brain or cause and explain why this can cause retrograde amnesia.

Retrograde amnesia can be described as the inability to access long-term memories that were made prior to the incident that caused the memory loss. Damaged areas can include the hippocampus, temporal lobe, widespread damages to the cortex, or thiamine (Vitamin B1) deficiency (often, but not always caused by chronic drinking). Hippocampus: involved in memory retrieval (at least some of it) Temporal lobe: houses hippocampus and associated areas and is also a major storage of long-term memory throughout. Vitamin B1 deficiency: without it neurons can't really function Widespread damages to the cortex: long-term memory is stored all over the place in the cortex.

Describe the difference between retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia, and give a specific example for each.

Retrograde amnesia is the inability to remember past memories while anterograde amnesia is the inability to create new memories. Retrograde amnesia is the inability of the brain to retrieve information and anterograde amnesia is the brain's inability to store new information.

What type of memory involves remembering/knowing that Paris is the capital of France?

Semantic memory

What do the basal ganglia facilitate in learning?

Sequence of movements that need to be carried out to do something. Also, developing habits and associations though conditioning of the reward system.

Name the category of declarative memory: able to describe that the person who set next to you a few minutes ago wore a red hat.

Short term

Name the category of declarative memory: remembering which song you listened to 2 minutes ago.

Short term

Which structure of the brain is associated with habit learning and conditioned responses?

Stratum (basal ganglia)

Which parts of the brain are responsible for the long-term storage of nondeclarative information? List 3 brain areas and for each provide a specific example of a memory that this part of the brain would store.

The cerebellum, basal ganglia, motor cortex for motor learning, such as pitching a ball (cerebellum fine adjustment of movements, basal ganglia sequence of movements, motor cortex establishing motor programs) Cerebellum for adjustment of reflexes through classical conditioning, such as adjusting reflexive eye movements after getting new glasses Amygdala for fear conditioning (classical conditioning), such as learning to instantaneously become vigilant in response to the sound of a rattle snake Basal ganglia for habit forming and behaviors that are conditioned through the reward system, such as (pick any habit that is formed through reward and the promise of reward).

When it comes to motor learning, we know that there are two brain areas involved, each of which has distinct functions: the cerebellum and the basal ganglia. What is the functional difference between these two areas?

The function of the basal ganglia is: Motor sequence learning The function of the cerebellum is: fine adjustments of movements

A young child (6 years old) is learning Italian for the first time. Judging from what you learned in NS2002, as the child forms new memories of the Italian language, the most likely changes that occur are:

The number of neuronal connections in her temporal lobe

ADHD seems to be associated with an imbalance in certain neurotransmitter systems. Which quite typical differences in brain activity seen in people with ADHD could this explain?

The underactivity of norepinephrine could explain a lack of top down control of attention The underactivity of the reward system could explain an altered response to reward.

T/F Raw sensory information coming directly from sensory systems or the Thalamus are passed to the amygdala to access memory and association circuits and may trigger stress-responses though this pathway.

True

You meet an old school friend for the first time after your friend had a serious brain injury. Someone told you that your friend has retrograde amnesia. What do you expect might happen?

Your friend might not remember that you went to school together

After successful fear conditioning within the amygdala, which statement if correct? a. The stimulus first needs to be processed by the cortex to trigger a fear response b. Only stimuli that arise from an actual threatening situation will trigger fear responses c. Any stimulus that is basically the same as the conditioned stimulus may trigger a fear response regardless of the actual situation. D. a and b

c. Any stimulus that is basically the same as the conditioned stimulus may trigger a fear response regardless of the actual situation.

The process of consolidation of declarative memory occurs in the _________ where the transfer of memory to various brain regions is facilitated and then stored as _____ ______ memory.

hippocampus; long-term