Adv. Cognitive Neuroscience Exam 2
How does averageness of facial features affect attractiveness rating? Does attractive increase with level of averageness? How does symmetry play into attractiveness? How do familiarity and biological effects affect attractiveness?
-In samples 1 and 2, pictures A, C and D were each averages of two faces. B was an average of 45 faces. -In general, ratings are higher for average faces relative to individual faces. Averageness -Indicative of health and genetic fitness -Is this an effect of experience? --Average faces perceived as generally familiar since they resemble other faces in memory. --Average birds, fish and cars are also more attractive ****** Does attractiveness increase with increased averaging? -In samples 3 and 4, picture A was an average of 18 faces, B an average of 27 faces, C an average of 36 faces and D an average of 45. Symmetry -Using computer manipulations of faces, symmetrical faces found to be more attractive (Perrett et al., 1999). ****** Familiarity -Mere exposure effect: Previous or repeated exposure to a face increases the positive affective response to that face (Rhodes et al. 2001) General familiarity Preference for images of own face morphed into the opposite sex. (Little et al., 2001) (Face images not recognized as their own.) ****** Biological effects -Menstrual cycle alters face perception --More masculinised male faces preferred only during fertile phase of cycle (Perrett et al. (1999) --Masculinised faces associated with genetic health and dominance, but feminised factors associated with reliable long-term partner. -Images of female faces judged as more attractive if taken during fertile phase than luteal phase of menstrual cycle. -Pole dancers earn more tips when in their fertile phase.
What is the Fusiform Face area? Where is it? Do we posses neurons that selectively respond to specific faces?
-The fusiform gyrus is part of the medial, or interior, temporal lobe. -This area, in both hemispheres. responds to facial stimuli. -Greater response in right hemisphere. -Response is greater for whole faces than for face parts. -Seen as early as nine-months. ***** -Individual neuronal responses to faces were measured in eight patients with microelectrodes placed in their hippocampus, amygdala, entorhinal cortex and parahippocampal gyrus in order to identify the origin of epileptic seizures prior to corrective neurosurgery. -A neuron in this patient's FAA selectively fired to the face of Jennifer Aniston. -Other patients showed preferences to other faces (e.g., Michael Jordan, Halle Berry, faces of the Simpsons).
How is our facial recognition when recalling traumatic events, such as with eyewitness testimony? What studies show the results? How are children as eyewitness testimony?
1) Morgan et al. (2004) Participants: recruits to the U.S. Army's survival training program Program consists of two phases -Classroom training -Experiential immersion in a mock prisoner of war camp --Prisoner is isolated and exposed to interrogation techniques designed to push recruit to the limit Physiological measures confirm extreme stress during this phase Experimental question: How does this extreme stress affect memory for the interrogator and guard? Conditions (interrogator and guard present in both) -High stress --Physically confronted by guard if not complying with interrogator (30 minutes) -Low stress --No physical confrontation, but intellectually challenging the recruit into responding (30 minutes) Dependent variable Identify guard and interrogator in each condition from a set of 15 photos "Results" -Identification of guard and interrogator were not statistically different -Results for identification of interrogator ****** 2) Eyewitness Testimony Post-Event -Subjects observed a film of an automobile collision. -They were then asked: "About how fast were the cars going when they hit (or, contacted, bumped, collided, smashed) each other?" -The choice of descriptive verb influenced the estimated vehicle speed in an accident. ****** 3) Brown, Deffenbacher, and Sturgill (1977) Procedure -Viewed two groups of 5 individuals labeled "criminals" for 25 seconds each -Told they might need to identify them later -Shown 15 mug shot pictures containing the "criminals" and unseen individuals ("non-criminals") One week later, shown pictures containing Mugshot of a criminal Mugshot of a non-criminal Mugshot of a new person not previously seen Results -20% of mugshot non-criminals were misidentified -8% of new faces were misidentified ****** In one study by Steven Ceci a character named "Sam Stone" visited a nursery school for a total of two minutes; Afterwards the children were interviewed over a two month period, during which one group was asked neutral questions (What do you remember?) and another group were asked suggestive questions about false events: "Did Sam Stone rip a book?" "Did he spill anything on a teddy bear?". -Children in the neutral group were very accurate in their recall. Only 10% of the three- and four-year olds agreed that the fictitious events occurred and only 5% reported that they saw the events. -However, 42% of the children in the suggestion group reported that Sam Stone did these things and 19% claimed they saw him do it. -Older children, at ages five and six were less suggestive. Another group of children were both told that Sam Stone was clumsy before he visited the classroom and provided the suggestive interview questions. -Seventy-two percent of the younger children reported the fictitious incidents and 44% reported that they saw him do these things. -When challenged by the experimenter many of the children admitted they really didn't know but 10-20% of the children continued to believe the incidents occurred. (Leichtman & Ceci 1995) Children are often good witnesses: but they are prey to the same distorting influences as adults;
What is the reminiscence bump? What are explanations for it? What types of memories have different bumps?
A disproportionate greater number of memories for events that occur between the ages of 10 and 30. This is a time period of firsts which may explain the bump. However, there is also a bump for: -Autobiographical facts like personal preferences -Events people think are historically important -General semantic memories ****** Explanations 1) Cognitive explanation account a. Events from early adulthood: -Are often rehearsed due to their importance -Subject to less interference due to their distinctiveness 2) Identity explanation account -Events during this period are defining in terms of our identity -Similar to the cognitive self explanation for the end of childhood amnesia 3) Peak functioning account -Cognitive abilities and brain function are at their peak in early adulthood
What did the Carmichael study show about memory? What studies showed facial recognition isn't as good as we believe?
Carmichael, Hogan, and Walters (1932) -The Carmichael study suggests that memory is a reconstructive process. -Study showed people ambiguous drawings and were then asked to redraw them. They could be manipulated to draw something different from others People's insight into their memory ability and their confidence of their memories are imperfect. ****** Implications for Eyewitness testimony and Repressed memories "Eyewitness Misidentification Testimony was a factor in 72 percent percent of post-conviction DNA exoneration cases in the U.S., making it the leading cause of these wrongful convictions." [The Innocence Project] ****** How good is facial recognition? 1) Megreya and Burton (2008) Method -Person walked to front of room and stood there for 30 seconds -Participants were instructed to encode the face 5 second blank period -Presented with 10 photos and instructed to identify the person Results 66% accuracy 2) In the 1998 Door Study, people asked for directions and then a door passed between them. During that door lapse, the person asking for directions changed places with another experimenter. Only 50% of the time did people realize they were talking to a different person
What is Childhood Amnesia? What are explanations for it? What study showed if there is or isn't a cultural difference in it? What study showed a difference in declarative and semantic memories in childhood amnesia?
Childhood Amnesia -Loss of memory for events between ages 0-5 -Children between the ages of 5 and 10 can recall their earlier autobiographical experiences but these memories are subsequently forgotten. Explanations 1) Brain Development -Hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (important for explicit memory formation) are underdeveloped in infants -Problem: Paradox of childhood amnesia—young children have elaborate memories for previous events in their life 2) Development of language -AM development parallels language development -Narrative style (how families reminisce about past events) --Elaborative style: long and richly detailed discussions of past events. Used more when conversing with daughters --Pragmatic style: succinct—little detail. Used more when conversing with sons --This may be the source of female superiority in autobiographical memory 3) Development of Cognitive Self A sense of self refers to knowledge that: -One is a person with unique and recognizable characteristics -One thinks and knows things about the world, and can serve as a causal agent -Theory of mind. A child's understanding that they have a unique set of beliefs, desires, and knowledge that is inaccessible to others -Children don't demonstrate AM until they have a sense of themselves as independent entities. ****** Wang (2006) Procedure: Used the cue word technique to provide earliest memory associated with the cue words: Self Mother Family Friend Surroundings Prediction - End of childhood amnesia: U.S. earlier than Taiwanese (US children have more personal memories from early ages) -Content of memories: U.S. would feature personal autonomy -Tiawanese would focus on group or social relationships PREDICTION CORRECT! ****** Multhaup, Johnson, and Tetirick (2005) Participants recalled events from childhood and labeled them as: "Know" memories "Recollect memories Results -Point at which the majority of memories become "recollect" rather than "know" (average 4.7 years, but much individual variability)
List the types of long-term memory. What is declarative memory and what are its two subdivisions. Can you lose one type but not the other? Is there a case study on this? Can episodic information become semantic information?
Declarative/explicit memory: Conscious recollection of facts and the descriptive details of past events. Can be divided in semantic and episodic memory Declarative memory can be divided into semantic memory (informational) and episodic memory (situation contextual). 1) Semantic: Informational memory, Facts. Ex. what is the color of William's Hall? 2) Episodic: Contextual memory, events that have occurred. Ex. was it raining before you entered this building? -Autobiographical memory which is personally episodic: When were you last in William's Hall? ****** K.C: A Case Of Lost Episodic Memory -Suffered extensive damage to both the left and right hemispheres of his brain. -He is able to carry on conversations, recognize familiar objects and people, read, write and reason. -His short-term, working memory is entirely intact. -However, K.C. no longer has a memory of himself over time. -He knows things about himself, much as another individual with a detailed knowledge of him might know these things. But the facts of his prior experiences are recalled without any subjective sense of participation. -He has lost all "episodes" of his life. He has lost his memory of himself - his autobiographical memory. ****** Do Episodic Memories Become Semantic Memories? -Conway et al (1997) asked students in a number of psychology courses to take multiple-choice examinations and to indicate, for each answer, their memory awareness (remember, just know, familiar, or guess). -Students who performed better on the tests reported "remembering" for more of their answers. --This suggests that they had a richer degree of knowledge about the problem than those students who merely indicated that they "knew," or were responding to an answer because it seemed "familiar." -However, on a delayed test these results reversed; the higher performing students now reported "knowing" the correct answer more than "remembering" it. -Thus, some memories may shift over time from episodic (related to time and place) to integration with semantic memory.
Is there a difference between declarative and non-declarative memory? Is one more susceptible to deterioration?
Distinction between declarative and non-declarative -Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT): Repeated administrations cause a deterioration of declarative memory but not non-declarative memory. -With the reduction in neural tissue in aging there is a loss of declarative memory but not non-declarative memory
Define the encoding-specificity principle and state-dependent learning. What studies show that these ideas hold up?
Encoding Specificity Principle: For a given encoding condition, memory is best when the retrieval condition matches the encoding condition State-Dependent Learning -Gordon Bower conducted a classic demonstration of state-dependent learning; -Suggestible subjects learned lists of words after being asked to remember an event in their life that was either sad or happy; -Later they were asked to recall the words while again being primed for either sadness or happiness; -Matching the emotional state resulted in a dramatic increase in recall. ---Note the clinical implication: Depressed patients are more likely to recall depressing episodes from their lives creating a vicious circle. ****** Godden & Baddeley -Conducted a similar study in which subjects learned words while underwater (diving club) or on dry land; Again, the environmental match predicted greater recall;
Define encoding, storage, retrieval and the two types of rehearsal. What study showed the level of efficacy of rehearsal? Who devised and what is the Depth of Processing model? How does deep processing affect brain activity?
Encoding: Processes involved in the acquisition of material Storage: Formation of a memory representation Retrieval: Processes involved in getting information out of memory Maintenance Rehearsal: Simple Repetition of information; Elaborative Rehearsal: Processing information for meaning. ****** Often, we try to remember material through rehearsal. -Rehearsal actually doesn't work that well Craik & Watkins 1973: -A string of words is presented, one at a time. -Your task is to remember the last word beginning with the letter "g" -Rehearsal is controlled by the number of words intervening before the end of the list. -After processing 27 lists subjects were asked to recall all of the target words ("g" words in this example); -If mere repetition influenced transfer to long-term memory then words with more repetition should show better retention; -However, all words were recalled about 25% of the time regardless of the number of repetitions; -Repetition rehearsal is insufficient! ****** Craik and Lockhart Depth of Processing Model The depth of processing of a word is manipulated by asking about its spelling, its sound and its meaning. -As questions require increasing depth of processing people take more time to answer the questions. -The deeper the processing the more successful was the recognition memory for previously studied words. ****** Depth of Processing as an increasingly stronger "trace" -Subjects determined if each word was "abstract" (liberty) or "concrete" (cup) or if each word was printed in upper case or lower case letters; -Deeper processing led to better retention; -Both tasks generated widespread brain activation; -The deeper, semantic decision task resulted in relatively greater activation of the left prefrontal and temporal brain regions than did the non-semantic task. ****** Summary -Rehearsal Maintenance is not the most effective way to make memories (recall the last "g" word experiment); -What is more critical is the depth of processing that the items receive. -What are the implications of this for people who need to remember lots of new information (e.g., students)?
What are the 3 stages of the lifetime retrieval curve?
Generally, when adults recall as many personal memories as they are able the resulting lifetime retrieval curve reflects three stages. First there is a period of early childhood amnesia extending to about 5 years of age. Second, there is a period of memory from about 10 to 30 which reflects an increasing memory for autobiographical memories followed by a reduction to age 30-35, forming a shape called the "reminiscence bump." Finally, the third period reflects an increasing retrieval of more recent personal memories.
What type of memory did H.M. have intact after his operation that removed his hippocampus, and what kind of memory did he lose? Was he able to successfully learn a new motor task?
H.M. had access to most of his past memories and to whatever was in his short-term memory. But the information in his verbal short-term memory did not transfer to his long-term memory. H.M's was able to perform mirror drawing -Though H.M. retained no memory of performing the task his performance improved over time suggesting that the temporal lobes were not essential to learning visual-motor tasks.
What are clinical applications of fMRI studies?
If we can assay emotional and cognitive processes then we can investigate their dysfunction in groups with clinical conditions. Such knowledge may help in diagnosis, differential diagnosis, treatment tailoring and assessing treatment efficacy. For example: • Understanding cognitive-emotion interactions; • Understanding information processing in fear; • Predicting who responds to treatment; • Identifying kids at risk of schizophrenia; • Identifying kids at risk for drug use; • Identifying those who can avoid drug relapse.
What is implicit memory? How many flavours does it have and what are they? How do amnestic patients do on implicit memory tasks? What's one study design that shows the difference in implicit and explicit memory?
Implicit memory occurs without consciousness or intention. -Three types: 1) Priming: reading the word "butter" makes processing related words, such as "bread," faster. 2) Procedural memory: learning to ride a bike. 3) Conditioning: stimulus-response associations. ****** Though amnesic patients have poor explicit memory for words and images they still respond effectively to cues in the form of fragments of stimuli, suggesting that their implicit memory is relatively preserved. ****** -Words were presented on a computer screen for 5 seconds each. Subjects were asked to remember as many as possible. -After 1 hour and again after 7 days they were asked either to recognize studied words or to complete a fragmented word (e.g. "A__ __ A __ __ I N"). -After 7 days, though explicit recall was diminished, implicit recall was still strong.
What resolution does MRI provide? What are 2 longitudinal studies MRI studies and what have they shown? How can we determine the pharmacology of a neurocognitive process?
MRI provides very high resolution images (100/200 microns) of brain structure. Longitudinal studies show developmental changes in brain maturation. • Gogtay et al., PNAS (2004) show the sequential development of different cortical areas from age 5 to 20. • Shaw et al., PNAS (2007) show a developmental delay in children with ADHD. With healthy controls, one can determine the pharmacology of a specific neurocognitive process (e.g. working memory) by assessing the change in activation resulting from specific neurotransmitter agonists and antagonists.
Distinguish autobiographical memories and facts. What are autobiographical memories used for, what do they contain, and how is their retrieval relative to declarative memory?
Memories vs. Facts Autobiographical Memory/Episodic memory: Memory for a specific life experience Autobiographical Fact/Semantic memory: General (context-free) knowledge about oneself and one's personal history Autobiographical memories are personal episodic, memories from our experience and used not only to reconstruct our past but also to develop our sense of self. They typically contain specific, often multi-sensory, information ("The following happened to me on the first day of PSYC 295."). Also, autobiographical memory retrieval is more time consuming compared to declarative memories which seem either immediately available or inaccessible. -Tell me the color of a stop sign. -Tell me the first time you were in a rowboat.
What is the Method of Loci?
Method of Loci: -To explore the method of loci identify a physical location with which you are very familiar. It could be a house or an apartment. Imagine the layout of the place you've chosen; -Now imagine each to-be-remembered item by placing one in each room as you walk through your house or apartment. -The method works by creating a more elaborated memory trace (one that has both verbal and visual attributes).
What are possible methods for investigating memory?
Methods of Investigation Targeted event recall: -This is the recall of specific historical events -Corroborating information is typically required (public record or family members) -Information recalled is distinctive Diaries: -A running record of events that occur in daily life --Later used to query memory -Firmer conclusions about memory accuracy can be made Cue words: -Subjects are presented with word cues and asked to: --Retrieve an autobiographical memory --Describe it --Date it -This yields an autobiographical memory retention function. That is, the distribution of personal episodic memories across the lifespan.
What evidence is there that face recognition is distinct from object-recognition? What is the Thatcher Illusion and what does it show? What is holistic processing and what study showed that humans use it? What study demonstrated gender difference in face recognition and why might this occur?
Other evidence that face recognition is distinct -Prosopagnosia: A selective inability to recognize familiar faces. -Development: New born babies (mean 9 weeks) prefer looking at intact over jumbled faces. Infants (2 days old) recognize mother from unfamiliar faces. -Face inversion: Inversion disrupts the recognition of faces much more than objects ******* The Thatcher Illusion: We appear to perceive faces in a holistic manner and consequently don't notice if parts are inverted. ******* Holistic Processing: Faces seem to be encoded as whole configurations Tanaka and Farah (1993) -Presented faces or houses accompanied by labels 'Larry's house' or 'Larry's face'. Had to recognize with isolated-parts or whole-object -For houses: Part and whole identification was the same -For faces: Whole identification was better than part identification -Supports the notion that faces are processed and remembered holistically McBain, Norton, and Chen (2009) -Task: indicate if face or tree was on the right or left side of the display. -Dependent variable: accuracy. -Results 1) Performance was better the longer the display 2) Women were more accurate than men in both upright and inverted face conditions 3) Performance for men and women was the same in the tree condition -Women could be better at this to identify offspring, be more selective in mate selection
What do the experiments with Split-Brain patients reveal? What is unique about them? What do they show about memory and senses?
Patients with a split-brain procedure cannot transfer information between hemispheres - each hemisphere, in effect, works in isolation. -Left visual field seen by right side of the brain. Right side of the brain is not specialized in language and understanding. They can name words presented to their left hemispheres but not words to the right. -However, they can draw a picture or point to a picture of what is presented to the right hemisphere (by using their left hand because right hemisphere controls the left hand!) The information to the right hemisphere can bias the interpretation of the word they see. What's critical is their explanations for why they see one word versus another. -Seeing things on the left visual field, people will come up with an explanation of why they think what they said. In this example, if someone asks to describe either pen, they will say they chose that pen for a reason such as they were just around animals or saw someone writing beforehand In the same way, people try to make sense of their memories and, without trying to deceive, can be quite confident in their interpretations.
Can we suppress memories? How does brain function operate when we try to supress a thought? What studies have shown this?
Roediger & McDermott (1995) -Demonstrated that the act of remembering can also generate false memories. Methods -Undergraduates heard lists of related words such as: bed, awake, rest, ... -The words in each study list were highly related to one word not in the list - in this case, sleep. -Recalling "sleep" would be a false memory. -They also asked subjects to determine if they "remembered" or just subjectively "knew" that the words were on the list. Results -The number of falsely recalled words, which were associated with studied words but not presented, was almost equivalent to the number of correctly recalled words. -The act of remembering a "false" word increased the probability that the word would be remembered at a later time ****** Depue et al., 2007 -Show that memory suppression engages many of the same brain circuits involved in other inhibitory functions. -They used a Think/No-Think paradigm for emotional memories and tested to see if memory suppression would push activation below baseline. Results -fMRI data showed brain regions that increased in activity when people were trying to suppress the memories (i.e., "suppressing" areas) and brain areas that decreased in activity (i.e., "suppressed" areas).
What is the self-reference effect? How effective is it?
Shows greatest efficacy out of the following methods for learning: Depth of Processing / Elaborative Rehearsal Spacing Similarity between encoding and retrieval Imagery "Self-reference effect"
What are social effects of facial attractiveness? What is an evolutionary hypothesis for this? Are attractiveness ratings reliable and sustained across large groups of people?
Social effect of facial attractiveness -Attractive faces associated with social competence --Better social skills (Kuhlenschmidt & Conger, 1988) --More competent at their job (Shapiro et al. 1976) --Possess leadership qualities (Cherulnik, 1989) -Attractive faces are treated differently --They receive higher salaries (Hamermesh & Biddle, 1994) --Elicit more cooperation (West & Brown, 1975) --Rewarded more often (Raza & Carpenter, 1987) ***** Evolutionary Hypothesis -Preferences for certain face types evolved as an adaptation to the problem of mate choice -Attractive traits signal aspects of mate quality --Fertility, youthfulness, or health --Preferences evolved because they enhanced reproductive success
What role does the striatum play in implicit memory? What is one type of implicit memory task? What neurodegenerative disease involves the striatum? How does temporal lobe amnesia contrast with Parkinson's?
Striatum and Implicit Memory -The striatum is a part of the brain critical to the control and planning of movements. -It is also involved with procedural and habit memories, such as the gradual learning of associations. -Disorders of the basal ganglia not only cause movement dysfunction but also difficulties in non-declarative memory. ****** Implicit Memory Task -Subjects learn associations between patterns on cards and a hypothetical "weather" outcome without being able to clearly verbalize the rules by which they were learning the judgment. They learn a non-declarative skill based on the probability of success. -Different visual patterns predicted the correct weather with varying degrees of certainty - either 75%, 57%, 43%, or 25% of the time. -The trials are presented quickly so subjects don't have time to really think about the patterns - BUT they do get better, implicitly learning the "rules," even though they can't describe how they make the judgments. -Their striatums were able to acquire the predictive value of the patterns. ****** Parkinson's -Parkinson's disease is a chronic, degenerative disease that results in the loss of neurons that use the neurotransmitter dopamine, mostly in the striatum. -Patients show motor tremors, difficulty in initiating movements and in balance, and attention problems, executive function problems and chronic tip-of-the-tongue experiences. ****** Contrasting Temporal Lobe Amnesia with Striatal Implicit Learning Deficits -Parkinson's patients, temporal lobe amnesics, and healthy controls performed the Weather Task. -Amnesic patients predicted the weather as well as non-brain damaged controls but had severely impaired declarative memory for the training episode (they were asked multiple choice questions about the cues, the layout of the computer screen, etc.). -Patients with Parkinson's disease failed to improve their performance on this non-declarative, implicit task despite having intact explicit memory for the training episode. -These results show a "double dissociation" ─ two groups of subjects with primary damage in different neural systems who show the opposite pattern of deficits.
What's the hippocampus' role in retrieval? What was the study design that displayed its role?
Study -Depth electrodes in the hippocampus of epilepsy patients. -Recorded responses to audiovisual stimuli (eg TV clips). -Single units that were responsive to specific clips were also responsive when the patients were asked to reimagine the clip. ****** The hippocampus, through its widespread cortical connections is thought to retrieve memories by reinstating the pattern of cortical activity that was there during the initial encoding. This is very difficult to visualize. Tanaka and colleagues (Neuron 2014) used novel methods to visualize hippocampal-cortical connections during learning and retrieval and were then able to silence these connections using optical methods. "These proteins allowed us to identify encoding neurons several days after learning and inactivate them with laser stimulation. When tagged CA1 neurons were silenced, we found that memory retrieval was impaired and representations in the cortex (entorhinal, retrosplenial, and perirhinal) and amygdala (central nucleus) could not be reactivated".
What is the Spacing effect? What are the two types of repetition and which is more optimal for learning? What study assessed which type of repetition is more efficient for long-term memory?
The Spacing Effect 1) Massed Repetition: repeated presentations that occur closely together in time. 2) Distributed Repetition: repeated presentations spread out over time. It's been shown distributed repitition is more efficient. 1 vs. multiple learning experiences. Different times, different levels of fatigue, different memories of each event. Much deeper -Massed repetition leads to deficient processing of the second presentation of the item --Result is only one fully encoded memory representation of the item -Massed repetition leads to little variability in the encoded memory representations --Results in representations that will be difficult to locate in a memory search. -The idea here is that many distinct memory traces is optimal. ****** Bahrick and Hall (1991) Assessed retention of material learned in high school algebra Analyses accounted for: Grades Subsequent rehearsal Scores on Scholastic Aptitude Test Results: Grades and SAT's were related to overall performance, but unrelated to maintenance over time; Only predictor of maintenance over time was the interval of time over which the information was learned: The longer the interval, the longer the retention.
What role does the amygdala play in arousal? Does it also play a role in subliminal stimuli perception?
The amygdala appears to play a role in processing both positive and negative stimuli, and the arousal level of the negative stimuli determines if there will be an amygdalar response or not
What are Flashbulb Memories? What 2 studies show their accuracy?
Vivid, highly detailed memories that endure, apparently unchanged for many years The memory for the event seems to be "burned" into our memories and integrated with our autobiographical memories. ****** Experiment In 1986, the morning after the Challenger space shuttle exploded while being watched nationally on television, Neisser and Harsch began gathering memories about how people learned of the disaster. They did so again, from the same people, 2 ½ years after the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle. -Only 25% of the subjects remembered being asked about the event 2 ½ years before; -Only 7% of the subjects gave similar recollections; -However, most subjects were very confident about their memories! -Why?: Often the event is seen repeatedly on TV. The inaccurate memory may be an occasion when they heard about the event, but it wasn't the first time they encoded it. ****** Hirst et al. (2009) -3000 participants filled out a detailed survey about: How they found out about the event -Memory for the event itself -Confidence in the accuracy of these memories -Personal feelings and reactions to the event Surveys given three times to the same people: 1 week, 11 months, and 35 months after the attack Results: -43% loss in flashbulb memories in the interval between the 1st and 3rd survey -Most of the loss occurred between 1st and 2nd survey -Memory loss for event memory paralleled the loss found in flashbulb memories -63% loss in memory for their emotional reaction in the interval between 1st and 3rd survey -Confidence in the accuracy of these memories did not change in the interval between the 1st to 3rd survey
What are the two types of intelligence? Do they have neurobiological correlates? Can brain structure and function change over time and with practice?
hoi et al., J Neuroscience (2008) differntiated 1) crystallised intelligence (gC) 2) fluid intelligence (gF) -gC is related to cortical thickness (especially in the left temporal lobe) -gF to brain structure (lateral and medial prefrontal cortex) and brain function. Brain function and brain structure measures made separable contributions to predicting intelligence, explaining 50% of the variance!
