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Memory Disorders
Psychology 3717
Introduction
• The strange case of Charles D’Sousa
• Or is it Philip Cutajar?• Rare type of disorder• Some stuff clearly
spared
Introduction
• Results with amnesiacs has lead to many discoveries about memory– Episodic vs. semantic memory– Procedural vs. declarative memory– Implicit vs. explicit memory– Phonological loop vs. visuo spatial sketchpad
problems
• Taxonomy• Individual differences• Interpretation• Application• Mostly comes down to a lack of control, which
of course is inevitable
Case studies
• We pretty much have to rely on these• They are, thankfully, rare• Usually some sort of accident or a stroke
Case SP
• Stroke patient• Both Medial temporal lobes, left Hp and lots
of surrounding area, but not the amygdala• Had trouble naming objects• Anterograde and retrograde amnesia• Similar to KC
Clive Wearing
• Case of encephalitis• Pervasive amnesia• Both semantic and
episodic impairment• Temporal lobe dilation• Hp destroyed
Performance Patterns
• Retrograde amnesia– Losing past memories
• Anterograde amnesia– No new memories
• Spared function– Often implicit tasks, such as priming or ability to
learn a new skill
Typically spared
• Working Memory• Semantic memory – Even KC could learn new stuff
• Declarative information using Tulving’s method– Restrict errors
Why?
• Difficulties in interference, retrieval and encoding
• Consolidation– Tends to come down to something to do with HP– Context or sending item off for processing or
some such thing
Semantic memory problems
• What is a cat?• Temporal lobe problems• Oddly enough, episodic memory often intact
in these rare cases
Working Memory Problems
• There are cases of people with intact phonological loops and visuo spatial sketchpads that are pretty much toast
• And vice versa
Alzheimer’s
• More than half of all dementia is from AD
• 2 times more women than men– Could be because
women live longer though
• dementia and brain stuff– Neurofibrillary tangles
and neuritic plaques
AD
• MASSIVE cell death• In essence, you get like lesions everywhere• ‘cortical’ dementia, but you get these lesions,
holes really, everywhere
Neurotransmitters affected
• ACh is important in memory, especially in HP• The ACh system is severely damaged in AD• Indeed it is almost targeted• Other systems too though
Memory effects
• Episodic effects• Eventually semantic effects• Retrieval cues don’t help– Information was not even encoded
• Nondeclarative stuff, skills etc, are the last to go
Treatment
• Most drugs target the cholinergic system• This disease not only affects the victim, but
also his/her family• NGF is promising• Treatments will come, but, reversal, I dunno• Respite care is key for the family
Conclusions
• Frankly there is not a great deal of hope for most amnesiacs
• That said, neuroscience is moving pretty fast• Has helped us understand normal function