EXAM #2 ANSWER ANY FOUR on EACH page. Include #12. SPRING 1998

1. Karl Lashley believed he had shown that "memory" could not be localized in the brain. What is one way that we have seen he was wrong?

2. What are the advantages of event-related brain potentials, and of brain imaging methods such as fMRI, in studying the nature of human memory?

3. The Karis, Fabiani & Donchin (1987) study of ERPs recorded during study of list words, discussed in class, found differences in these ERPs as a function of what aspects of performance?

4. In our survey of the "gross functional neuroanatomy" of memory, which area(s) seemed most closely associated with attention and working memory? Give a brief example of how this was demonstrated.

5. In Tulving's (1994) HERA model of episodic memory, what are the corresponding roles of the left and right frontal cortices?

6. In the diagram from Schacter's book below, identify the hippocampus. Bilateral damage to this structure produces what sort of amnestic syndrome?

7. If you are given instructions to elaboratively encode a list of words for later recall, what regions of the brain would "light up" as especially active in an fMRI study?

8. What is the typical pattern of memory impairment observed in Korsakoff's syndrome patients, resulting from chronic alcohol abuse?

9. In two cases of amesia following encephalitis, we've read about attempts to teach a new set of skills and knowledge - about computers and word processing - in the face of massic anterograde amnesia. In general, what is the approach taken? What seems different about learning in these patients, versus normal acquisition?

10. Give an example of a patient who shows "confabulation" in episodic memory. What is one way such confabulations could occur.

11. What sort of "memory impairment" is typically seen in schizophrenia, according to work reviewed by McKay and colleagues in the CC book?

12.[obligatory question] For one of the case studies presented in class other than your own that you found particularly compelling, briefly describe the pattern of impairment shown by the patient, and its apparent cause and/or associated damage, if that information is available. What can we learn about memory function from this case?

13. What sort of memory impairment seems to result from "disconnection" of the two cerebral hemispheres, according to Zaidel's review in CC?

14. We distinguished two basic kinds of impairment of visual memory and cognition. What were these, and how are they distinguished by different "pathways" through the cortex? Give a brief example of a person with an impairment in one, but not the other, of these.
 

15. From the readings in CC or Schacter, describe an example of impairment of semantic memory that is "bounded" or constrained by the type of semantic knowledge. What is one possible interpretation of this selective impairment?