PSY260: - L17&L18

Textbooks §

1. In the Tower of Hanoi puzzle, moving all the disks to the right is an abstract plan that depends on the () part of the frontal lobes, whereas specific plans for completing individual steps to solve the puzzle (e.g., moving the yellow disk to the middle peg) depend on a more () part of the frontal lobes.¹
2. In the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, frequently used in clinical settings, patients with frontal-lobe lesions show (); that is, they fail to learn a new rule despite feedback indicating that the old rule is incorrect.²
3. It is hypothesized that in ADHD, projections to the frontal cortex from () containing neurons in the () are hypoactive or underdeveloped.³
4. Carol sustained frontal-lobe damage when she was hit by a car last year. Now she is unable to hold down a job, as she never cares to show up on time. Given her brain damage and behavior, it is likely that Carol has () syndrome.⁴
5. Jamie forgets the color of Carrie’s shirt as soon as they exchange goodbyes. The fleeting visual sensation that Jamie had before she forgot the color is called a(n) ().⁵
6. Jim can remember a long (seven- or eight-item) list of colors without much thought, but when asked to remember a list of full names, he can remember only four or five. From what we know about short-term memory storage, this is likely due to the ().⁶
7. Schizophrenia patients with two less effective alleles of the COMT gene—a gene that functions in () metabolism—are more likely to perform () on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task compared to patients with zero or one abnormal copy.⁷

---

8. () is the active and temporary representation of information that is maintained for the short term in the mind, assisting the individual to think about and decide what to do next.⁸
9. The () in Baddeley’s model monitors and manipulates both of the working-memory buffers, providing cognitive control of working memory.⁹
10. Many studies suggest that () is dysfunctional in the patients with schizophrenia.¹⁰
11. Most pharmacological treatments for schizophrenia work by altering the transmission of (), a neuromodulator that alters neuron-to-neuron communication.¹¹
12. Short delays are used in the () task for the purpose of assessing working memory; longer delays are used in the same task for the purpose of studying long-term memory.¹²
13. Place-based models of memory are also known as () models of memory because they imply the existence of two or more different places for memories to be stored; similarly, statebased models of memory have been referred to as () models of memory because they imply that there is only one place for memory, although these memories can be in various states.¹³
14. The () task consists of a series of names of colors, each printed in a color that is different from the color being named.¹⁴
15. General (), the capacity for learning, reasoning, and understanding, appears to be associated with a strong () memory, especially for manipulating larger numbers of rules, concepts, goals, and ideas.¹⁵
16. In humans, the prefrontal cortex encompasses approximately () of the cerebral cortex.¹⁶
17. Earl Miller argued that the key “cognitive” contribution of the prefrontal cortex to working memory is the ability to sustain activity despite ().¹⁷
18. Frontal-lobe patients with damage to the () side are most likely to show specialized deficits in verbal (as opposed to visuospatial) working memory.¹⁸
19. () is one of several enzymes that are critical for degrading dopamine.¹⁹

Lecture §

• Sensory and STM
  • Describe and draw the Atkinson–Shiffrin Memory Model
    • Input -> Sensory memory ---attention-> STM (WM) -> LTM
  • Compare the Contrast Sensory Memory and Short Term Memory (5 characteristics)?
    • | Sensory Memory | STM | |--------------------------------------|--------------------------------------| | One for each sense | Multimodal (general for senses) | | Very large capacity | small capacity | | Rapid decay (~1s) and overwrting | Quick decay (<1min) and overwriting | | Always overwrite by new sensory info | Can be preserved in STM by rehearsal | | Transfers to STM | Transfer to/from LTM |
  • What are the 3 major characteristics of STM capacities?
    1. Capacity seems to be between $7\pm 2$ pieces of information chunks
    2. Attention determines duration (stop attention, lose info)
    3. Rehearsal: repeating info mentally to maintain attention
       • Possible to transfer info from STM to LTM
• Working Memory
  • What are the 3 components of WM processed by Baddeley?
    1. Phonological loop: inner voice
    2. Sketchpad: inner eye
    3. Central executive: attention
  • What are the 2 major functions of Central executive
    • Monitors and manipulates both WM buffers (phonological loop & visuospatial sketchpad)
    • Provides cognitive control of WM
      • +/- from items in buffer
      • Select items to guid behaviour
      • Retrieve info from LTM
      • Transfer info from buffer to LTM
  • What is the major function of phonological loop and how does it help with rehearsal
    • Stores about 2 seconds of auditory information
    • Repeating numbers mentally is a function of phonological loop
  • What is the major function of the sketchpad
    • Holds both visual and spatial information for manipulation (the mind’s eye)
    • Limited and independent capacity from phonological loop
• Brain Substrates
  • What part of the brain plays a prominent role in WM?
    • Prefrontal Cortex
    • Mammals: Better WM -> Larger prefrontal cortex (PFC) area
  • What syndrome is common with human with frontal cortex damage?
    • Dysexecutive syndrome: decrease in WM and executive function
  • How does different areas in Prefrontal Cortex support different aspect of working memory
    • Image
    • Neurons in the DLPFC show WM specific activity
      • Neurons of the DLPFC fire while memories are being maintained in working memory (delay neurons)
      • Different delay neurons seem to encode different memory locations
    • Manipulation: Dorsolateral PFC
      • Central executive: DLPFC
    • Simple maintenance: VLPFC
      • Phonological loop: Left VLPFC
        • Semantic info: Anterior VLPFC
        • Phonological info: Posterior VLPFC
      • Visual spatial sketchpad: Right VLPFC
    • Rehearsal: other cortical areas

Footnotes §

1. anterior, posterior ↩

2. Perserveration ↩

3. dopamine, basa ganglia ↩

4. dysexecutive ↩

5. visual sensory memory ↩

6. the-word-length effect ↩

7. dopamine, poorly ↩

8. working memory ↩

9. central executive ↩

10. DLPFC ↩

11. dopamine ↩

12. delayed non match to sample (DNMS) ↩

13. multi-store, unitary-store ↩

14. stroop ↩

15. intelligence, working ↩

16. 1/3 ↩

17. distractions ↩

18. left ↩

19. COMT ↩