Download Solutions - MsHughesPsychology

Neural basis for memory
Multiple choice questions
1. According to Kandel, in which part of a neuron are memories formed?
A. In the dendrite
B. In the synapse
C. In the axon
D. In the myelin sheath
2. Damage to the hippocampus may result in:
A. Difficulty forming memories
B. Difficulty speaking
C. Difficulty walking
D. Difficulty breathing
3. Lacey fell and received a nasty head injury. When she awoke from her concussion, she could not
remember the last five years. She most likely has:
A. Anterograde amnesia
B. Retrograde amnesia
C. Proactive amnesia
D. Retroactive amnesia
4. Which of the following causes of forgetting is a result of degeneration of neurons in the
hippocampus?
A. Retrograde amnesia
B. Anterograde amnesia
C. Alzheimer’s disease
D. Dementia
5. In what part of the brain does memory consolidation take place?
A. The reticular formation
B. The cerebral cortex
C. The hippocampus
D. The corpus callosum
Questions 6 and 7 refer to the following information.
In the movie ’50 First Dates’, Drew Barrymore’s character wakes up every day with no memory of
the day before. Her memory of events that occurred before the car accident is perfectly intact, but
since the accident she is unable to form new memories. She has a memory that she builds on for the
whole day when she is awake, but when she falls asleep these memories are lost.
6. Drew Barrymore’s character is most likely suffering from:
A. Anterograde amnesia
B. Retrograde amnesia
C. Proactive amnesia
D. Retroactive amnesia
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7. One inconsistency with the movie character’s condition and that of real-life sufferers of this type
of amnesia is that:
A. Usually women do not experience amnesia
B. Real-life sufferers will learn to form new memories within a year
C. Real-life sufferers cannot retain new memories for a whole day
D. Real-life sufferers usually forget the events before the accident as well
Questions 8 and 9 relate to the following scenario.
In one piece of research into memory, Hudspeth and his colleagues administered electroconvulsive
shock therapy (ECT) to rats to see the effect it would have on their memory. After rats had learned
to navigate a maze they were administered shocks at differing intervals: Group A received the shock
immediately after learning the maze, Group B 20 seconds after learning the maze, Group C 30
minutes after learning the maze and Group D 60 minutes after learning the maze. The researchers
then measured how many errors the rats made when navigating the maze, to measure their
retention rates.
8. Hudspeth and his colleagues helped to provide evidence for which theory?
A. Consolidation theory
B. Semantic network theory
C. Retrieval failure theory
D. Motivated forgetting
9. The results of the study into the effect of ECT on the memory of rats showed that:
A. Groups A, B and C had no recollection of the maze
B. Groups A and B experienced more errors than groups C and D
C. Group D experienced fewer errors than the other three groups
D. Group B experienced a better retention rate than group C
Short answer questions
1. Callum is out playing football one afternoon for his football club, the Devils. Halfway through the
first quarter, Callum falls from taking a mark and lands directly on his head. His parents are worried
about him and take him to the local hospital. The doctor asks Callum what happened but Callum says
he can’t remember any of the football game at all.
a) Which theory explains why Callum is unable to remember the football game?
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b) According to this theory, why is Callum unable to remember the game?
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c) Callum and his family live about an hour away from the football ground. Is Callum likely to
remember leaving home before the game? Explain your answer.
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1 + 1 + 2 = 4 marks
2. Provide two symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
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2 marks
3. With reference to the type of memory that is affected, explain what happens to the memory of a
patient suffering from anterograde amnesia.
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2 marks
4. Explain the difference between Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
__________________________________________________________________________________
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2 marks
5. Explain the role of the neuron in terms of memory formation.
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1 mark
6. Distinguish between the two types of amnesia.
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2 marks
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Solutions
Multiple choice
1.B
2.A
3.B
4.C
5.C
6.A
7.C
8.A
9.B
Short answer questions
1a) Consolidation theory
b) Consolidation theory states that a physical change occurs
in the brain when a memory trace is formed. This takes
around 30 minutes and if the process is interrupted the
memory may never be consolidated.
c) Yes, only memories 30 minutes prior to the accident will
be lost.
2. Alzheimer’s disease is characterised by memory loss and
personality changes
3. In anterograde amnesia, new long-term memories are unable
to be formed. This means that the patient has difficulty in
encoding memories from short-term to long-term memory.
4. Dementia is a symptom resulting in a deterioration of
cognitive abilities. Alzheimer’s may be the cause of this
symptom.
5. The formation of memories is a result of a physical change in
the brain that occurs in the synapses of neurons.
6. Anterograde amnesia is an organic cause of forgetting that
involves sufferers being unable to form new memories after
an accident has occurred.
Retrograde amnesia is an organic cause of forgetting that
is characterised by the inability to retrieve memories that
have been stored in long-term memory before an accident
has occurred.
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