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Unit III Lesson 10
Neuroscience of Memory
Neuroscience of Memory
• Procedural memories seem to be
stored in the cerebellum
• PET scans suggest short-term
memories are stored in the
prefrontal cortex and temporal
lobe
• Consolidation
– Changes in structure and functioning
of neurons when a memory is formed
Amnesia
• Retrograde amnesia
– Loss of memory for the past
– Memory loss coincides with injury or
illness
• Anterograde amnesia
– Inability to form new long-term
memories
• Senile dementia
– Form of anterograde amnesia though
retrograde amnesia may also be present
Alzheimer’s Disease
• 5.3 million Americans have
Alzheimer’s (Alzheimer’s
Association, 2010)
• The most common type of
dementia
– 60 to 80 percent of all cases of
dementia
• Brain forms large number of betaamyloid protein deposits (plaques)
– Strands of protein become twisted
Alzheimer’s Disease (2)
• Risk factors include diabetes,
obesity, smoking, high cholesterol
• Treatments slow but do not stop
the disease
• Involvement in new learning on
daily basis stimulates brain derived
neurotropic factors