1.Are episodic memories more susceptible to memory loss then semantic memories? Explain with reference to Alzheimer's disease
I'm not 100% sure on this, but personally I would say that both episodic and semantic memories are heavily affected by Alzheimer's disease. The key thing is that explicit memories (semantic and episodic) tend to be affected earlier in the disease and more severely than implicit memories.
2. Explain the role of the temporal lobe in memory formation. What memories does it store?
The temporal lobe contains both the hippocampus and the amygdala. Therefore, it is involved in the consolidation of explicit memories (the primary role of the hippocampus) and the formation of emotional memories (the amygdala). As for storage, neither the hippocampus or the amygdala store memories, as long-term explicit memories are distributed around the cerebral cortex. It is likely the temporal lobe will store auditory information from these memories, as auditory information is processed in the temporal lobe.
3. Which is the Amygdala NOT responsible for?
a) learning
b)memory
c)fear
d)all emotions
Bit of a strange question, this. Personally, I would say d) all emotions, as the amygdala is involved in learning, memory and fear, and d) just seems like a bit of a strange answer, even though the amygdala does have a key role in regulating emotional reactions. Happy to be challenged on this one!
4. Explain the existence of short term and long term memory using the serial position effect
The key here is to consider the primacy and recency effect. The primacy effect (items at the start of the list being remembered better) are rehearsed multiple times and therefore pass into LTM - therefore proving the existence of LTM. The recency effect (items at the end of the list being remembered better) occurs due to these items still being in STM - therefore proving the existence of STM.
5. Wendy and bill witnessed a car accident. Wendy was standing at the curb, while bill witnessed it from inside a bakery. Wendy always has vivid flashbacks of the event. One year later, Bill and Wendy were giving eyewitness testimony in court, Bill gave a different story to othre one he gave on the scene of the accident
a) Explain the role of the Amygdala with reference to Wendy's reaction
Wendy's amygdala was responsible for this event being remembered strongly, and therefore able to be easily retrieved. During times of heightened emotional arousal, such as the accident, noradrenaline is released at the amygdala, which stimulates the amygdala to signal to the hippocampus that stronger encoding of the memory is needed. If the memory is encoded very strongly, this could explain Wendy's constant flashbacks.
b) What hormone was responsible for Wendy's reactions?
As touched on above, noradrenaline, although adrenaline also plays a role.
C) With reference to Elizabeth Loftus, explain why Bill might have given different testimony in court
Loftus found that memories could be reconstructed over time. Therefore, Bill may have reconstructed his memory of the accident over the past year due to new information becoming available, or due to being asked leading questions. This can lead to new information being inserted into Bill's memory, causing the memory to be fallible and possible incorrect, and different to the memory that he originally had.
6. Explain anterograde amnesia with reference to an example
Anterograde amnesia is when an individual is unable to form new long-term explicit memories after the brain trauma/incident occurs (such as a head knock). H.M. is a famous example of this - he had most of his medial temporal lobes removed and was unable to form new explicit long-term memories afterwards.
I hope this helps!