testing of long term memory.

1. Testing of long term memory:
Dr.Roopchand.PS
Senior Resident Academic
Department of Neurology
TDMC, Alappuzha

2. Memory:
• Ability of the brain to store and retrieve
information.
– Explicit memory: conscious, intentional
recollection of an event or item of information.
– Includes – immediate, short term and long term
memories.
– Implicit memory: Unconscious retention in
memory, as evidenced by the effect of a previous
experience or previously encountered information
on current thoughts or actions.
– Includes – motor memory.

3. Long term memory
Procedural Declarative
memories memories
“Knowing how” “knowing that”
Episodic memories
Semantic memories
‘Personal
‘general knowledge’
recollection’

4. Contents of long term memory:
• Procedural memory:
– Memories for performance of action or skills
– “knowing how”
• Declarative memory:
– Memories of facts, rules, concepts and events;
includes semantic and episodic memory.
– “knowing that”

5. • Semantic memory:
– General knowledge, including facts, rules,
concepts and propositions.
• Episodic memories:
– Personally experienced events and the contexts in
which they occurred.

6. How to Remember things!!!
• Maintenance rehearsal: rote repetition of
material in order to maintain its availability in
memory.
• Elaborative rehearsal: association of new
information with already stored knowledge
and analysis of new information to make it
memorable.

7. Anatomic correlate of long term
memory:
• Thought to reside in multiple cortical region.
– Visual association cortex for visual memory.
– Temporal cortex for auditory memory.
– Left lateral temporal cortex : knowledge of word
meaning.
• fMRI studies support this concept.
• Memory can be retrieved with out the
hippocampal system from neo cortex.

8. Testing:
• Personal information:
– Where were you born?
– School information
– Vocation history
– Family information

9. • Historic Facts:
– Always consider patients education level.
– Ask about common historic facts, if possible
sequentially.

10. Registration vs Retrieval?
• A clue is the clue to it.

11. Procedural memory testing:
• Pursuit rotor task:
• simple pure visual-motor tracking test that has
consistent results within age groups.
• measurement of procedural memory as well as
demonstrates the participant's fine-motor skills.
• Amnesic participants show no impairment in this
motor task when tested at later trials.
• It does however seem to be affected by lack of
sleep and drug use

13. • Serial reaction time task:
– having participants retain and learn procedural
skills that assess specific memory for procedural-
motor skill.
– Patiets with Alzheimer's disease and amnesia
demonstrate a long retention time which indicates
that they are able to retain the skill and
demonstrate effective performance of the task at
a later point in time.

14. • Mirror tracing task:
– looks at the integration of the senses .
– it is a visual motor test where the participants
learn a new motor skill involving hand-eye
coordination.
– Drawing the image is the work of your procedural
memory.
– once you figure out how to draw the image in the
mirror you have little difficulty the second time.
– Alzheimer’s disease are not able to recall the skills
acquired in a mirror tracing task, but they acquire
the procedural performance ability regardless