OG P/s 21

[deleted647690]

I see how retrograde memory could work for an answer, but I have good reasoning for why short term memory would be correct. In the experiment, they tested for memory of childhood events as well as memory of the events right before the brain injury. In my mind, they were testing a contrast between two forms of memory. In this case, memory of childhood events would be retrograde memory, while memory of events right before the injury would have to be short term. That's how I interpreted it; the experiment was looking at these two differently timed events because of the different types of memory that they test.

I think memory of childhood events would be more likely classified as anterograde, and events that happened right before some injury occurred would be STM.

If both memory of chilhood events and memory of events right before the head injury are classified as anterograde, then what was the point of testing for both anyway?


To lend further support to this, question 24 references "both types of memory", implying that there are two types of memory being tested here.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Nugester]

Anterograde amnesia refers to the inability to form new memories after an event. Typically, memories long before the incident can be recalled. So, this is a problem with forming new short term memory. As you can see from person A: recollection of childhood events was similar pre/post treatment, so anterograde memory wasn't improved. Retrograde amnesia refers to an inability to recall memories before the event and doesn't prevent the person from forming new memories. Person A can recall recent events surrounding the accident post treatment. So retrograde memory is improved.

 

[deleted647690]

Anterograde amnesia refers to the inability to form new memories after an event. Typically, memories long before the incident can be recalled. So, this is a problem with forming new short term memory. As you can see from person A: recollection of childhood events was similar pre/post treatment, so anterograde memory wasn't improved. Retrograde amnesia refers to an inability to recall memories before the event and doesn't prevent the person from forming new memories. Person A can recall recent events surrounding the accident post treatment. So retrograde memory is improved.

Childhood events would have been formed before the accident related memories, so why wouldn't we also see an improvement in the childhood memories for A is retrograde memory was improved? Since retrograde memory is the ability to remember experiences from before the brain injury

 

[Nugester]

Childhood events would have been formed before the accident related memories, so why wouldn't we also see an improvement in the childhood memories for A is retrograde memory was improved? Since retrograde memory is the ability to remember experiences from before the brain injury

You are over thinking it. This is the experimental set up of the passage; researcher theorizes a potential drug to improve childhood and recent memory for brain trauma patients. Only recent memory before trauma is improved. Why? Beyond what we need to know and not what the question is asking.

Anterograde refer to long-term-memories like childhood that can be recalled and no new memories can be formed since the accident. Retrograde refers to memories that can't be remembered before the accident and new memories can be formed.

 

[deleted647690]

edit my first post, I meant childhood events would be classified as retrograde

 

[deleted647690]

You are over thinking it. This is the experimental set up of the passage; researcher theorizes a potential drug to improve childhood and recent memory for brain trauma patients. Only recent memory before trauma is improved. Why? Beyond what we need to know and not what the question is asking.

Anterograde refer to long-term-memories like childhood that can be recalled and no new memories can be formed since the accident. Retrograde refers to memories that can't be remembered before the accident and new memories can be formed.

I realized that I mixed anterograde and retrograde up in my initial post:



Anterograde amnesia refers to the loss of the capacity to form new memories, and retrograde amnesia refers to the loss of the ability to recall old memories (before the amnesia event occurred).

I was confused because person A showed the same ability to recall childhood events (events that occurred LONG before the brain injury), so I would think that retrograde memory was not impacted.

Person A also shows an increased ability to recall events right before the brain injury. I was confused, because I thought this would also be classified as retrograde memory. Therefore, in the case of the events right before brain injury, retrograde memory improved.
So I was confused because I classified both memories tested for person A as retrograde memories. One showed improvement (the memories right before the event), and the other one didn't (childhood memories).



So, final question: Both the childhood memories and the memories right before the event are classified as retrograde events? And we can still say that retrograde memory was improved even though only one of these events showed improvement?



I figured that, in this experiment, they were trying to test two forms of memory. In this case, I thought childhood events was classified as "more retrograde" than the events right before the head injury, so therefore, the events right before the head injury had to be another form of memory; hence, why I selected short term.

What kind of event would have been classified as short term memory in this case? Is short term memory more likely a memory on the time scale of minutes or seconds of the event occurring?


I hope you see where I'm coming from

 

[deleted647690]

Anterograde amnesia refers to the inability to form new memories after an event. Typically, memories long before the incident can be recalled. So, this is a problem with forming new short term memory. As you can see from person A: recollection of childhood events was similar pre/post treatment, so anterograde memory wasn't improved. Retrograde amnesia refers to an inability to recall memories before the event and doesn't prevent the person from forming new memories. Person A can recall recent events surrounding the accident post treatment. So retrograde memory is improved.

Wouldn't childhood events be a retrograde memory? Because anterograde refers to the capacity for new learning

 

[Nugester]

I realized that I mixed anterograde and retrograde up in my initial post:



Anterograde amnesia refers to the loss of the capacity to form new memories, and retrograde amnesia refers to the loss of the ability to recall old memories (before the amnesia event occurred).

I was confused because person A showed the same ability to recall childhood events (events that occurred LONG before the brain injury), so I would think that retrograde memory (You are confusing yourself, this should be anterograde based on what you even wrote above) was not impacted.

Person A also shows an increased ability to recall events right before the brain injury. I was confused, because I thought this would also (not also, the above paragraph is anterograde)be classified as retrograde memory. Therefore, in the case of the events right before brain injury, retrograde memory improved (yes, this is correct)
So I was confused because I classified both memories tested for person A as retrograde memories(wrong, one is anterograde, the other is retrograde). One showed improvement (the memories right before the event)(retrograde), and the other one didn't (childhood memories) (anterograde).



So, final question: Both the childhood memories and the memories right before the event are classified as retrograde events (no, the childhood memories are considered anterograde)? And we can still say that retrograde memory was improved even though only one of these events showed improvement?



I figured that, in this experiment, they were trying to test two forms of memory. In this case, I thought childhood events was classified as "more retrograde" (nope, childhood is anterograde) than the events right before the head injury, so therefore, the events right before the head injury had to be another form of memory; hence, why I selected short term

What kind of event would have been classified as short term memory in this case? Is short term memory more likely a memory on the time scale of minutes or seconds of the event occurring? (notice how the passage says person A was in a coma. They make no mention of how long they were in. 1 week? 1 year? 5 years? No way can this be short term memory. Also, duration for numbers and letters are on the order of seconds for short term memory)


I hope you see where I'm coming from

See above in bold. I don't see where you are coming from. I believe it stems from a confusion about retrograde vs anterograde that you need to read/get sorted out before the MCAT.

 

[Nugester]

Wouldn't childhood events be a retrograde memory? Because anterograde refers to the capacity for new learning

Anterograde amnesia is when you CAN'T form NEW MEMORIES AFTER the tragic event. So you can remember OLD memories like childhood events.

Retrograde amnesia is when you can't recall memories BEFORE the brain trauma, but DOESN'T AFFECT NEW MEMORIES from forming.

I don't know how else to explain it. Because person A can recall events from long ago, his anterograde memory is working. The drug improves memory that occurred shortly BEFORE the brain trauma, so retrograde memory is improved.

 

[deleted647690]

Anterograde amnesia is when you CAN'T form NEW MEMORIES AFTER the tragic event. So you can remember OLD memories like childhood events.

Retrograde amnesia is when you can't recall memories BEFORE the brain trauma, but DOESN'T AFFECT NEW MEMORIES from forming.

I don't know how else to explain it. Because person A can recall events from long ago, his anterograde memory is working. The drug improves memory that occurred shortly BEFORE the brain trauma, so retrograde memory is improved.

I apologize for being persistently annoying with this question. My pestering is probably obnoxious, so I completely understand if you don't want to respond to me anymore.


I think part of what I'm confusing here about anterograde is when you say, "Because person A can recall events from long ago, his anterograde memory is working."
"recall events from long ago", meaning, recall long term memories that have already been encoded. Anterograde memory refers to the encoding of NEW long term memories, not long term memories that were encoded long ago at some point in the past.

My initial confusion also stems from the fact that both events in the passage, Childhood memories and the events before a car accident, were events that occurred in the past.
Since a childhood memory is something that would happen many years ago, while the car accident memory is something that happened within the past 20 days, I thought that meant they were describing two different types of memory since the events are so distinct in the amount of time that passed since they occurred. I thought maybe the childhood memory would be more "retrograde" than the memory of the event that occurred within the past 20 days, so the past 20 days memory would have to be a different type of memory altogether.

However, I forgot that short term memory usually describes memories that stick around only for a few minutes or so.

I guess the definition of retrograde memory is specifically a memory that happens around the same time that some kind of traumatic brain injury occurs, so the memory of the event before the car accident would have to be retrograde in this case.


To support this definition, here is another question I got wrong on AAMC FL 2. I guess since the question stem doesn't describe a specific brain injury, it cannot be retrograde amnesia. Thus, retrograde amnesia is a term used to describe loss of memory before a traumatic brain injury event.

 

[Nugester]

For the new question your posted, like you said there is no mention of brain trauma, so that is why C is out. You need to be familiar with what dissociation means, so that's why D is best with that situation.

As for the other stuff:
The question is basically asking about anterograde versus retrograde amnesias. If you understand what those are, then it doesn't really matter whether you know what "anterograde memory" or "retrograde memory" are. Retrograde amnesia follows Ribot's Law; which states that recent memories are more likely to be lost in retrograde amnesia. If you know that, then you can answer the question.