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06. Major Components of Memory Function
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- 1Distinguish between declarative and non-declarative memory- Declarative memory: Explicit memory, conscious memory (facts, events, words, places, faces, music…)
- Non-declarative memory: Implicit memory (habituation, sensitization, classical conditioning, habit learning, motor skills) - 2One example of a case of memory deficits due to focal brain injury: What happened?One example of a case of memory deficits due to focal brain injury is the case of H.M.
- The case of H.M.: The first and best-analyzed example of a person with no declarative memory.
H.M. sustained brain injury when he was knocked down by a bicycle at age 9. Between the ages of 10-19 he had minor seizures, which later developed into major seizures.
At age 27, both of his medial temporal lobes were surgically removed. These parts of the brain included structures such as the entorhinal cortex, most of the perihinal cortex, the amygdala and about half the hippocampus. - 3One example of a case of memory deficits due to focal brain injury: What were the findings?After the operation, H.M. continued to give the date as March 1953 and saying that his age was 27. At first diagnosis, the researchers suggested that H.M. was unable to form new memories.
However, using a series of tests they found that H.M.’s motor learning was still intact. For example, he became increasingly better at tracing a star, even though he never remembered having done the task before.
This suggests that the hippocampus, the medial temporal lobe and diencephalon are associated with declarative memory. - 4Distinguish between episodic and semantic memoryEpisodic and semantic memory are two types of declarative memory.
- Episodic memory refers to the information we remember, e.g. memory for autobiographical events occurring at a particular time and location.
- Semantic memory refers to information we know, e.g. memory for facts and knowledge about the world: facts, words, faces, places, music…
- Semantic memory is often strengthened by repeated exposure, while episodic memory is often weakened by repeated exposure to similar events. - 5The concept of encoding- Encoding refers to the attending, preparing and processing of new information.
• If encoding is elaborative and deep, the memory is better.
• If encoding is limited and superficial, the memory will be poor.
• Research by Craik and Tulvig focuses on different kinds of encoding and the memory it produces, showing that the way by which memory is encoded affects how well it is retrieved. - 6The concept of storing- As regards storing, memory is stored in many brain areas. Areas that process information are generally also involved in storing that information.
• The sum of the total changes in the brain that first encode and experience and then constitute the record of an experience is called an engram.
• We have information that is not always that the forefront of our mind, although we have the ability to access it.
• No specific brain area is devoted to the storage function – the brain is more dynamic than that!
• A recent finding showed that areas that process information are generally also involved in storing that particular information. When memory is activated (e.g.) visually, the visual area of the brain gets involved in accessing that information. - 7The concept of retrieval• Research shows that familiarity with a specific task (e.g. chess) will lead to an interpretation of the task through existing knowledge. One study on this showed people two statistically equal chess boards. • However, in one the pieces are randomly placed and in the other they belong to a real game. Chess experts will remember the place of the pieces in the real board and not the other.
• Memory therefore reconstructs the past rather than merely collecting it. Context affects memory by modifying the cues given as reminders (e.g. why children perform better at certain memory tasks). Thus, internal states modify retrieval. - 8The concept of forgetting- There are two contrasting points regarding forgetting:
1. We never really forget. Forgetting is merely limited access, not limited storage. Techniques such as hypnosis can retrieve “lost” memories.
2. Some memory content is always and continuously lost. Storage is temporally limited with varying decay times. - 9Levels of forgetting1. Forgetting: Neurone problems maybe? The engram is not working (e.g. H.M.)
2. Generalizing: Memory can become distorted (e.g. Bartlett)
3. Abstracting: Leaving out parts to make it more generalizable. However, we then may believe we are remembering something that we don’t.
4. Creating general knowledge.
5. “Remembering” a non-existent past.
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- (Cognitive Psychology) Psychology 2A Fichas sobre 06. Major Components of Memory Function, creado por Nina Olsson el 25/07/2018.
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- Nina Olsson
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