BLOA - Examine an interaction between cognition and physiology with 2 relevant studies Flashcards
1
Q
anterograde amnesia
A
- cause: inability to pass info from STM to LTM
- effect: inability to create new LTM memories
notable sufferers: Clive Wearing, Henry Molaison
2
Q
Who was Clive Wearing?
A
- a musician that contracted encephalitis (viral infection)
- this left him with serious brain damage to the hippocampus, causing memory impairment
He suffers from:
- anterograde amnesia: impairment in ability to remember after a particular incident
- retrograde amnesia: impairment in ability to remember before a particular incident
Main study: Sacks (2007)
3
Q
Sacks (2007) - Aim
A
To demonstrate memory processes between STM and LTM
4
Q
Sacks (2007) - Findings
A
- he couldn’t transfer episodic memory from STS to LTS
- thus his memory lasts 7-30 seconds and he cannot form new memories
- he constantly feels like he has just woken up from years of unconsciousness
- however, Wearing could learn new skills and retained his musical ability and could talk, read, write, and sight-read music scores (procedural memory)
- his personality remained unchanged
- furthermore, Wearing’s wife noted that Wearing had developed a sense of his own condition and over time had changed from a state of perpetual confusion to being calmer and happier
5
Q
Sacks (2007) - Conclusion
A
- STM and LTM are separate memory stores
- memories stored in LTM have a limited duration
6
Q
Sacks (2007) - Evaluation
A
- realistic case study with in-depth info
- but the brain infection was too widespread
for researchers to accurately locate the exact areas of the brain that might be responsible for certain aspects of memory
7
Q
Who was Henry Molaison?
A
- suffered epileptic fits from 16
- had surgery to remove parts of his brain (including hippocampus) at 27
- surgery cured epilepsy but caused complications (i.e. severe anterograde amnesia)
- like Clive Wearing, he constantly feels like he has just woken up from years of unconsciousness
Main study: Scoville and Milner (1957)
8
Q
Scoville and Milner (1957) - findings
A
- unable to remember any new events
- HM retained and could learn new motor skills (procedural memory)
- performed normally in intelligence tests
9
Q
Scoville and Milner (1957) - conclusion
A
- completely forgets episodic memory due to it not being transferred from STM to LTM
- but can retain procedural memory
- and his intelligence was unaffected
- provides evidence for localization of function
10
Q
Scoville and Milner (1957) - evaluation
A
- at first HM’s surgery was thought to give a good understanding of how particular areas of the brain are linked to cognitive processes
- but from the Corkin (1997) MRI, the brain damage was worse than previously thought (a significant portion of both temporal lobes were removed)
- thus it was not possible to identify one particular region responsible for Molaison’s memory problems
11
Q
evaluation of case studies
A
- intensive investigation into a subject
- produces rich, detailed results
- but since it’s for very specific circumstances, it can’t be generalized to the entire population
12
Q
what to write when asked “Examine an interaction between cognition and physiology and evaluate 2 relevant studies”
A
- main idea: memory (anterograde amnesia) as cognitive factor, hippocampus as physiological factor
- outline the effect of anterograde amnesia on memory
- outline the function of hippocampus
- explain what those two have to do with each other
- judge their relative importance in influencing human behaviour
- Clive Wearing (Sacks, 2007): hippocampus damaged by the viral infection encephalitis
- Henry Molaison (Scoville and Milner, 1957): hippocampus removed to alleviate his epilepsy
- evaluate strengths and limitations of case studies
- judge validity, reliability, and general applicability of case studies
- assess any ethical considerations taken
