Memory and amnesia Flashcards
The 3 step memory process
Encoding, storage, receiving
Encoding
Processing of information into the memory system
Storage
Retention of encoded material over time
Retrieval
Process of getting the information out of the memory storage
Lesions to hippocampus
Episodic memory (events)
Lesions to parahippocampal region
Semantic memory (facts)
Anterograde amnesia
Can’t learn anything new
Remember things in the past
HM
Surgery to remove area where the focus of the epilepsy was thought to be
Removed te hippocampus
Did treat the epilepsy nut he became completely amnesic
Severe anterograde amnesia and quite severe retrograde amnesia
Developed profound amnesia for most ongoing events
Change blindness
Experiments which show us the errors our brains made
Brain assumes reality and makes continuous mistakes so that we survive
These mistakes mean our memories are unreliable
Eyewitness testimony
Memory isn’t always reliable when reporting a crime
Loftus and palmer
Subjects were asked leading questions in which cars were described hitting or smashing each other were prone to recall the same effect differently one week later, demonstrating the reconstructive nature of memory
Predicted higher speeds and more reported that they saw broken glass if they heard the word smashed
Binocular rivalry
Brain reconstructs the reality
Person hears about an incident and sources merge and this creates what we remember, occurs because brain receives different sources at the same time
Information deficit model
Model doesn’t work
Model whereby we think that people don’t know enough about science
Feed people with information with the hope people increase their scientific knowledge
Experiment where people were exposed to myths rather than exposed to nothing, believed more in the myths (debunking)
Melting memories
Memory works as a memory pot in which it is difficult to reveal a true fact
Retrieve memories which aren’t really true
How memories form and how we lose them
Experience something, turn into electric energy, information lands in short term memory , transferred to long term memory and finally to storage areas
2 neurons connect repeatedly
Chronic stress- body becomes flooded with stress hormones which affects attention
Dpressed - low serotonin and less attentive to new information
Dwelling on sad event in the past - difficult to pay attention to present
Isolation - social interaction gives the brain a work out
Exercise - increased blood flow to the brain
Learning new skills such as a nw language helps decrease age effects of the brain
Proactive interference
things you know interferes with what you need to learn. E.g saying the same of a previous person you dated
Retroactive interference
Things you do after you learn something pushes away what you have to learn
Why isn’t memory a bad thing?
If we didn’t forget, we would not learn
E.g forget the previous places you’ve parked the car so you can remember the new place
Adaptive reasons for forgetting
Forgetting is functional to remembering
Patterncity
Finding meaningful patterns in meaningless noise
Why the brain believes something is real when it’s not
Assumptions guide perception which guides our remembering
Causes of amnesia
Strokes, in jury, alcohol, stress, poisoning, dugs, lack of oxygen
Short term memory definitely
Memory for information currently in mind
Limited capacity
Long term memory
Stored information that need not be presently accessed or even consciously accessible.
Retrograde amnesia
Impaired recall and recognition of memories of facts and personal episodes acquired before the brain damage
Anterograde amnesia
Impaired recall and recognition of facts and personal episodes encountered after the occurrence of the brain damage
Recall versus recognition
Recall - you must retrieve the information from your memory, fill in the blank or essay tests
Recognition - you must identify the target form possible targets, multiple choice tests
Explicit and implicit learning
Explicit (eg. I learn at lectures)
Implicit (E.g slowly I learn why people wear santa hats)
What is learning
An enduring change in behaviour
Hippocampal formation
Episodic memory (events)
Parahippocampal regin
Semantic memory (facts)
