Siegel: Memory & Cognition Flashcards
What is implicit memory?
nonverbal memory of: emotions, behaviors, perceptions and bodily sensations of lived experience
(unintentional /procedural memories: riding a bike, typing, singing familiar song)
present at birth
Amygdala
no sense of recall = (past shapes present) unconscious mental models influence present experience without our awareness
Automatic reactions
Dont need: conscious attention, hippocampus, or prefrontal cortex
What is explicit memory?
Semantic (facts) & Episodic (autobiographical)
-intentionally remember things (dates, facts)
-conscious attention of self & time required to recall
-facts, verbal language, self and time
-altered over time by experiences
-creates order, locations, time to memory
-
Semantic: (general knowledge about the world)
- “I had a birthday” (who, what, when, where) the facts
- 1.5 yrs old
- childhood amnesia
- hippocampus
- facts, concepts, names
- short-term
Episodic: (autobiographical /specific events )
- “I enjoyed my birthday” (How you felt & thought about events )
- memories of lived experiences
- 2 yrs old
- hippocampus
- long-term memories of specific events (yesterday, college graduation)
- stored (encoded) by cortical processes that move memory into permanent storage
- corpus callosum (connects hemispheres) allows coherent integration of events; sense of self across time
- shaped by experience, continues to grow as we develop
What brain structures are present at birth?
Amygdala & Limbic = emotional memory
Basal ganglia & motor cortex = behavioral memory
Perceptual cortices = perceptual memory
somatosensory = bodily memory
What brain process is not present at birth but develops later?
Cortical Consolidation:
needed to make permanent explicit memories
dependent on REM sleep
What emotional state allows memories to be easily remembered?
moderate emotions
How does the brain begin to develop processing information?
1st year: Right hemisphere (implicit only)
-excitatory circuitry (arousal, pleasure, curious)
2nd year: Right hemisphere (implicit only)
- inhibitory circuitry (regulate excitement, boundaries, say no)
- child sensitivity = underdeveloped brain (parents say no: child thinks they are bad–>shame)
3rd year: both hemispheres (explicit begins)
-each hemisphere becomes specialized = emotional & mental development
4th Year: both hemispheres (explicit)
- two hemispheres can communicate
- growth = spur of connections
- autobiogrpahical explicit
How does the left hemisphere of the brain process information?
- doesnt merge with right until 3 years old
- linear (data follow another in line)
- logical (cause-effect)
- language
- syllogistic (cause-effect)
- right vs wrong
- explain things
How does the right hemisphere of the brain process info?
- develops first, within 1 year
- nonlinear, holistic
- visual / spatial
- autobiographical info
- nonverbal signals
- intense/raw emotions
- awareness, regulation and integration of body
- social cognition & mindsight (understanding others)
What type of memory is present at birth?
Implicit
What part of the brain is used in Implicit Memory and what does it do?
Amygdala: processing of emotions
How do you retrieve implicit memory?
reliving the experience
Why can’t you recall implicit memory?
trauma/stress experiences block
hippocampus encoding
(no associations made between past memory to current experiences)
possibly due to:
focusing attention away from trauma
stress impair prefrontal cortex (explicit processing)
Is implicit memory easy or hard to change? Why?
hard to change (accurate/stable)
due to no explicit processing = rigid mental models (lack understanding, inflexible)
mental models = generalizations of repeated experiences (biased perceptions) “how we see others & ourselves”
What are the 2 parts of explicit memory? At what age do they develop? what are the brain structures involved?
Semantic (general knowledge/facts)
- 1.5 years
- hippocampus
Episodic (autobiographical)
- memories of self & time during events
- 2 years
- prefrontal cortex: Ex. self-awareness, regulate emotions (influences attachment-interpersonal experiences)
What is needed to make memories permanent?
Cortical consolidation
Dependent upon REM sleep stage (make sense of day activities)
What brain structures are intact at birth?
Amygdaloid and limbic = emotional memory
Basal ganglia and motor cortex = behavioral memory
Perceptual cortices = perceptual memory
Somatosensory = bodily
What is childhood amnesia ?
1.5 years - implicit memory is present but explicit is not
What brain functions are formed during the 1st year?
Right hemisphere - implicit excitatory circuitry (arousal)
What brain functions form during 2nd year ?
Right hemisphere - implicit inhibitory circuitry (regulate excitement)
When does the integration of both hemispheres begin? Why?
3 years old
Accelerated development
What brain functions happen during 4th year?
2 hemispheres communicate
Connections & autobiographical
What determines how connections are established?
experience and genetic info
What is associated connections?
neurons that fire together at one time will tend to fire together in the future
How does maltreatment/abuse affect the brain?
Impaired growth of GABA (calm excitable emotional limbic structures)
Emotions are primarily unconscious
True
Categorical emotions?
basic emotional states (anger, sadness, fear)
What is mindsight?
ability to reflect on our own thoughts and feelings: basis of empathy
What are mirror neurons?
Seeking proximity to a caregiver and attaining face-to-face communication with eye gaze is hard-wired into the brain from birth
Emotions are automatic and present at birth?
True
What does the limbic system do?
mediates emotions and motivation (especially fear and anxiety)
What is the Foundation of subjective sense of self: act, feel and imagine without recognition of the influence of past experience on our present reality?
Nonverbal
Implicit Memory
Affect?
the way an internal emotional state is externally revealed
Mood?
a bias toward certain categorical emotions across time
How is memory established?
Our experiences shape our brain structures and those memories create new brain connections
How do you turn implicit memories into explicit memories?
Conscious processing of implicit memories as they integrate into larger explicit autobiographical narrative
What is the role of the prefrontal cortex?
autobiographical memory, self-awareness, response flexibility, mindsight, regulation of emotions.
i. *shapes attachment
Influenced by interpersonal experiences
What affects the neocortex?
social, emotional and bodily processing of other areas of the brain directly shape the perceptions & reasoning of the neocortex
What functions do the neocortex comprise of?
think flexibly
abstract ideas
use words to describe thoughts
reasoning
3 phases of emotional response?
initial orientation
appraisal or arousal
categorical emotional expression
Highly Sensitive characteristics
anxious fearful focus on details shy cautious
Defiant characteristics
stubborness as coping finicky repetition/slow change perfectionistic compulsive
Self-Absorbed characteristics
fantasy
apathetic
active/aggressive characteristics
craving
impulsive
doer
