psychology, March 27

Hippocampus
- Essential for short-term and working memory.
- Potential decreases in metabolic activity or volume correlate with cognitive changes.
Frontal Lobes
- Associated with explicit memory formation and conscious awareness.
Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia
- Involved in implicit memory and automatic processing (e.g., riding a bike, swimming).
Amygdala
- Engages in emotionally charged memories, particularly during traumatic experiences.
- Plays a role in flashbulb memories, which are vivid, detailed memories tied to strong emotional arousal.

Flashbulb Memories
- Memories associated with significant emotional events (e.g., historical events like 9/11).
- High detail retention over time without reinforcement or rehearsal due to amygdala activation during stress.
Stress Response
- Stress hormones trigger amygdala engagement to retain critical emotional memories.
Example:
- Personal recollection of 9/11 event highlights how strong emotional stimuli create lasting memories despite time passing.

Thinking High Road
- Involves conscious assessment of stimuli (e.g., analyzing rustle in the bushes).
- Engages frontal cortex as part of a reflective response.
Speedy Low Road
- Immediate reflexive response without analysis (e.g., running away from perceived threat).
- Activation of the thalamus and amygdala leads to primal reactions in potentially dangerous situations.

Personal anecdote about fear of snakes illustrates how adaptive responses function through the amygdala.
- A rapid reaction without processing information exemplifies the low road pathway.
Counterexample: Damage to the amygdala in animals leads to lack of fear responses.

Research with Aplysia (sea slug) shows how memory can lead to structural changes in neuronal connections (Long Term Potentiation).
- Structural changes (increase in axonal connections) persist as a result of learning experiences.
Prion Molecules
- Show importance in memory storage, suggesting that proteins play a critical role in memory persistence.

Context-Dependent Memory
- Retrieval of memories can be improved by being in the same context as when they were encoded.
- Studies demonstrate that memory performance can be affected by familiarity with surrounding environments.
State-Dependent Memory
- Emotional state at the time of learning can affect retrieval success; similar moods during both encoding and retrieval improve recall.
Serial Position Effect
- Recognition of the tendency to remember items at the beginning and end of a list better than those in the middle (primacy and recency effects).

Encoding Failure
- Information not currently paid attention to never gets encoded into memory.
Storage Decay
- Memories weaken or fade when not actively rehearsed.
Interference
- Two types:
- Proactive Interference: Older memories hinder recall of newer information (e.g., difficulty remembering a new phone number due to memory of an old one).
- Retroactive Interference: New information disrupts the recall of older memories.
Freudian Repression
- Motivated forgetting of distressing memories may occur to protect against anxiety associated with reliving unpleasant experiences.
Sleep's Role in Memory
- Naps or sleep after learning enhances memory retention by reducing interference, helping solidify learning of new information.

Understanding the biological and psychological foundations of memory informs therapeutic approaches, such as exposure therapy for phobias, and highlights the complexity of memory mechanisms.