Memory: Storage pt 2

Implicit Memory

  • Definition: Type of long-term memory affecting behavior based on prior experiences without conscious recollection.
  • Also called nondeclarative memory.
  • Implicit memory examples:
    • Skills like playing tennis and snowboarding.
    • Physical habits like texting.
    • Recognizing words from a song heard repeatedly.
Subsystems of Implicit Memory

  • Procedural Memory:

    • Involves memory for skills and actions.
    • Example: Typing without consciously thinking about the keys.
    • Driving a car becomes automatic once learned.
    • Distinction: Procedural memory operates unconsciously, compared to explicit decisions like describing how to tie shoes.

  • Classical Conditioning:

    • Involves learning associations between stimuli.
    • Example: Developing a preference for someone because they are associated with positive feelings (comfort).

  • Priming:

    • Activation of existing memories or concepts to facilitate the recall of new information.
    • Example: Completing word stems with previously studied words (e.g., filling in "h o _" with "hope").
    • Priming is unconscious and demonstrates how previous experiences can influence behavior.

Organization of Memory

  • Memory is not random but organized effectively.

  • Schemas:

    • Definition: Preexisting mental concepts that help with processing new information and recalling experiences.
    • Example: Schema for a restaurant helps to expect certain behaviors and layouts.
    • Schema theory indicates that memories are reconstructed rather than stored exactly as experienced.

  • Scripts:

    • Schemas for events, containing expectations about sequences of actions.
    • Example: Knowing that a waiter brings a check in a restaurant.

Connectionist Networks

  • Connectionism/PDP: Theory that memory consists of connections among neurons, distributed throughout the brain.
  • Memory activation results from interconnections among neurons rather than a single storage location.
  • Neural Activity: When recalling a memory, multiple areas of the brain work together, activating specific neuron networks.

Memory Structures and Processes

  • Research shows no single memory storage location but rather a distributed system.
    • Carl Lashley's experiments indicated that cutting specific brain areas did not eliminate memory, supporting diffusion.
  • Donald Hebb's Theory: Memory is represented by assemblies of activated cells across the cerebral cortex.
  • Long-Term Potentiation: Strengthening connections between neurons through simultaneous activation.
    • Neural connections can be strengthened through experiences, seen in both simple animals (e.g., sea slug) and complex human brains.

Brain Structures Affecting Memory

  • Different types of memory recruit different brain areas:

    • Frontal Lobe: Episodic and prospective memory.
    • Amygdala: Emotional memory processing.
    • Temporal Lobes: Explicit memory, priming.
    • Hippocampus: Key for transferring explicit memories to long-term storage.
    • Cerebellum: Involved in implicit memory and skill performance.

  • The left frontal lobe is active during encoding of new information, while the right frontal lobe engages in retrieval of stored information.

  • Various parts of the cerebral cortex assist in the mini-management of memories, demonstrating the complex nature of how experiences are stored and recalled in the human brain.