PSY2014/L01/01^ Mon Oct 21 09:05:00 BST 2024

Memory is a complex topic that involves various aspects of our cognitive processes. It will be divided into two lectures.

Definitions:
- Learning: Process of acquiring information.
- Memory: Result of acquired and stored information, encompassing ability to retrieve it.
Key Components:
- Encoding: Acquisition of information.
- Consolidation: Repeating information to aid storage.
- Retrieval: Accessing stored information to use it in tasks.

Long-Term Memory: Stored for a long time.
- Declarative Memory (Explicit): Memories we can talk about, such as facts and events.
  - Types:
    - Episodic Memory: Personal experiences and events, requires 'what', 'where', and 'when'.
    - Semantic Memory: Factual information and knowledge without contextual association.
- Non-Declarative Memory (Implicit): Skills and tasks we can perform but may struggle to articulate.
  - Examples include riding a bike.
Short-Term Memory: Limited duration, seconds to a few minutes.
Working Memory: Active manipulation of information for tasks, utilizes short-term memory capacity.
Sensory Memory: Very short duration, milliseconds to a few seconds for visual (iconic) and auditory (echoic) stimuli.

Steps in a serial process:
- Sensory Input → Sensory Register → Short-Term Memory → Long-Term Memory.
- Requires attention and rehearsal to move through stages.

More complex than the Modal Model:
- Involves a Central Executive that manages information flow and storage.
- Contains components such as Visual-Spatial Sketchpad and Phonological Loop for processing visual and auditory information simultaneously.

Hippocampus: Critical for episodic memory formation; located in the medial temporal lobe. mammiliary bodies also involed un episodic storage
Medial Temporal Lobe: Involves structures relevant to declarative memory and potentially procedural memory.
Basal Ganglia: Important for non-declarative procedural memories.

Rehearsal strengthens memories and aids transition from short-term to long-term memory.

Declarative: Comprised of episodic and semantic memories.
Non-Declarative: Involves skills and conditioned responses, not reliant on conscious recollection.
- Includes procedural memory and concepts like priming and classical conditioning.

Anterograde Amnesia: Inability to form new memories after a specific event (e.g., surgery).
Retrograde Amnesia: Loss of memories prior to a specific event.

Suffered from severe anterograde amnesia post-surgery for epilepsy control, revealing different aspects of memory deficits related to hippocampus removal.
- Showed how episodic memory is crucially tied to medial temporal lobe structures.
patient EE lost most of stm but kept ltm - arguement for double dissociation byt ee kept 1-2 units of stm/
This case supports the notion that different types of memory are processed in distinct neural systems, highlighting the complexity of memory organization in the brain.
kf damaged pariental lobe, lost stm byr kept ltm

Studies on animal lesions have further clarified memory function; tasks for confirming memory presence include delay non-matching sample tests.
- Insights into familiarity and the relationship between memory types.

Exploration of source memory and familiarity judgments, the role different brain parts play in these types, and the implications for understanding memory retrieval.

Memory is a multi-faceted cognitive phenomenon divided into various types and subtypes, with specific brain structures underpinning different aspects of learning and memory.
A solid grasp of these components is crucial for upcoming discussions and examinations.