How we learn from experience
Memory and Amnesia
Thorndike Puzzle box
KW 13-3
Pursuit rotor
KW 13-6
Verbal Memory
• Remember the following letters
• PBSFOXBETABCCBSMTVNBC
Recall as many letters as you can
Verbal Memory
• Remember the following letters
• PBS FOX BET ABC CBS MTV NBC
Recall as many letters as you can
Memory: Declarative vs Procedural
Declarative-the ability to state a memory in words: ABOUT THINGS
Example: Remembering your mother’s maiden name.
Procedural-the development of motor skills: HOW TO DO THINGS
Example: Riding a bicycle.
Episodic – life experiences; biographic details of own life;
Example: HS graduation ceremony
Memory: Explicit vs Implicit
Explicit-deliberate recall of information that one recognizes as a memory
Conscious use of memory
Example: taking a multiple choice test.
Implicit-the influence of recent experience on behavior, even if one does
not realize that one is using memory
Unconcious or unintended influences on memory
Example: ethnic facial preferences
Please read the following words
silently to yourself
• Spring
• Winter
• Car
• Boat
Please read the following words
silently to yourself
• Trip
• Tumble
• Run
• Sun
Please write down a defintion for
the following word
• Fall
Short-term and Long-term Memory
Short-term-events that have just occurred
Long-term-events from previous times
Memories that stay in short-term memory long enough are
consolidated into long-term memory
Memory Model
Rehearsal
Consolidation
Sensory Short Term
registers or
Working
Long Term
Retrieval
Loss Loss
Short
term
memory
task
KW 13-13
Working Memory
Defined-the way we store information while working with it or attending
to it
Components
Phonological loop-stores auditory info
Visuospatial sketchpad-stores visual info
Central executive-directs attention toward one stimulus or another
Action
and
Color
Words
Kw 13-7
Memory
Areas
Amnesia
Test
New Today
Car crash
High School Prom Home
HS graduation
1999 2001
June 2000
Hippocampus and Amnesia
Anterograde Amnesia-loss of memories for events that happen after brain
damage
Retrograde Amnesia-loss of memories that occurred shortly before brain
damage
Boxing Blows
Case of H.M.
• Most studied person in psychology
• Most important case study
• H.M. had severe epilepsy in temporal lobes
• William Scoville, neurosurgeon at
Hartford Hospital operated on HM in 1953
• Removed ventral tips of temporal lobes
HM’s
Brain
Both sides
KW 13-8
HM’s
Temporal
Lobes
Effects on HM
• Recall events from childhood
• Can engage in conversations
• Good semantic memory
• Cannot recall events that have just
happened
• Cannot recall any new facts
• Cannot remember new faces
Memory Model
Rehearsal
Consolidation
Sensory Short Term
registers or
Working
Long Term
Retrieval
Loss Loss
What is HM’s deficit
• Anterograde Amnesia for declarative
memory: fact, events, people.
• No concept of amount of time that has
passed.
• Still shows procedural memory: new tasks.
• Some implicit memory: realizes that his
parents have died.
Temporal Lobe Memory Areas
Memory
circuits
KW 13-10
Emotional
Memory
Circuit
KW 13-16
Korsakoff’s Syndrome
Korsakoff’s Syndrome- brain
damage caused by long-
term thiamine deficiency
(both retrograde and
anterograde amnesia)
Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s Disease- severe
memory loss associated
with aging
Amyloid beta protein
accumulates in the
brain and impairs
neuron function
Plaques
Tangles
Alzheimer’s
Disease
KW p. 504
How does learning happen?
Function and structural changes
Changes in Function
• Existing brain cells
• Donald Hebb (1904-1985)
• Existing circuits start reverberatory circuits
• Eventually form cell assemblies
• Cell assemblies are memories
Enriched
Environment
Creating novel circuits
over time
KW p. 514
Cortex changes in experience
Glial
Blood
KW 13-20
Changes in
motor cortex
KW 13-21
Memory
• Anterograde: malfunction in memory
consolidation
• Retrograde: loss of “permanent” memories
most likely cell death on cortex
End