Memory

• Episodic memories


  Personal memories linked to emotions such as a birthday or holiday
• Semantic memories


  Knowledge-based memories which are usually facts or statistics, eg. there are 7 continents
• Procedural Memories

  Memories which are a method or sequence of how to do something, eg. walking or writing
• Anterograde amnesia


  Unable to form new memories
• Retrograde amnesia


  Unable to recall existing memories
• During anterograde amnesia, sufferers cannot move information from the short term memory to the long term memory, this is likely because the hippocampus is damaged
• During reterograde amnesia, memories cannot be recalled from long term memory, this is likely because of damage to the frontal lobe
• Hippocampus moves information from short to long term memory
• Frontal lobe takes in information to the short term memory
• Cerebellum takes in procedural memories
• There is 3 types of forgetting

  • Decay
  • Retrieval failure
  • Displacement
• Decay is when we do not pay attention to the information that enters the sensory store, therefore it is broken down / no longer availiable and forgotton because it isn't needed. It mainly occurs in short term memory if information is not rehearsed
• Retrieval failure is a theory of forgetting that says although a memory is accessible we may occasionally be unable to recall it because of a lack of cues
• Cues are things that help us to recognise a memory
• An example of retrieval failure is when you walk into a room to get something and forget what it is so you return to the previous room and suddenly remember
• State cues such as being in the same physical or emotional state as when the memory was encoded help us retrieve memories
• What order do memories get recalled?

  1. I nput
  2. E ncoding
  3. S torage
  4. R etrieval
  5. O utput
• Clive Wearing suffers from both anterograde and retrograde amnesia, he was studied from 1985 -1998
• Displacement is when you are trying to remember too many items and the new items push out the old ones
• Short term memory has a limited capacity of 7 items (plus or minus 2)
• Long term memory has an unlimited capacity
• Sensory memory decays if it is not paid attention to
• Long term memory has an unlimited time duration
• What causes amnesia?

  1. I lness
  2. I legal d rugs
  3. D amage
  4. D isorders
• Elaborative rehearsal is when information is encode through learning its meaning
• Maintainance rehearsal is when we repeat information to maintain our memory of it
• The MSM suggests that chunking items together / grouping them makes them easier to remember
• The multi store model states that human memory is made up of 3 seperate stores: sensory, STM and LTM. It also says that memory is affects by 2 main factors : duration and capacity
• Confabulation


  When memories have been changed or altered to fill in any gaps with what they predict would have happened
• What was the aim of Wilsons study?

  To report Clive Wearing who suffered from anterograde and reterograde amnesia. They investiagted his experiences and recorded neurophysiological assessments
• What was the sample of Wilsons study?

  1 man, born in 1938
• What was the method used in Wilsons study?

  Longitudinal study lasting 21 years
• What materials did Wilson use?

  IQ tests, tests of verbal fluency, digit span tests, neurological testing of his brain
• What did Wilsons research find?

  • Clives IQ was lesser than it had been
  • His STM was normal but his LTM was severely impaired
  • His semantic memory was fine
  • MRI scans showed abnormalities in the limbic system
  • His memory for autobiographical events was damaged
  • Over all 21 years, his memory didn't change
• Clive Wearing suffered from Encephalitis
• Limitations of Wilson's study

  • Small sample (cannot be generalised)
  • Ethical issues, it may have caused Clive distress
  • The tests didn't help Clive in any way