HM essay plan

• HM case study AO1

  AIM: investigate the extent and nature of his memory deficits and how they relate to his brain damage structurally

  METHOD: used HM, a male, had had an operation as result of seizures in which they removed his bilateral hippocampus, had anterograde and retrograde amnesia

  PROCEDURE: many tests done including - mirror tasks, playing games, remembering digits, solving puzzles. were done in the form of interviews and observations = qualitative and quantitative data collected

  RESULTS: LTM damaged - couldn't remember doing tasks before even though he had done them many times, STM: still somewhat intact - seen in remembering digits after rehearsing them. found motor skills could be learnt (procedural memory could develop)
• HM case study AO3 strength

  validity - study gathered lots of data, both qualitative and quantitative data through the triangulated method = a greater depth of understanding of memory can occur as more analysis tests can be done = increases internal validity

  CA: the biographical data collected may be subjected to errors due to incorrect recall = lowers validity

  SW: despite this, validity is high due to range of data collected meaning the memory observed can be used validly in application
• HM case study AO3 weakness

  low generalisability - HM a unique case of brain damage so his memory may be different to other people = not representative of memory in the wider population

  CA: gathered lots of data and information which could be used to develop understanding of memory in the general pop with help of further research

  SW: overall though lacks generalisability meaning it's difficult to apply to memory in other individuals