psychobiological process of memory

• memory?


  set of psychobiological systems and processes that allow our past experiences to inform how we respond to and interpret our current experiences and to imagine the future.
• process of memory?


  1. encoding
  2. storage
  3. retrieval
• encoding?


  processing of information in STM to transfer it to LTM
• storage?


  the retention of the encoded information in memory over time
• retrieval?


  recovery of stored information and bringing into conscious awareness for use when needed.
• sensory memory?


  a store of memory that very briefly stores raw information detected by the senses
• iconic memory?


  • stores visual sensory information
  • duration of 0.2 – 0.4 seconds
  • unlimited capacity
• echoic memory?


  • stores auditory sensory information
  • duration of 3–4 seconds
  • unlimited capacity.
• when you pay attention to something in sensory memory (or to information retrieved from LTM) it enters STM
• short term memory?


  A store of memory that temporarily stores a limited amount of information that is consciously being attended to and actively manipulated
• short term memory?


  • duration of 18-20 seconds
  • duration can be increased by rehearsing information
  • capacity of (7 +/- 2).
  • capacity can be increased by using chunking
• maintenance rehearsal?


  relies on conscious recitation of information in a rote fashion (verbal) or non verbal
• long term memory?


  a set of memory storage that enables us to store and retrieve information acquired over a lifetime with apparently unlimited capacity
• elaborative rehearsal?


  • links new information in a meaningful way with information retrieved from LTM or with other new info
  • more active process than maintenance rehearsal
• explanatory power of Atkinson - Shiffrin multi store model of memory?


  strength:

  • ability to explain how information is transferred to LTM from sensory memory and STM why forgetting occurs (demonstrated in serial position effect)

  limitation:

  • Does not explain the different forms of long-term memory that were so apparent in the case of H.M.
  • The model does not explain how we encode, store and retrieve information about the events of our lives
  • fails to explain the neural basis of the different memory stores and processes
  • fails to explain why some forms of memory are affected by hippocampal damage
• serial position effect?


  • can easily recall first few items because the opportunity to rehearse them increases the likelihood they will be transferred to LTM
  • can easily recall items near the end of a list because they are still in sensory & STM
  • middle are hardest to recall as - they were presented too long ago to be in STM and so many items game before and after them, little opportunity for rehearsal, limiting transfer into LTM

  
• why does forgetting occur?


  
  

  • due to failure of retrieval
  • interference with similar memories
  • information presented in the middle - little rehearsal
• explicit memory?


  LTM memory we use when consciously remembering info about facts (semantic memory) or events (episodic memory)
• episodic memory?


  component of explicit LTM used for storing and retrieving memories of personally experienced events and imaginging ourselves experiencing future events (episodic - autobiographical memory)
• semantic memory?


  component of explicit LTM that we used when we encode, store and retrieve facts and concepts including self related knowledge
• implicit memory?


  component of LTM memory that form unconsciously (procedural and conditioning memories)
• procedural memory?


  component of implicit LTM, involving knowing how to carry out tasks that are facilitated by motor skills.
• conditioning?


  component of implicit LTM, where we experience unconscious conditioned associations, typically memories involving fear and anxiety
• hippocampus?


  an organ in the medial temporal lobe involved in the encoding, storing, and retrieving of explicit memories, in particular the consolidation of episodic memories.
• autobiographical memory?


  component of explicit memory that represents our episodic memories of personally experienced events and semantic self knowledge
• episodic and semantic memories interact to retrieve past events and to imagine future events.
• episodic future thinking?


  allows us to imagine how we will experience an event in the future from a first-person perspective
• neocortex?


  stores explicit (declarative) memories and influences attention to create episodic memories
• people with highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM)?


  recall rich episodic details of each day of their lives
• people with severely deficient autobiographical memory (SDAM)?


  recall only semantic knowledge about their lives and difficulties imagining themselves in the future
• EAM-dominant people?


  show greater hippocampal connectivity with the posterior temporal lobe semantic hub and with occipital regions associated with mental imagery.
• SAM-dominant people?


  show greater hippocampal connectivity with the anterior temporal lobe semantic hub associated with language
• individual differences in ABM style may be related to differences in the ability to generate mental imagery
• mental imagery?


  perception like experiences in the absence of sensory input

  e.g. when 'we see something in our minds eye' or hear a song in our heads
• Theories of ABM propose that mental imagery is a crucial component of the ability to retrieve rich first-person ABMs and to imagine the future
• object imagery?


  • ability to ‘picture’ the shape, colour and texture of objects, as well as people, faces, animals and scenes.
  • associated with activation in the visual cortex in the occipital lobes.
• spatial imagery?


  • ability to imagine relationships between objects, and between parts of objects and their movement in three-dimensional space.
  • It is associated with activity in the parietal lobes.
  • e.g. activities like ‘seeing’ how to construct IKEA furniture from a flat-packed box
• Alzheimer's Disease (AD)?


  neurodegenerative disease that causes a progressive loss of brain tissue (atrophy) that is eventually fatal.
• AD symptoms?


  • progressive memory loss
  • changes in personality
  • confusion
  • inability to perform familiar tasks
• post mortem brain lesion study?

  post mortem means after death, lesion means damage