The three models of memory include ideas from Atkinson and Shiffrin- there is sensory memory, which is fleeting and takes place when there is sensation but no perception, short-term memory which is encoding through rehearsal, and long-term memory, which is storage for later retrieval. These models represent basic, simple memory and the whole idea all together is very static and passive- either you store the information or it's forgotten. This type of memory is very limited.
Unlike the static system described above, working memory has do with a more active system that is dynamic, but limited (though not as much as sensory memory). Working memory is in place of short-term memory. Baddeley's model is an explanation of what is involved in working memory. This model includes the central executive, which controls attention, the phonological loop, which has to do with language, the visuo-spatial sketchpad, which stores visual and spatial information, and the episodic buffer, which processes events. Connectionism revolves around the idea that there are interconnected neural networks that are involved in storage and allow for specific memories to come out of particular activation patterns. For instance, you recall experiences associated with a specific object.
Both types of memory have a limited amount of space, because we can only process 7 pieces of information into memory at a time, give or take 2. In working memory, we need to focus our attention on certain aspects so that we can keep them in our memory.
So that is how memory is stored, but while learning this I was more interesting to learn about memory failures like amnesia. Though we haven't discussed it yet, I decided to look it up on my own. According to medicalnewstoday.com, amnesia is when people lose their ability to memorize data. It also refers to the inability to recall information that has already been stored. According to this website, there can be organic or functional causes of amnesia. Organic causes can include brain damage through injury or the use of drugs, usually sedatives. Amnesia can also be one of the symptoms of diseases like Alzheimer's. Functional causes are psychological factors, like defense mechanisms.
There are many, many types of amnesia, though the one I want to discuss is traumatic amnesia. Not to get all drama-llama up in here, but in 5th grade I fell off my bike (looking back, I see that I tend to fall or jump off moving vehicles with wheels, but I actually fell this time, I didn't jump) and I got amnesia. Ever since then, I've thought that amnesia was just forgetting stuff, but I actually had a specific type, called traumatic amnesia. This is caused by a hard blow to the head and is usually found in people who have been in car accidents. People with this type of amnesia can experience a brief loss of consciousness or even go into a coma, but in the majority of cases, this amnesia is temporary. How long it lasts usually depends on how sever the injury is. Some scientists say that amnesia is an important indicator of a concussion.
Thankfully, I didn't go into a coma and my amnesia was obviously temporary, but I think it's interesting to see how this has to do with memory.
Link to full article: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/9673.php
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ReplyDeleteAmnesia has always fascinated me. In the textbook, I was really interested by the most famous case, in which a patient known to every neuroscientist as H.M., experienced in 1953, the necessary surgical removal of a brain area involved in laying new conscious memories of facts and experiences. The brain tissue loss left his older memories intact. But converting new experiences to long-term storage was another matter. For example, over practice sessions, H.M. became skilled at an initially difficult task: tracing the mirrored outline of a star. Yet, having no memory for doing the task he remarked to researcher Brenda Milner, after many practice trials, that “this was easier than I thought it would be."
ReplyDeleteWhat's also riveting is that amnesia victims are in some ways like people with brain damage who cannot consciously recognize faces but whose physiological responses to familiar faces reveal an implicit (unconscious) recognition. Their behaviors question the idea that memory is a single, unified, conscious system. Instead, it appears there are two memory systems operating together. Whatever has destroyed conscious recall in these individuals with amnesia has not destroyed their unconscious capacity for learning. They can learn skills associated with implicit memory (non-declarative or procedural memory), retention independent of conscious recollection. Some implicit memories are of motor skills, such as riding a bike or playing an instrument, known as procedural memory. Although implicitly knowing how to do something, those people may not know and be able to declare that they know- explicit memory (declarative memory), memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare.
By the way, I liked your comic. It made me chuckle.
When someone has amnesia what exactly do they forget? Do they only forget the incident that caused the amnesia? Or do they forget their name in extreme cases? When people wake up after traumatic incidents in movies they always ask who the president is.. So maybe they forget about our first black president? Whatever it is, that seems prettttaaaayyy scary. I'll have to be careful not to fall of my bike anytime soon.
ReplyDeletePs- teach me how to come up with cute blog titles. You're the best.