Memory

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COGNITIVE SCIENCE 17 Can You
Remember My Name? Part 1 Jaime A.
Pineda, Ph.D.
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The Persistence of MemoryDali, 1931
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Nature of Learning(synaptic plasticity)

• Experiences produce changes in the brain
  (learning)
• Perceptual the ability to identify and
  categorize objects through our senses (knowing
  about things) takes place in sensory systems
• Motor the ability to identify and categorize
  things through our motor systems (knowing what to
  do)
• Stimulus-response establishing an association
  between a stimulus perception and a motor
  response
• Classical and instrumental conditioning (Hebbian
  rules/LTP and LTD)
• Relational the relationships among individual
  stimuli
• Spatial
• Episodic
• Observational

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Nature of Memory

• Changes in the brain as a result of experiences
  are retained for a period of time (memories)
• How and where are memories stored?
• Karl Lashley memory is not possible
• Memories are highly distributed

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Memory
The ability to retain learned information and
knowledge of past events and experiences and to
be able to retrieve that information.
Learn ---- Retain ---- Retrieve
Encoding ---- Maintenance ---- Retrieval

• Organization of experience.what would you do
  without it?

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Brain Research In the Media
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Common Model of Memory Processes
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Time Course of Memory Processes
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Memory Processes
Sensory Holds information for a fraction of a second Perception and attention Short Term Information remains for about 15-20 seconds Chunking Rehearsal Rote and Elaborative Long Term Information remains for days, months, and years Retrieval More frequent activation of neuron patterns leads to more efficiency
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Memory Dichotomies

• working (short-term) vs. long-term
• episodic vs. generic
• explicit vs. implicit
• procedural (riding a bike) vs. declarative

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Types of Memory

• Working memory
• An active system for temporarily storing and
  manipulating information needed in the execution
  of complex cognitive tasks  (e.g., learning,
  reasoning, and comprehension) (Baddeley 1986)
• The magic number ( 7) for digit span, and
  more.
• Sets a limit on performance, good thing?
• Loading platform for long term memory

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Memory Processes

• How do memories get from working memory to long
  term memory storage?
• consolidation
• How do we get them back?
• Retrieval
• Indexing

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What Facilitates Encoding, Consolidation, and
Maintenance?

• Time spent in working memory? rehearsal?
• Attention and engagement
• Connection to what we already know
• Depth of processing (typeface vs. meaning)

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What Facilitates Retrieval?

• Memory cues context
• Depth of processing, easier to find
• Retrieval failure or memory loss? Or forgetting
  vs. misplacement?

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Forgetting

• We are forgetting all the time.
• Decay-- metabolic processes undo memory traces
• Displacement-- awake vs. asleep during recall
  interval, interference

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1 4 9 16 25 36 49 64 81
ta-da!
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Long Term Memory
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Squires Taxonomy of Memory
Squire Zola, PNAS, 1996
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Memory Disorders

• Two main types of Amnesia
• Anterograde (forward) Amnesia
• Retrograde (backwards) Amnesia

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Memory Disorders

• Anterograde Amnesia
• Problem forming new memories post-injury/operatio
  n
• Korsikoffs Syndrome (chronic alcoholics),
  Alzheimers, patients like H.M. with
  hippocampal/thalamus damage
• Can read, write, converse, remember life until
  damage was done

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H.M.

• Right now, Im wondering, Have I done or said
  anything amiss? You see, at this moment
  everything looks clear to me, but what happened
  just before? Thats what worries me. Its like
  waking from a dream I just dont remember.
• Every day is alone in itself, whatever
  enjoyment Ive had, and whatever sorrow Ive
  had.

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Memory Disorders

• Retrograde Amnesia
• Problem loss of memory for some period before
  brain injury
• ECT and head traumas
• Trace consolidation theory -- memory hasnt had
  time to become firmly established, but... several
  years?
• Sometimes memories do come back gradually

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Memory Disorders

• What amnesiacs can do
• procedural memory tasks (mirror tracing)
• implicit memory tasks
• behavioral conditioning

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Squires Taxonomy of Memory
Squire Zola, PNAS, 1996
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Memory in the Brain

• Other important brain areas and functions
• Pre-frontal cortexretrieval, working memory
• Hippocampus other parts of Thalamus--consolidati
  on
• Amygdala--emotional events, fear conditioning
• Occipital Temporal Lobes
• visual/auditory memories

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