Psychology Past Paper PDF 2024F

PSYC 303 | L02 WHAT IS MEMORY? & BRIEF HISTORY Oliver Hardt PhD McGill University/Department of Psychology The University of Edinburgh/Medical School/The Patrick Wild Centre (PWC) [email protected] https://www.mcgill.ca/psychology/oliver-hardt http://patrickwildcentre.com/oliver-hardt OVERVIEW...

PSYC 303 | L02 WHAT IS MEMORY? & BRIEF HISTORY Oliver Hardt PhD McGill University/Department of Psychology The University of Edinburgh/Medical School/The Patrick Wild Centre (PWC) [email protected] https://www.mcgill.ca/psychology/oliver-hardt http://patrickwildcentre.com/oliver-hardt OVERVIEW 1. Introduction 2. Memory systems 3. Brief History of Memory Research INTRODUCTION 1  4 LIFE WITHOUT EPISODIC MEMORY THE TRAGIC CASE OF CLIVE WEARING ‣ We often realize how fundamental memory is for the human condition when it is fundamentally impaired, like in cases of amnesia, such as Clive Wearing. ‣ In 1985 herpes simplex encephalitis wasted large parts of Clive Wearing’s medial temporal lobes, including the hippocampus. 1 INTRODUCTION ‣ This severely affected his episodic memory. Episodic memory is memory for events (e.g. “Jill and I had a picnic yesterday afternoon on Mount Royal.”) ‣ Now Clive Wearing has severe retrograde and dense anterograde amnesia. ‣ Retrograde amnesia (RA) is amnesia for events prior to the onset of amnesia. Anterograde amnesia (AA) is amnesia for events after amnesia started (i.e., new events). 1 INTRODUCTION 5  6 LIFE WITHOUT EPISODIC MEMORY THE TRAGIC CASE OF CLIVE WEARING 1 INTRODUCTION 1 INTRODUCTION 7  8 LIFE WITHOUT EPISODIC MEMORY THE TRAGIC CASE OF CLIVE WEARING ‣ Since his illness, Clive Wearing is “locked into a permanent present”, his memory for ongoing events reaching no more back than 20-30 seconds, after which he forgot the preceding events and “wakes up” in the current situation. ‣ This gives him an experience of suddenly arriving into the here and now from nowhere about once or twice every minute or so, making independent life impossible. 1 INTRODUCTION ‣ He cannot follow a book or TV show because he cannot remember what he just read. ‣ Despite this significant impairment, some memory remained (relatively) intact: ‣ He knows who he is, and could give a broad outline of his life, with little detail. ‣ He recognized his second wife. ‣ He can read music and play the piano.  9 LIFE WITHOUT EPISODIC MEMORY THE CASE OF HENRY MOLAISON (or HM) 1 INTRODUCTION Henry Molaison (“HM”) 1926-2008 Bilateral hippocampectomy to treat epilepsy led to temporally graded retrograde and dense anterograde amnesia for episodic memory. Other forms of memory, however, remained unaffected (e.g., semantic memory [memory for facts], procedural memory [memory for motor sequences]).  10 LIFE WITHOUT EPISODIC MEMORY SPARED AND IMPAIRED MEMORY IN PATIENT HM Study Phase Test Phase EXPLICIT MEMORY TEST: HM IMPAIRED COMPARED TO HEALTHY CONTROLS 1 INTRODUCTION “Can you put this in a bag?” “Have you seen this during study?” IMPLICIT MEMORY TEST: HM PERFORMS SIMILAR TO HEALTHY CONTROLS “What could this be?”  11 LIFE WITHOUT EPISODIC MEMORY SPARED AND IMPAIRED MEMORY IN PATIENT HM ‣ IMPAIRED ‣ Acquisition of new episodic memory ‣ Recall of pre-amnesia onset episodic memory ‣ Acquisition of new semantic memory ‣ Recognition Memory for recent objects/places ‣ Explicit memory tasks 1 INTRODUCTION ‣ PRESERVED ‣ Pre-amnesia onset semantic memory ‣ Priming ‣ Procedural memories ‣ Conditioning ‣ Implicit memory tasks  12 WHAT THESE PATIENTS HAVE TAUGHT US MEMORY IS NOT A UNITARY SYSTEM BUT COMPOSED OF SEVERAL SYSTEMS “Explicit Memory” “Implicit Memory” “Explicit Memory”: can be intentionally retrieved. “Implicit Memory”: accessed without conscious awareness of it, revealed in performance rather than experiencing a memory. 1 INTRODUCTION Cohen & Squire 1980; Squire & Cohen 1984; Squire, Cohen & Nadel 1984; Cohen & Eichenbaum 1993; Eichenbaum & Cohen 2001; 2004 MEMORY SYSTEMS 2  14 THE MODAL MODEL (OF MEMORY) MODAL BECAUSE IT SHOWS ELEMENTS COMMON TO MODELS OF THAT TIME Environmental Input Info: Auditory, Visual, Tactile, etc. Code: Relatively faithful representations of sensory input Decay Capacity: Large but limited Sensory LOST 2 MEMORY SYSTEMS Register Duration: Most info decays within seconds and is permanently lost Serial exhaustive Attention search Rehearsal Code: acoustic, linguistic Output Capacity: Small Decay STM Duration: indefinitely, if rehearsed. if info is not continuously LOST rehearsed, then decay within 18-30 seconds Recall Rehearsal Decay, Interference Code: semantic? LTM Capacity: unlimited? LOST Atkinson & Shiffrin 1968. In Spence & Spence The psychology of learning and motivation NY: Academic Press  15 THE MODAL MODEL (OF MEMORY) MODAL BECAUSE IT SHOWS ELEMENTS COMMON TO MODELS OF THAT TIME Environmental Input ‣ Model inspired by the computer metaphor, assuming that architecture of digital computers provides a good model for human (or animal) memory. Decay LOST Sensory ‣ Model was useful because it provided a general 2 MEMORY SYSTEMS Register framework to study memory. Serial exhaustive search Attention ‣ The existence of static stores has been debated, suggesting that processes are more central to memory. Rehearsal Output Decay STM ‣ Information flow most likely bidirectional on a levels, in LOST that perceived stimuli can activate long-term memory, Recall Rehearsal which in turn influences what stimuli are attended to and processed. Decay, Interference ‣ Brain physiology underpinning memory in conflict with LTM basic assumptions of the modal model, such as discrete LOST stores for STM and LTM. Atkinson & Shiffrin 1968. In Spence & Spence The psychology of learning and motivation NY: Academic Press  16 SENSORY MEMORY ICONIC MEMORY: FUNCTION ‣ Provides brief (