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How the brain affects memory
Biological approach to memory
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Memory is a group of related mental processes that are involved in acquiring, storing, and retrieving information (Hockenberry and Hocenberry page 232). I will be addressing two specific types of memory: short-term memory and long-term memory. Short-term memory holds temporary information transferred from sensory memory or long-term memory. Sensory memory is the first stage of memory and obtains information for a brief amount of time. Short-term memory is also called active memory and is stored in the prefrontal cortex which is the most active part of the brain during an activity. Short-term memory can hold information for roughly twenty seconds, but sensory memory holds information for a shorter amount of time. We usually store things such …show more content…
The first one is procedural memory. Procedural memory is when we recall how to do certain actions or operations such as riding a bike or running. We usually form procedural memory at an early age when we start to learn how to talk or walk. Episodic memory is also a type of long-term memory. It helps us recall special events and episodes and when and where they happened. Amnesia, a severe long-term memory loss disease, is caused by damaged brain tissue. There are two different types of amnesia. Retrograde amnesia is also known as backward moving. This is when you have a hard time remembering the past, especially episodic memories. This occurs because of memory consolidation. Memory consolidation is the process of a new memory setting until it becomes permanently in the brain. If this process is disrupted, the memory may be lost (Hockenberry and Hockenberry page 265). Anterograde amnesia is also known as forward moving. This is when you are unable to form new …show more content…
For example, if you were to start cooking something and walk away to do something else and forget about it, it could easily catch on fire and damage personal property and maybe even cause injury or death. I can recall my own experience of short-term memory loss. A lady in our community was frying bacon and left her house and forgot to turn the burner off. Tragically, her youngest daughter was trapped inside the house and perished in the fire. This is an example of how important short-term memory loss can be. People who have Alzheimer’s disease are affected by short term memory loss. With all the research and attention being given to Alzheimer’s disease, it is hopeful that a treatment to cure short term memory loss will be found. I do not personally know anyone with Alzheimer’s disease, and it is hard to imagine having the disease myself or someone I care for deeply having the disease. It would be very heartbreaking for me to have any of my loved ones not to remember who I am from day to
= Memory is the process of storing information and experiences for possible retrieval at some point in the future. This ability to create and retrieve memories is fundamental to all aspects of cognition and in a broader sense it is essential to our ability to function properly as human beings. Our memories allow us to store information about the world so that we can understand and deal with future situations on the basis of past experience. The process of thinking and problem solving relies heavily on the use of previous experience and memory also makes it possible for us to acquire language and to communicate with others. Memory also plays a basic part in the process of perception, since we can only make sense of our perceptual input by referring to our store of previous experiences.
Explicit memory is memory that we can recall consciously with our minds. Explicit memories are stored permanently in the neocortex after being processed by the hippocampus. These memories are divided in two different subcategories: Semantic Memory and Episodic Memory. Semantic memory can be described as universal knowledge. This can span from knowing the colors of fruits to knowing facts about animals. Episodic memories can be described as firsthand experiences. This can be anything from your first car or your wedding.
Memory plays a significant role in the everyday lives of people of all ages. It allows them to recall information and remember skills that were learned in the past. Memory also organizes past information to help people make current and future decisions. However, imagine forgetting the names of close family members or not having the ability to find your keys every time you want to leave the house. These are some of the struggles that people with Alzheimer’s disease face daily. Alzheimer’s disease was first identified by German neurologist Alois Alzheimer in 1906, and was discovered to have an overpowering effect on explicit memory loss (Gruetzner, 1988). There are two types of Alzheimer’s disease – early onset and late onset. Early onset occurs in patients who are diagnosed before the age of 65 whereas late onset occurs in patients who are diagnosed after the age of 65. In the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, short-term memory is often lost. As Alzheimer’s disease progresses, problems with long-term memory begin to develop, in addition to short-term memory impairments. Although a lot is known about the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, the cause has not been conclusively identified. However, as research continues, new theories about the cause of Alzheimer’s disease are being proposed. This has led to a controversy over whether Alzheimer’s disease is caused by genetics or environmental influences (Gruetzner, 1988).
Memory is an important and active system that receives information. Memory is made up of three different stages sensory memory, short term memory, and long term memory. According to the power point presentation, sensory memory refers to short storage of memory that allows an individual to process information as it occurs. Short term memory refers to memory that is only available for a limited time. It is information that is held for seconds or sometimes even minutes. Long term memory refers to memory that is stored for a long period of time and it has an unlimited capacity with the ability to hold as much information as possible. Retrieval is key and it allows individuals to have memories. Episodic memory refers to memory for events that we
Memory refers to storage, for example, our thoughts, knowledge, past experience, retention and recalled information is part of our cognitive mapping. It depends on a person state of mind that’s specific information varies to the content of the information itself. Needless to say, information that is considered interesting, or exciting seems to be better remembered than information that is boring or uninterested. Usually, if information has failed adequately store than the memory can normally result as failure as well. Which means if the storage of information fails to retain (forgetting) or if failure to retrieve the person’s memory fails altogether. The neurons produce activity in other neurons which overtime will be strengthened, that is known to be located inside a person’s long-term potentiation. (Meyers,
I will first be discussing declarative memory, which is characterized by knowledge of facts and events. Much of our current knowledge of the structure and substrates of declarative memory derives from studies of amnesiac patients, from which we can derive two primary findings: declarative memory is separate from other forms of memory such as working and non-declarative memory, and function of declarative memory is dependent on structures
Memory encompasses information that has been learned and stored over a period of time. Once an event is stored in our memory it can be readily retrieved. Amnesia occurs when there is partial or complete memory loss. There are two types of memory loss: anterograde amnesia and retrograde amnesia—which can be a result of either an organic cause, damage to the brain by physical injury; drug usage; mental disorders; or post-traumatic stress (Mastin).
Memory is the brain’s ability to collect, encrypt and retrieve information. There are three types of memory: sensory, short-term, and long term. Sensory memory is the first step of memory. The brain takes in the information but does not store it for more than a few seconds. Short-term memory is the second step where the brain works on the information obtained from sensory memory. Sensory memory is not long-term, meaning it is not stored very long. Long-term memory is the brain’s ability to store short-term memory into information that can later be retrieved. Long-term memory does not have a length of time that it is stored. It is archived in the brain and can be retrieved minutes, days, and many years later after it is stored.
As brain systems begin working, memory also starts to work. (4). The aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid afor I am intrigued by the fact that short-term memory can work independently of long-term memory. While long-term memory can be achieved through the repetition of a fact that is in the short-term memory, it appears that in amnesiac patients their long-term memory tends to return faster than their short-term memory. They can remember their favorite childhood food, but cannot remember why they are in the hospital.
The human brain consists of many subsystems within the long-term memory. One of which is episodic memory. Episodic Memory is the remembrance of a phenomenal personal experience in terms of what, when, and where. This memory begins by retrieving information such as, words, objects, or faces; using this knowledge the episodic memory finds links and slowly transitions into recalling the complete memoir.
Long-term memory can last for years. It holds everything we know about the world, such as, personal experiences, factual information, and knowing of how to do something. In general, “long-term memory is organized so that it is easy to reach a stored item by a number of routes. For example, the concept "umbrella" may be retrieved by seeing an umbrella, experiencing a rainstorm, hearing the words to the song "Let a smile be your umbrella," and so on (Myers & Gluck, 2008) .” Regardless of the organization of LTM, we still experience memory lapses on a daily basis. After keeping a "forgetting journal" for a period of five days, I have learned that the top three types of memory errors that I make are semantic, prospective, and retrospective errors.
Anterograde and Retrograde amnesia, are the two main types of amnesia. Although they are opposite of each other, they are as equally devastating the individuals affected by them. The first of the two I’ll be talking about is anterograde amnesia, anterograde meaning after, is the form of amnesia where you can't form new memories or in proper terms you are unable to use or have lost use of your hippocampus the organ in your brain that is responsible for converting short-term memory to long-term memory. There are many causes for this type of amnesia, generally it is caused by some sort of injury to the brain like, head trauma, illnesses, alcohol intoxication, or even can be due to surgery complications. However, people with anterograde are able to maintain their memories from before the trauma causing the
Memory is the information we stored in our brain. There are three types of memory. First is the sensory memory is the shortest term of memory which only last less than a second, it is our ability to hold the information from our 5 senses after we the original stimulus is gone. Short term memory is the information we hold in our mind for a short period which is less than a minute. Long term memory is the information that store in our brain for a long period of time. There are two types of long term memory, which are explicit memory(conscious) and implicit memory(unconscious). Explicit memory is also known as declarative memory which are the memory of experience (episodic memory) and memory of facts (semantic memory). Implicit
The five types are Memory is classified by a few different characteristics. Declarative Memory is the memory of dates, historical facts, and telephone numbers (Silvia Cardoso). It is easier to build up Declarative Memory but can be easily forgotten as well. Procedural Memory is the memory/ability to drive a car, to play sports and tie shoes. This type of memory involves repetitive practices. The other of types of memory is Elaboration, Self Referent and Visual Imagery. Elaboration is known as memory associating with other information. Self Referent Memory is how it is made personally relevant. Then, there is Visual Imagery, which can be used in a few ways, one of which can be used to add richness to the material to be remembered.
Learning to tie shoes and ride a bike requires the encoding, storing, and retrieving of past observations of the procedure. With a lot of practice, children master these skills so well that they are able to remember them the rest of their lives. Memory is the storing of information over time. It is one of the most important concepts in learning; if things are not remembered, no learning can take place. As a process, memory refers to the "dynamic mechanism associated with the retention and retrieval of information about past experiences" (Sternberg 260). We use our memory about the past to help us understand the present. The study or memory in psychology is used in different ways, as well as there are many different ways to study how memory works in humans. In psychology there are many tasks used to measure memory, and different types of memory storages that human's use, such as sensory storing, or short term storing. There are also a lot of techniques that humans use to improve their memory, which they can use to learn, such as mnemonic devices. All these things can be classified as important issues in the study of human memory and ways of learning.