Chapter 7
Memory
What is memory, and what are memory systems?
Memory: the ability to store and retrieve information.
Memory enables organisms to take information from experiences and retain it for later use. Our
memories are influenced by the situation or contact and the way we process, interpret, and use
information. In other words, memories are personal and unique stories.
Although the term memory is most often used to refer to you ability to consciously recollect
information at will, memory is expressed whenever you exhibit a response of behavior that is
modified by past experience. Psychologists have identified different types of memory that rely on
different Bain circuits, or systems, for storage and expression.
7.1 there are many types of memories and memory systems
Throughout each day, you express your memories through your thoughts, words, and actions.
Psychologists have investigated the different forms of memory expression since the early twentieth
century, and much of what has been learned about how different types of memory are organized in
behavior and the brain was discovered through studies in patients with brain injuries. The most
famous of these patients is H.M.
- The case of H.M (Henry Molaison)
Amnesia: a deficit in long-term memory – resulting from disease, brain injury, of psychological
trauma – in which the individual loses the ability to retrieve vast quantities of information.
There are two basic types of amnesia; retrograde and anterograde.
Retrograde amnesia: a condition in which people lose past memories, such as mamoties for events,
facts, people, or even personal information.
Anterograde amnesia: a condition in which people
lose the ability to form new memories.
Priming: a facilitation in the response to a
stimulus due to recent experience with that
stimulus or a related stimulus.
, - Different brain regions support different memory systems
We know form studies of H.M. and other patients like him that regions within the temporal lobes,
specifically the hippocampus, are important for the ability to store new memories for life events that
can be consciously expressed after a shorts time. The temporal lobes are important for being able to
say you remember what happened, but they are less important for memories expressed by motor
skills after priming.
Although memory involves multiple regions of the brain, not all brain regions are equally involved in
all types of memories. Each memory system is specialized for specific types of information and/or
memory expression.
Peter Graf and Daniel Schacter (1985) refer to unconscious or unintentional memory as implicit
memory. In contrast, explicit memory includes the processes we use to remember information we
can say we know.
Implicit memory: memory that is expressed through responses, actions, or reactions.
Explicit memory: memory that is consciously retrieved.
Chapter summary → The study of patients such as H.M. has provided evidence regarding the
different types of memory and the brain regions involved.
, 7.2 Implicit memories are expressed through actions and reactions
Implicit memories are memories you do not put into words. They are memories for past experiences
that are expressed in your responses, actions, or reactions. Implicit memories are often called
unconscious or automatic memories.
- Procedural memory
Procedural memory: a type of memory that involves skills and habits.
Procedural memories include skilled and goal-oriented behaviors that become automatic, such as
motor skills, cognitive skills, and habitual behaviors. Procedural memories are reflected in knowing
how to do something.
The brain systems that underlie procedural memories vary somewhat depending on the specific
memory but generally include the basal ganglia and, for motor skills, the cerebellum.
- Priming
Priming is reflected in a facilitation in a response to a stimulus due to recent experience with that
stimulus (called repetition priming) or a related stimulus. Priming can be perceptual, in which it can
be conceptual, where a response to a conceptually related stimulus is facilitated.
Priming is through to be mediated by the brain circuits involved in processing the relevant aspect of
the prime. That is, for perceptual priming, brin regions that underlie perceptual processing come into
play, whereas for conceptual priming, brain regions involved in conceptual processing are important.
Chapter summary → Other types of implicit memories are developed through priming, learned
association through classical conditioning, and nonassociative learning (habituation and
sensitization).
Memory
What is memory, and what are memory systems?
Memory: the ability to store and retrieve information.
Memory enables organisms to take information from experiences and retain it for later use. Our
memories are influenced by the situation or contact and the way we process, interpret, and use
information. In other words, memories are personal and unique stories.
Although the term memory is most often used to refer to you ability to consciously recollect
information at will, memory is expressed whenever you exhibit a response of behavior that is
modified by past experience. Psychologists have identified different types of memory that rely on
different Bain circuits, or systems, for storage and expression.
7.1 there are many types of memories and memory systems
Throughout each day, you express your memories through your thoughts, words, and actions.
Psychologists have investigated the different forms of memory expression since the early twentieth
century, and much of what has been learned about how different types of memory are organized in
behavior and the brain was discovered through studies in patients with brain injuries. The most
famous of these patients is H.M.
- The case of H.M (Henry Molaison)
Amnesia: a deficit in long-term memory – resulting from disease, brain injury, of psychological
trauma – in which the individual loses the ability to retrieve vast quantities of information.
There are two basic types of amnesia; retrograde and anterograde.
Retrograde amnesia: a condition in which people lose past memories, such as mamoties for events,
facts, people, or even personal information.
Anterograde amnesia: a condition in which people
lose the ability to form new memories.
Priming: a facilitation in the response to a
stimulus due to recent experience with that
stimulus or a related stimulus.
, - Different brain regions support different memory systems
We know form studies of H.M. and other patients like him that regions within the temporal lobes,
specifically the hippocampus, are important for the ability to store new memories for life events that
can be consciously expressed after a shorts time. The temporal lobes are important for being able to
say you remember what happened, but they are less important for memories expressed by motor
skills after priming.
Although memory involves multiple regions of the brain, not all brain regions are equally involved in
all types of memories. Each memory system is specialized for specific types of information and/or
memory expression.
Peter Graf and Daniel Schacter (1985) refer to unconscious or unintentional memory as implicit
memory. In contrast, explicit memory includes the processes we use to remember information we
can say we know.
Implicit memory: memory that is expressed through responses, actions, or reactions.
Explicit memory: memory that is consciously retrieved.
Chapter summary → The study of patients such as H.M. has provided evidence regarding the
different types of memory and the brain regions involved.
, 7.2 Implicit memories are expressed through actions and reactions
Implicit memories are memories you do not put into words. They are memories for past experiences
that are expressed in your responses, actions, or reactions. Implicit memories are often called
unconscious or automatic memories.
- Procedural memory
Procedural memory: a type of memory that involves skills and habits.
Procedural memories include skilled and goal-oriented behaviors that become automatic, such as
motor skills, cognitive skills, and habitual behaviors. Procedural memories are reflected in knowing
how to do something.
The brain systems that underlie procedural memories vary somewhat depending on the specific
memory but generally include the basal ganglia and, for motor skills, the cerebellum.
- Priming
Priming is reflected in a facilitation in a response to a stimulus due to recent experience with that
stimulus (called repetition priming) or a related stimulus. Priming can be perceptual, in which it can
be conceptual, where a response to a conceptually related stimulus is facilitated.
Priming is through to be mediated by the brain circuits involved in processing the relevant aspect of
the prime. That is, for perceptual priming, brin regions that underlie perceptual processing come into
play, whereas for conceptual priming, brain regions involved in conceptual processing are important.
Chapter summary → Other types of implicit memories are developed through priming, learned
association through classical conditioning, and nonassociative learning (habituation and
sensitization).
