Lecture: Biology of Memory and Forgetting

Hippocampus

switching station between STM and LTM; involved with explicit LTM

Thalamus

Encodes sensory memory to STM; "sensory switchboard"

Cerebellum

involved with implicit memories, especially procedural

Cerebral Cortex

outer covering of brain with job of holding memories

Karl Lashley

Experimented with rats and cerebral cortex-- found that the cerebral cortex held memories

Issues with the Hippocampus

Amnesia results from___

Long-term Potentiation

Strengthening connections between neurons through learning and use [of neurons] ---- more efficiency = more receptor sites on neurons

Storage Decay

Retention drops quick, then levels off [Ebbinghause Forgetting Curve]

Anterograde Amnesia

Can't make new memories AFTER an injury/event-- implicit memory still intact

Retrograde Amnesia

Disrupts memory stored prior to injurt or event (due to damage to memory-storage areas, not hippocampus)

Proactive Interference

a way of forgetting-- old information interferes with new information

Retroactive Interference

a way of forgetting-- new information interferes with old information

Sigmund Freud

supported contreversial idea: idea of repression as a defense mechanism (hiding painful memories from concious mind) - believed that repressed memories can be recovered later

Elizabeth Loftus

Challeged Freud-- focused on research showing malleability of memory -- believed memories can be manipulated and changed over time