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Long Term Memory Scott Betournay What is Long Term Memory? • Long term memory is very large! • It is robust. • Information can be encoded, stored, and retrieved. Initiation of a Long Term Memory: Sensory Reception Pathway to Working Memory Epinephrine Norepinephrine The Diencephalon is… Pathway to Working Memory Pathway to Long Term Memory Types of Long Term Memory Declarative: memory for facts! Procedural: memory for skills and procedure Declarative Memory Is Further Broken Down: Semantic: words, concepts, information that can be described and applied Episodic: personal experiences and events Why Mention These Types of Long Term Memory? Different types of memory are encoded in different ways. Episodic Memory is stored much easier than semantic. Some people have lost the function of a certain type of Long Term Memory. Amnesia Anterograde: patient is unable to recall events occurring after the onset of brain damage Retrograde: memories are lost from before the onset of amnesia Patient H. M. – severed hippocampus and amygdala caused anterograde amnesia Redefining the Procedural Memory Pathway The hippocampus is not needed to process Procedural Memories. Long-term procedural memories are stored in the basal ganglia, cerebellum and motor cortices Cellular Mechanisms of Long Term Memory Strengthen existing synapses. Create new synapses. Grow new neurons Strong evidence from primate studies (Gould et al (1999). Long Term Potentiation A Molecular Mechanism for Memory Changes in the structure of neurons due to increased use. Cuses both the pre and post-synaptic neuron to become more efficient. Long Term Potentiation References Barsalou L. Cognitive Psychology. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, NJ. 1992 Beatty J. The Human Brain. Sage Publications, Inc. 2001 http://www.humboldt.edu/~morgan/skil_s01.htm http://www.ipd.hk-r.se/bai/iea329/CognitivTheory/sld002.htm http://psych.fullerton.edu/swillis/ltp.html http://undergrad.ahs.uwaterloo.ca/kin356/ltm/ltm.htm Jensen E. Brain Based Learning. The Brain Store. San Diego CA. 2000 Kandel E et al. Essentials of Neural Science and Behavior. Appleton & Lange, CT. 1995 References Marieb E. N. Human Anatomy and Physiology. Benjamin Cummings. 2001 Tulving E, Craik F ed. The Oxford Handbook of Memory. Markowitsch H. “Neuroanatomy of Memory” Oxford University Press 2000 Sharp P. Brain Mechanisms of Perception and Memory. “The Role of the Hippocampus in Learning and Memory” Oxford University Press, New York. 1993 Wolfe P. Brain Matters. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Alexandria, VA. 2001 How do we encode information into Long Term Memory? The more we process information, the better it is remembered. The longer we are exposed to information, the better we remember it. The more we rehearse a piece of information, the higher its probability of being remembered Rehearsal Elaborative rehearsal: processing and mental energy devoted to rehearsing information. Maintenance rehearsal: devoting just enough mental resource to keep information from being lost Elaboration The way in which we process stimuli influences our ability to encode. Intention, in and of itself does not help us learn. Depth of processing, or thinking about what we learn, improves our ability to encode information. Generation of Information We remember best the information that we generate ourselves. (could give example here)… Imagery If we can visualize and picture a concept, then we are likely to remember it better. (This is why abstract concepts are difficult to remember)… Organization Memory for information improves when we have knowledge to organize it Hierarchical organization is particularly useful for remembering large amounts of information. How is Memory Studied? Human patients with brain structural abnormalities Disease Injuries Animal models to study causation MRI, CAT, PET scans