Memory People Inherently Strategies to Achieve - Assignment Example

A Short Exploration into how Humans Intrinsically Strategise to Remember Introduction: The basic mnemonic function this paper wants to investigate is what humans do to memorise information they had acquired through perceptive processes. The paper shall also touch upon other mnemonic functions such as retrieval and processing of information acquired through the auditory and visual systems, specifically how such information is driven into memory from the inner ear and eye. Human Conceptual System: The system through which humans memorise perception, that is, information derived through the senses and physical action, is known basically as the human conceptual system (Barsalou, 2003). It is notable that perception is basically stored in neural space as concepts. There are four theories for the human conceptual system – semantic memory, exemplar models, feed-forward connectionist nets and situated simulation theory (Barsalou, 2003). Table 1: Source: (Barsalou, 2003, Table 1, p. 516.) The table above, extracted from Barsalou, 2003, demonstrates in a nutshell the four models of the human conceptual system. There are a number of variants to each model representation in lieu of the five dimensions (Barsalou, 2003) but these are not included here. The situated simulation theory of the human conceptual system is the most appropriate since it is most appropriate and evidential that the conceptual system, in humans who tend to conduct goal-oriented action, develops to serve situated action sequences where goal-oriented categorises are preferred and selectively effected. Simulators that exploit individual categories tend to do so through multimodal and non-modular situated conceptualisations that get created through interactive functioning of several categories derived through sensory, motor and somatosensory systems as well as through inferences that are delivered by introspective devices arising out of the limbic and frontal areas that process emotion and thought (Gazzaniga, 2000). These situated conceptualised simulators have little scope for modularity or modality, being thoroughly comprehensive in action. There is also little likelihood that these simulators arise out of taxonomic considerations alone since the action-environment interface largely derives these (Gazzaniga, 2000). In achievement, these situated conceptualised simulators of the human conceptual system tend to serve targeted goals making the ‘situated simulation theory’ the most appropriate one for the human conceptual system. The Conceptualisation Process: When humans perceive components of experience with focused attention the information extracted out of the component/components attended to are immediately categorised and integrated with past information already stored within that category in the memory. Each perception induced through attentive effects is thus not a holistic experience that is discrete but a continuous process that evolves mnemonic strains or categories (Barsalou, 2003). As the new information is integrated within a similar category already existent other subcategories within the main existing memory category begin to evolve, increasing complexity and extensiveness of knowledge base of the individual. This is the human conceptual system that, basically and intelligently, incorporates knowledge in categories within the mnemonic system (Barsalou, 2003). Since the conceptual process builds upon an architecture that is somewhat constrained by biological factors some categories become more favoured that others and, consequently, learning is more prompt and extensive in these favoured categories than in other less-favoured ones. Also, not all main mnemonic category lines have to be built up from scratch but preliminary category representations may be in place even before learning begins (Barsalou, 2003). Thus, the human conceptual system is built up on three principal constructs. It indulges perception with initial prediction of entities and events. It also assists in perception with segregation, anticipation, filling-in and other manners of inferences. Second, it helps categorise entities and events perceived within an experiential component. Third, once categories have been inculcated, they provide rich inferences that constitute expertise of the world in the context of categories. (Barsalou, 2003) The Human Memory (The Neuronal Models): It is noted that the previous section on human conceptual system has been derived rather semantically. This section is on the neuronal aspects of memory and its different models. Human memory is a multiple system based on several anatomic substrates (Ojemann et al, 2002). Declarative or explicit memory, which is specific for recently acquired information, is based on the temporal lobes with the language dominant temporal lobe responsible for the verbal content and the non-dominant one for visuospatial matter (Ojemann et al, 2002). Declarative or explicit memory is also based on the neural substrates of the hippocampus and neocortex in the temporal lobes (Ojemann et al, 2002). There are several stages of memory tasks that actually build it up. Information acquired is encoded, identified during encoding and stored in proper categories, as mentioned earlier, and made ready for retrieval, during which also identification is required (Ojemann et al, 2002). These memory stages are largely related to the neural structures of the inferior lateral and basal cortex while the neural structures of the superior-posterior lateral cortex is related to implicit and recognition memory (Ojemann et al, 2002). A network of neurons in the cerebral cortex plays the major role in creating memory of information perceived in an episode (Paller, 2004). Different fragments – representations of sights, smells, sounds, spatial layout of objects, people, actions, emotional colourings, sets of precipitating events, consequences of the episode, etc. are available in cross-cortical storage (Paller, 2004). While this may be the form of episodic memory where particulars of the perceived episodes are available semantic memory is the one that recognises these particulars in meaning only without much attention paid to details (Gazzaniga, 2000). Gazzaniga, 2000, has reviewed studies of split-brain patients that reveal very interesting facts on human memory. While it is well-known presently that both hemispheres of the brain work differentially in processes of human cognition such as the left hemisphere being specialised for language, speech and problem-solving and the right one for tasks such as facial expression and attention monitoring humans usually have a subjective experience of total integration (Gazzaniga, 2000). In lieu of memorial functions, it is interesting to note that the ‘split-brain patient’ studies have elicited the information that built-in tasks (categorical representations) (Barsalou, 2003) that have recently been upgraded by current experiential components (Barsalou, 2003) tend to be left behind in the hemisphere they have been initially conceived in while the more recent storage of task function becomes operational in the opposite hemisphere (Gazzaniga, 2000). It is also interesting to note that episodic and semantic memory systems seem to be stored in variant proportions in the two hemispheres (Gazzaniga, 2000). This does not signify that such persons are capable of performing only one memorial type tasks – either semantic ones or episodic ones – but rather that they tend to be better at tasks involving one memorial type (Gazzaniga, 2000). Gazzaniga conjectures that the corpus callosum, which serves as a communication link between the two hemispheres, allows a person to do discarded categorical tasks in an inherent manner while newly incorporated categorical ones come into play consciously (Gazzaniga, 2000). Memory Retrieval: It becomes obvious from the previous sections that when memory of a particular episode is being retrieved the neural networks of the cerebral cortex retrieves the fragmentary stored information in representative forms. It has also become available through recent research that such representative forms, when strong in emotional content, are more likely to be most strongly retrieved (Buchanan, 2007). This strong retrieval process is attributed to interactions between the amygdala and other neural areas as the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex (Buchanan, 2007). There is also evidence that negative moods were retrieved more quickly when the subject was in a negative mood while positive ones were so when the subject was in a similar mood (Buchanan, 2007). Memory Rehearsal: It is noted that information components of the working memory (short-term memory) are transferred to the more permanent and passive long-term memory through rehearsal. Vocal components in the left hemisphere speech area as well as Broca’s area and the premotor and supplementary motor areas are involved in this rehearsal process through which active memory is stored in the long-term passive one (Smith and Jonides, 1998). Rehearsal tasks for spatial functioning of working memory are believed to be performed in the right hemispheric regions of the posterior parietal, occipital and frontal cortex. The Inner Eye: The retina in the inner eye is embedded with the rod and cone photoreceptors. There is one type of rod cells and three types of cone cells and these send neural messages about the visually sensed information in three parameters – colours (three- red, blue and green), intensity and background illumination – to the brain through components of the central nervous system. Since the information is presented to the brain – the visual cortex specifically – with colour, intensity and background illumination (spatiotemporal data) being presented discretely and differentially according to the type of photoreceptors sending them the brain collates this differential data to form the whole image perceived. The visual cortex and the prefrontal cortex is involved – specifically in working memory – and ventral streams are involved in object vision while dorsal streams are involved in spatial vision – motion and orientation (Ungerleider et al, 1998). The Inner Ear: Sounds heard by the human auditory system enter the cochlea and set the cochlear fluid vibrating. The basilar membrane also starts vibrating in sympathy and set the inner hairs vibrating. These are converted into neural signals are transmitted to the brain via the auditory nerves. Auditory memory processing is only slightly smaller than the visual system and involves large parts of the parietal, prefrontal and limbic lobes as well as information received from the thalamus (Poremba, 2004). There is a dorsal stream for object location in space and a ventral stream for object identification and possibly a third stream for motion processing (Poremba, 2004). Conclusion: The paper believes that it has been successful in bringing the main highlights of the active – working – memory. References: Barsalou, Lawrence W., Situated simulation in the human conceptual system, Language and Cognitive Processes, 2003, 18(5/6); 513-562. Buchanan, Tony W., Retrieval of Emotional Memories, Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 133, No. 5, 761-779; 2007. Dennis, Simon, et al, Human Memory Models for Operator Simulation, Undated. Accessed on 5th march, 2008, at: http://www.psychology.adelaide.edu.au/personalpages/staff/simondennis/DRDCReport.pdf Gazzaniga, Michel S., Cerebral specialization and interhemispheric communication: Does the corpus callosum enable the human condition, Brain, Vol. 123, No. 7, 1293-1326, July 2000. Ojemann, G.A., et al, Anatomic subdivisions in human temporal cortical neuronal activity related to recent verbal memory, Nature Neuroscience 5; 64-71; 2002. Paller, Ken A., Electrical signals of Memory and of the Awareness of Remembering, Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 133, No. 2, 2004. Peters, Robert J., et al, Human visual object categorization can be described by models with low memory capacity, Vision Research, 2003, 43(21); 2265-2280. Poremba, Amy, Auditory Processing and Hemispheric Specialization, American Psychological Association, Vol. 18, No. 4, October, 2004. Smith Edward E. and Jonides, John, Neuroimaging analyses of human working memory, Proc, Natl Acad Sci; 95(20); 12061-12068; September 1998. Ungerleider, Leslie G., et al, A neural system for human visual memory, PNAS, Vol. 95, Issue 3; 883-890; February 3, 1998. Accessed on 13th March, 2008, at: http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/95/3/883#Top Read More