Memory, Mind and the BRAIN

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Memory, Mind and the BRAIN
Class Website http//eee.uci.edu/clients/anson
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Instructor Dr. Dickinson-Anson (anson_at_uci.edu)
TA Dorna Jafari (jafarim_at_uci.edu)

• TEXT L.R. Squire E.R Kandel (2001)
• Memory From Mind to Molecules
• Course Goals
• Brain function
• Brain processes involved in learning memory
• Memory anomalies
• Experimental technique assessment procedures
  used in memory research

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• Office Hours email M, W 1200-100 McGaugh
  Hall (1205) X8949 anson_at_uci.edu
• ADD/DROP POLICY Handled through TELE . No
  add/drops after the first 2 weeks.
• EXAM SCHEDULE WEIGHTING 3 exams (34 points),
  will cover the 9 preceding lectures and readings.
  Total of points for the 3 exams will determine
  course grade.
• GRADING Grading will be on the curve. The
  breakdown of grades will be approximately 20 A,
  35B, 35C and 10 D/F.

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What is it that makes you, you?
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fright
Memory!
joy
loved ones
friends, enemies
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No Memory loss of self, personal history
loss of interactions w/ others
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YET....
You take it for granted!!!!!
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824-8949
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Memory

• What is it?
• Why is it it that trying to recall something is
  like trying to catch a darting phantom?
• Why are there reports of false memory?
• Why do people vividly remember alien abductions?
• Scientists can easily get some people to remember
  events THAT NEVER HAPPENED!

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Does this suggest?

• Memory is reliable in allowing recall of general
  sketches of past momentsbut LESS reliable in its
  recall of specific detail?
• Our memory system protects us from the chaos that
  would occur if we had immediate access to
  everything ever experienced.

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To Answer these questions, we MUST figure out
what memory is....
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What we Know

• Memory composed of a of distinct processes
  systems
• are not passive, judgment-free recordings of
  experiences but, contain meaning, sense
  emotions.
• Encoded by networks whose connections have
  already been shaped by previous experiences,
  soprior experiences powerfully influence how
  we encode store new memories.

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The Nature of Memory

• Biological structures
• Psychological character organization
• Longevity

Subject of investigations for centuries
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3 revolutions have led to current thought
behaviorist
cognitive
biological
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Before Golden Era of 19th Century
introspection
Logical analysis
arguement
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Hermann Ebbinghause (1880s)

• Quantitative methods
• BIK, REN, VEG
• Differed repetitions various time intervals for
  recall
• Main Contributions
• Memories different life spans
• Short lived (minutes)
• Long lived (days, months)
• Repetition makes memories last longer

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Georg Muller Alfons Pizecker

• Memory becomes consolidated w/ time
• Resistant to interference
• Early on memory vulnerable

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William James

• Distinction between STM LTM
• STM sec-min, extension of present moment
• LTM weeks, month, life, consulted by reaching
  back into past

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Insights into structure/organization of normal
memory
Serge Korsakoff (1887)
Alois Alzheimer (1906)
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Behaviorist Revolution (mid 1800-early 1900)

• Ebbinghaus studies of human memory Darwin
  belief that human evolved from simpler animals
  led Pavlov Thorndike to systematic studies of
  animal L M

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John Watson Behaviorist Manifesto

• Learning could be understood in terms of simple
  stimulus -response associations w/o consideration
  of VAGUE concepts of consciousness

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Behaviorism

• Positives
• Lawful principles of associations betwn stimuli
• Reinforcement key to understanding of learning
• Negatives
• Can study only observable phenomena
• No examination of cognitive processes

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Cognitive Revolution (mid 1900)

• Frederic C. Bartlett
• Naturalistic studies
• Memory fragile susceptible to distortion
• Retrieval not a replay of stored info but
  creative reconstructive process

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1960s Focus

• Flow of info from sense organs to internal rep in
  brain for eventual use in memory action

inter connectivity of cells
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How do you study these internal
representations scientifically?!!!
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Join Forces w/ BIOLOGY!!!!!!!!
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Biological revolution (2 components)

• Molecular -examine how cells talk to each other
  change each other. How are memories stored?
• Systems (where) - observe multiple brain areas in
  behaving animals. Where are memories stored?

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Donald Hebb

• Assemblies of cells work together to represent
  info
• No single memory region exists, many parts
  participate in rep of single event.

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CURRENT VIEW

• MEMORY IS WIDELY DISTRIBUTED, BUT DIFFERENT
  AREAS STORE DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THE WHOLE.

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HOW ARE MEMORIES STORED?

• Change in signaling between nerve cells which
  depends on changes w/i neuron.
• Study by looking at simple nervous sys to id
  molecular changes w/i nerve cells responsible for
  l m
• Also, look at more complex systems for more
  complex memory