Memory and motor skill …and other forms of memory

What to look for Where is memory? – One place or several? How are memories stored? – One method or several? Are memories for all things equal? – If not, how are they different? What can all this tell us about teaching and learning motor skills?

The basics Red box game – How does performance change over time? – What is being used to guide performance change? – Is it different for the observers and the performer? -What is anticipation? -Long and short term stores?

The basics Short vs long term memory – William James: Short-term, or primary memory: Long-term, or secondary memory:

The basics Short term memory performance – Digit span test

The basics Short Term memory – Limited capacity, used for retrieval Working memory = short term memory + processes used to work with the information

The basics Working memory function – Rehearsal, perseveration Chunking – phone #, SS#, etc. Strategies for digit span!

The basics The three stage model – storage, transfer and retrieval

The basics Long term memory – Imagine all associations being stored in some way How would this affect memory performance and behavior?

The basics Answer these 2 questions: – What continent is Kenya in? – What are the two colors of the pieces in a game of chess? Name any animal

The basics Features expected of a memory that learns by association – Priming – Encoding-retrieval compatibility (Tulving) – Transfer – False generalization

The basics Learning new memories – Consolidation – Reconsolidation Confabulation – confusion of events False positives - getting it wrong – Witness problems

The basics Learning new memories – Reconsolidation Chan and LaPaglia (2012):

The basics Types of long term memory

The basics Types of long term memory – Declarative vs procedural – Declarative vs. non-declarative – Declarative vs. dispositional – Explicit vs. Implicit – Conscious vs. Unconscious Combining these, we get…

The basics Types of long term memory – more detail

The basics Other reliable memory phenomena – Primacy-recency effect – Depth of processing (Craik and Lockhart) – Deficient processing Brown-Peterson, Peterson-Peterson paradigms

Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory Given all the preceding, what do we know of how all that stuff works? – Neural systems responsible for memory – Recent research on how these systems work

Memory storage - History Lashley (1929) – memories stored throughout cortex. Hebb (1949) – distributed but features stored in different places. – General picture still of memory integrated with other functions within all regions of brain

Memory storage - History Scoville & Milner (1957) – “citation classic” (around 2,500 and counting) – Patient “H.M.”

Memory storage - History Scoville & Milner (1957) – Patient “H.M.” Bilateral medial temporal lobe resection Severe anterograde amnesia Some retrograde amnesia Memory is a “distinct cerebral function”

Memory storage - History Scoville & Milner (1957) – Patient “H.M.” Structures removed: hippocampus, amygdala, and part of hippocampal gyrus. Structures subsequently associated with memory: Research relied often on case studies (R.B., L.M, W.H.)

Memory storage - History Patient “H.M.” – Principles arising from the case study 1. Could still learn motor skills – Memory is not a single thing

Memory storage - History Patient “H.M.” – Principles arising from the case study 2. structures required for memory don’t appear to be needed for intellect or perception – H. M. was still lucid and capable after surgery. 3. Immediate memory and working memory not impeded – H. M. could still selectively attend and rehearse information – Lost memories when distracted (therapy situation) 4. Long term memories unaffected – Provided a long time prior to surgery – Lost structures aren’t the ultimate storage sites for memory – The structures seem to lead to a series of synaptic changes resulting in storage elsewhere

Memory storage - History Multiple Memory Systems – Motor learning can still proceed (Milner (1962). – What of other tasks? Perceptual and cognitive skills persist – E.g. skill of reading words in mirror improves with practice (Cohen and Squire, 1980) Priming intact ((Tulving and Schacter, 1990) – Leads to overall separation of procedural and declarative memory systems.

Memory storage - History Multiple Memory Systems – Other obervations Neostratium involved in another form of learning (slow and guided by sensory feedback) – “Normals” learn in 80 trials, profound amnesics in over – If the task is not aided by explicit knowledge, learning rates are similar. – Poor transfer of learning in amnesics Declarative memory: true or false Non-declarative memory: dispositional, not true false

Memory storage - History Visual Perception – Some controversy recently Some studies found losses associated with damage to perirhinal cortex Others not so much General current thought: medial temporal lobe structures not involved in visual perception

Memory storage - History Immediate memory – Drachman & Arbit (1966) Digit strings presented until correctly repeated Controls: first error at 8 digits (!), strings as long as 20 remembered (up to 25 reps needed) H.M.: – 6 digits correctly remembered (preop level) – Never succeeded at 7, despite over 25 attempts given.

Memory storage - History Immediate memory – Jeneson et al. (2010) Objects (1-7) presented on a table top. Immediately had to reproduce array on neighboring table Controls: as many as 7 objects placed correctly after few trials (up to 10 reps allowed) G. P.: – 1-3 objects correctly remembered – Never succeeded at more than 3, despite over 10 attempts given.

Memory storage - History Immediate memory – These amnesics can do anything provided it only requires immediate memory functions. – Anything requiring some form of longer term memory is severely impaired

Memory storage - History Remote Memory and Consolidation – H.M. tested at famous face memory ( ) Did poorly in post-morbid period (1950s, 1960s) Did better than controls (age matched) for pre-morbid ( ) – Medial temporal lobe not the site of memory storage Hence “remote” memory – Early autobiographical memory also largely intact

Memory storage - History Memory in the Neocortex – Consolidation and reconsolidation Disparate regions activated at encoding Same disparate regions reactivated at retrieval – Newly formed memories use hippocampus to reactivate distant areas of cortex – Older memories activated without hippocampus Each region only stores particular aspects of the experience – Extensive evidence from specific distal lesions » Achromatopsia, prosopagnosia, amusia.

Memory storage - History Overall conclusions – “independent” memory systems – Medial temporal lobes involved in declarative memories – Immediate and dispositional memories separate Question: – If they are separate, does asking one to influence the other do harm? See next week’s readings.

Cortical areas and associated memory systems: