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Passion Project on Prezi

Post #7 Where Are Old Memories Stored in the Brain?

link: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-memory-trace
Journal Information:

• In the 1920's Karl Lashley conducts experiment that leads to the discovery that memories are not stored in just one single part of the brain
• Theories now predict that the hippocampus stores the memory for short-term and then transfers to the frontal cortex for long-term storage
• Therefore based on how old the memory trace is, depends on where the memory is stored
• fMRI scanners can actively control what parts of the brain are being used when participants in a study were asked a question about the past
• Smith and Squire tested the effects of age of the memory as apposed to personal associations (richness) and encoding
• 1.) recall the original question to acess encoding
• 2.) answer the question - accuracy of recall
• 3.) how much they know about the event - richness of memory
• concluded: "the memories of events that occurred in the distant past were often as rich as those of more recent event"
• Alzeheimers patients have no ability to form new memories as well as recall old ones - hence the reason they have no idea it is happening because they cannot form the new memory that they don't remember the past
• Along with that, the hippocampus is mainly used to for short-term easily retrieveable memories and the frontal cortex is for more complex long-term storage that takes greater effort to recall

Title: Where Are Old Memories Stored in the Brain? A new study suggests that the location of a recollection in the brain varies based on how old that recollection is

From Scientific American Journal; Author: Moheb Costandi

Interview with Mike Alkire M.D.

PART A

1. Mr. Michael Alkire of the University of California at Irvine

    Field of work: Mechanisms of Memory and Anesthesia as a Center for

    Neurobiologyof Learning & Memory (CNLM) Fellow

    link to cnlm: http://www.cnlm.uci.edu/

2. Reliability: authoritative figure of the CNLM

                      professor of the University of California at Irvine (UCI) in Anesthes &
                      Perioperative Care

                      link to uci: http://directory.uci.edu/index.php?uid=malkire&return=Alkire

3. Interview by e-mail throughout April 12-21, 2012

PART B Interview:

1.    What is the most current theory of how memories are stored and recalled through brain passageways?

Here is a good link to a Scientific American article that talks about a fairly recent Larry Squire paper: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-memory-trace

2.    What are some of the different and unique ways you can remember something (by sounds or images)? And what are typically the most common and least common ways by which you remember something?

Not really sure what you’re after here.  There are different types of memory generally defined by the task used to establish that they are present.  For instance, Patient HM was found to be able to learn a “procedural memory” task in which he could trace a star pattern in a mirror, even though he didn’t have his hippocampus.

Here is a link to Luke Mastin’s website, which gets at the different types of memory and offers a nice overview for many of your questions. http://www.human-memory.net/types.htmll

3.    Are there any running hypotheses today about why no one can remember when they were born?

There are a number of ideas about why this might be so, ranging from various bits of the brain like the hippocampus have not yet developed, to ideas about babies not having the cognitive structure to think logically.  My personal hypothesis is that babies don’t yet have the conceptual frame work of cause and effect.  This is why they can drop a ball over and over again and be amazed that it falls.  The ball dropping experiment that everyone does as part of learning about the world is part of the process of learning cause and effect.  Once cause and effect are established in the brain then the stage is set for more long-term, life long memories to be formed.  These are the memories that put one in the space and time of what was happening around them.  

4.    What exactly happens to the brain when alcohol consumption slows memory of intoxicated events?

There are about three really good questions in this one.  Basically, alcohol is an anesthetic and so it anesthetizes that part of your brain associated with forming new memories (i.e., the hippocampus).   The slowing of time is actually an interesting area of study which suggests the drug is affecting those brain networks associated with processing time signals.  Also, the drug likely affects the amygdala which is the brain region that modulates memory according to how emotionally arousing an experience is.  One idea is that when things get emotionally arousing time slows down because the frame rate of consciousness itself is actually increasing and the brain is processing more information per unit time.  This has the subjective feeling of time slowing.  You get the same sort of distorted time processing with anesthetics.

5.    What are your specific views on the ability to "remember everything"?

This is an interesting and exciting new avenue of research being performed by my colleagues at the Center.  You should watch this 60 min clip, if you have the time:

http://www.alzheimersreadingroom.com/2010/12/gift-of-endless-memory-they-never.html

Scroll down to get to the videos.

6. Is there any recent research in foods that may aid memory?

Here’s a link to a WebMD article that gets at this: http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/slideshow-brain-foods-that-help-you-concentrate Many of the memory boosters are really attention boosters.

Book Post Chapter 4

a.Title: Your Memory: How it Works and How to Improve it
Author: Kenneth L. Higbee, Ph.D.
Chapter 4: How to Remember Almost Anything: Basic Principles

• 5 ways to remember almost anything: meaningfulness, organization, association, visualization, and attention
• tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon discussed on page 29

Meaningfulness Section:

• the more meaningful something is, the easier it is to remember
• "rote memory" is defined as "trying to remember something by repeating it over and over without doing anything to make it meaningful"
• memory builds on memory the same way learning builds on learning
• familiarity with the topic of memorization is key
• exposure of an object at a young age can affect memory to come easier later on
• page 48 gives specific examples on how rhyming is used for memory in basic context
• even if you are trying to recall a word that you memorized, you may remember the first letter or a word the rhymes with it as well
• "if you can find a pattern, rule, or underlying principle in the material, you will likely be able to learn it easier"
• numbers are proven to be more easily remembered in groups or arrangements with patterns
• also you can remember things longer when they are put into patterns that are more meaningful
• "chunking" material means you make yourself have less to remember
• associations to everyday life are better for memory improvement than patterns alone

c. 5 sentence summary: In this section of Chapter 4 of the book Your Memory by Kenneth L. Higbee, Ph.D., Higbee explains that one way to better improve your memory of material is to give the material a specific meaning.One fact that supports this main idea is that people who memorized a pattern or groups within the material remember it better. Also, people who know something prior about the subject of memorization can remember the material more easily than someone unfamiliar with it. Finally, the author gives the example of rhyming syllables with a word or substituting a similar word to support the main idea of improving memory. Another fact that supports this main idea is that the more something means to you as a student or person, the easier it will be to remember it and the longer you will remember it. This is partly why people remember there most meaningful moments in life. These ideas are connected to how we remember the most meaningful moments in our life and we somehow seem to forget other less meaningful times. This is because Higbee proves that when material has meaning to the student, they will more easily remember it.

How Human Memory Works

animated picture:
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3630/3432987963_9e4d00f270_o.gif

" How Human Memory Works" Article url: htp://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/human-biology/human-memory.htm

Article Credibility:

• information published on January 8, 2011
• wrriten by Richard C. Mohs, PhD and published on howstuffworks.com
• accurate information with cited pictures and the author has a PhD

What I learned:

• Memories "make you feel comfortable with familiar people and surroundings, tie your past with your present, and provide a framework for the future"
• They make us who we are or what we wish to become
• *Memory is not a thing you have or don't have, it is merely a collection of things you remember
• Experts today think that memory does not happen in just one place but is a brain-wide activity or concept
• Richard Mohs believes that "your "memory" is really made up of a group of systems that each play a different role in creating, storing, and recalling your memories"
• The old theory was that memory was like a neuronic filing cabinet but now scientists believe it is a concept that takes place through a series of motions in the brain
• Each part of say an object is stored in a different part of the brain - how it feels, tastes, smells, sounds like, etc.
• This is only the begginning for Neurologists to comprehend the vast structure of the coherent whole
• *Each memory of the whole of how to do something comes from a different brain cell
• Neurologists are starting to think that there is nostrong division between the way you remember and the way you think
• ***Memory process goes something like this: encoding, then to storage and, finally, retrieval

Attention and Habituation: Article 2

Database: Encyclopedia Britannica 
Article Title: Aspects of attention > Memory and habituation (attention)


What I learned:

• Shiffrin and Shneider have visual search theory in 1977
• Their theory has two modes: controlled search and automatic detection
• Controlled search demands high attention spans and therefore dependent on stimulus
• Controlled search uses short-term memory, while automatic detection uses long-term
• Memory is not only repetition but attention influenced
• Von Restorff effest suggests that items are learned from their differences in size, color, or other groups of imperfections. However, other standard items are then not as easily recalled in memory
• **When events take place, each spectator perceives something different so that they recall different memories of the event (Whorf conclusion)
• 2 types of attention : focal (active) and automaitc (not necesary to think)
• Interesting point: focal attention uses more brain power to think about and use but only uses short-term memory storage to recall focal attention
• Rehearsal (repetition) reamins in short-term storage but eventually makes its way to long-term
• Awareness is necessary for learning and memory (excludes sub-awareness in dreams)
• Dreams are not usually remembered because of the level of awareness
• **Habituation: loss of resondsiveness or attention
• Shorter time periods generally mean rapid habituation (short-term memory) and longer periods have more gradual habituation, unless the event has significant meaning than habituation slows drammatically (long-term memory)

Further questions:
Why do people remember certain events differently?
What factors decide how one person rembers something in comparison to another person?
I would like to further investigate the Von Restorff effect.
How long does it take to rehearse to move an event from short-term to long-term storage memory?


Link: http://www.school.eb.com/eb/article-242019

Basics of Memory: Article 1

http://www.school.eb.com/eb/article-9109427


What I found:
- good definition: the encoding, storage, and retrieval in the human mind of past experiences
- memory is the result of and an influence on perception, attention, and learning
- patterns in memory show that attention means better remeberance of the event
- repetition of memory also helps to recognize the memory again and again
- memory is a major part of learning and makes learning possible
- a “retrieval cue” elicits the memory of the experience
- without current repertition, events are forgotten
- purposeful forgetting can reduce anxiety and create feelings of relief
- old memories weaken and new ones tend to be vivid
- forgetting 'old news' is sometimes for the better
- continual adjustments are made between learning or memory storage (input) and forgetting (output) balances of input/output
- the rate of forgetting is dirrectly related to the rate of learning
- every event leaves a "trace" in our central nervous system that can be restimulated or remembered
- some traces are deeper than others based on the experience and our feelings towards it


Further Questions:
Do we want to forget some things and remember others?
What would happen if memories failed to fade?
Why can’t we remember something from surgery when we are put to sleep?
Can we increase the capacity of memory our brain can hold?  

How does memory of the past (or lack of) affect our lives?

To answer this overall research question I will try to find out:
How does memory of the past (or lack of) affect our lives?

1.Why do we remember some things and forget others?
2.Are we in control of what we want to remember?
3.Can we “jog” our memory of an event or time in the past?
4.How is it that no one remembers when they were born?
5.Why does longer time in the future prevent us from remembering our past?
6.Is it easier to remember our past or someone else’s? (history)
7.Is it possible to forget something or will it always be in our brain?
8.Why and how do we forget our dreams?
9.Do we forget dreams because they are not reality?
10.Can we make ourselves forget something? Or will that just make us remember it more?
11.How does time affect our memory of events?
12.How is memory related to personal knowledge?
13.Can we make ourselves remember something?
14.Are there ways to better our memory?
15.Is memorization really knowledge?
16.Do we forget things because they are insignificant in our life?
17.Can we control what we chose to forget?
18.Is there a limit to how much memory capacity our brain can hold?
19.Does our brain sort significant memories from those that are insignificant?
20.How does alcohol consumption affect our memory?

This is what I already know about this topic and want to find out:
I know that we have short term and long term memory. There are things we can also do to help benefit our memory to make it last longer. I want to know how our brain retains images of our past and stores them. I would also be interested in finding out why we can't remember when we were born or why intoxication makes you forget an event that happened. I am interested in researching ways to help better our memories or take some control over what we want to remember and things we can let ourselves forget.