Memory Impairment

amygdala. Under emotionally arousing circumstances, the amygdala will encode memories at a deeper level.

The hippocampus is most involved in memory processing. It aids normal recognition memory as well as spatial memory. It gives memory meaning and connects old memories to new memories. Finally, it turns short-term memory into long-term memory. New semantic knowledge cannot be assimilated if the hippocampus on both sides is damaged. The cerebellum is important in classical conditioning, motor learning, and procedural memory. The prefrontal cortex is also associated with processing and retaining information.

There are specific neurotransmitters that are associated with the acquisition of memory. These include epinephrine, serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine, and glutamate. No one knows exactly which memory function is associated with which neurotransmitter.

Strong emotions will trigger strong memories, while weak emotions will trigger weaker memories, according to arousal theory. Stronger emotions activate greater numbers of hormones and neurotransmitters. These will strengthen the memory. Glutamate is an activating neurotransmitter that is triggered by stress and increases the chance of a strong memory.

MEMORY IMPAIRMENT

There are several phenomena that are associated with some type of memory impairment. Amnesia is a long-term memory loss that is the result of some type of physical trauma, psychological trauma, and brain diseases. It can be seen after severe head injuries. With anterograde amnesia, new information cannot be remembered but things before the injury are remembered. This is a problem with the hippocampus. Procedural memories, however, can be formed in most cases.

Retrograde amnesia is loss of memory for things that happened in their past, particularly episodic memories. This is the type of amnesia where you don t recognize your loved ones nor can you remember anything about your life. This type of amnesia can be extreme.

The formation of new memories happens because of construction, while bringing up old memories in the brain is called reconstruction. Memories can also be modified. Suggestibility has something to do with it. This is when misinformation outside of the self creates false memories. Eyewitness misidentification also is common and can lead to convicting the wrong person.

There is also the phenomenon of the misinformation effect paradigm, which involves the creation of a false memory because of exposure to incorrect information. This can lead to falsely remembering incidents of childhood sexual abuse. Memories can be repressed, which means that a memory can develop after a period of not remembering it. False memory syndrome, on the other hand, is when this gets out of hand and there are many incidents of unsubstantiated claims. Children will also indicate they were touched inappropriate when nothing took place. These kinds of things can be avoided by utilizing open ended questions and not leading questions.

Forgetting is another phenomenon of memory impairment. It represents a loss of longterm memory and can mean several things. It can be an encoding failure such that the memory was never stored. This might happen when we lose our keys. Where they were left was never stored in the first place. Remembering these things requires effortful memory.

There have been several memory errors described by psychologist Daniel Schacter. He indicates that there are several errors in memory divided into three main categories: distortion, forgetting and intrusion. These can further be divided into these main errors:

• Transience—the loss of a memory over a period of time.

• Absentmindedness –this is the lapse inattention that can occur from time to time.

• Blocking—there is a temporary block in accessing the information.

• Misattribution—this is when there is distortion about the source of the memory.

• False memory or suggestibility—this can result from leading questions.

• Bias—this is a distortion of a memory because of a belief system.