Examine one interaction between cognition and physiology in terms of behaviour
A quick introduction to models of memory
Memory is defined as the cognitive process whereby information is encoded, stored and retrieved. Memory is clearly a crucial part of what it is to be human - imagine trying to live life without it - and it has been extensively studied by psychologists.
One of the very influential early models of how our memory works was the Multi-Store Model of Memory (Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1968). Read this page on the Simply Psychology site for a good introduction to the model. |
The Multi-Store Model of Memory |
Uncovering the assumptions of the Multi-Store Model
The MSM was a hugely important model of memory. It is worth stressing some of the key assumptions of the model (in order to help you to address the command term of 'examine'). These assumptions include:
- That memory is a serial process, with a transfer of information happening in a set series (from SM to STM to LTM)
- Each type of memory has a separate store (so for example STM uses a different part of the brain than LTM)
- That there is a single, unitary store for each type of memory (there is just one specialised area for STM, for example)
Study 1 - Scoville and Milner (1957) - Case study of H.M.
H.M. is undoubtedly the most famous man in the history of Psychology... but he never knew it. Following an operation to cure him of epilepsy, H.M. (real name Henry Molaison), awoke with the total inability to create any new memories. Tragic as it was for Henry the man, the subsequent fifty years of study provided fascinating insights into the complex nature of memory and the brain (the fact that he never remembered having taken tests before meant he never got bored, so he was in many ways a dream test subject)!
There are huge numbers of excellent summaries of H.M.'s life and contribution to psychology, but this Psychology Today article is a decent place to start. A more detailed summary of the numerous studies involving H.M. over his lifetime and the conclusions that can be drawn from them can be read in this article. |
Anterograde and Retrograde amnesiaTwo important terms when discussing memory loss are anterograde and retrograde amnesia. Retrograde amnesia means forgetting events that we have already committed to memory (forgetting things from our past). In contrast, anterograde amnesia is the inability to form any new memories.
This page on intropsych.com contains a nice example to help clarify the difference between the two. |
Assignment 1 - HM case summaryUse any internet resources that you can find to produce a detailed summary of H.M. case study. Make sure you answer the following questions:
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Which study to choose?
One difficulty which can arise in talking about H.M. is simply the fact that because there is SO much research about him, it can be confusing knowing which study to choose. For your purposes there are two main studies which cover most of the major findings:
- Scoville, W.B. and Milner, B. 1957. Loss of recent memory after bilateral hippocampal lesions. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 20(1):11-21. This was the original H.M. study where the surgery was described, along with H.M.'s memory deficits.
- Corkin et al (1997) H. M.'s medial temporal lobe lesion: findings from magnetic resonance imaging. J Neurosci. 17(10):3964-79. This was the first study to use MRI to look at the damage to H.M.'s brain, giving us a much clearer picture of the exact areas which had been damaged (although not as clear as the post-mortem video below)
H.M.'s post-mortem MRI scanThis video shows the results of an MRI scan taken on the night that H.M. died. Because he wasn't moving (obviously) they were able to scan for nine hours in astonishing detail. Suzanne Corkin, who performed the scan, noted
Many structures are extremely clear: You can see the dura mater (the thick membrane that covers the brain), blood vessel walls, his lesions (black holes), and the residual tissue near the lesions. The ventricles (spaces in the brain that contain cerebral spinal fluid) are huge, the cerebral cortex is atrophied, and the corpus callosum (bundles of white matter that connect the left and right sides of the brain) is thin. In the back of Henry’s brain, you see a shriveled cerebellum, which is a side effect of taking an anti-seizure medication, Dilantin, in high doses for decades. As you watch the video, try to identify all of these observations for yourself. |
Slicing H.M.'s brainThis page details another incredibly detailed investigation into H.M.'s brain post-mortem... slicing his brain into thin slices which can be preserved and analysed repeatedly by different researchers. The video of the slicing procedure, which took 53 hours continuously to perform, is amazing... and results from studies performed on the slices are now beginning to be published.
The other pages of the 'Project H.M.' site are also worth looking into, including this video, in which many of the big names from H.M research, (Brenda Milner and Suzanne Corkin, amongst others) are interviewed about him. A final recommended resource is this interview with Brenda Milner. |
Assignment 2 - Applying the case of H.M. to the command word
Look back at the assumptions of the Multi-Store Model of Memory above. What can H.M.'s case tell us about these assumptions? Are they all accurate? Which ones does the case support? Which ones does the case criticise? There is a lot that you can potentially say here, so think carefully about it! Write at least half a page of analysis.
A corresponding case - Clive Wearing (Sachs, 2007)
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Clive Wearing is a case which corroborates the findings of the H.M. case study. A musician who suffered damage to his hippocampus (like H.M.), though through a different means (a viral infection rather than an operation), he suffered many of the same sorts of deficits as H.M. More information can be read and watched here, and here is a radio show on him.
HOWEVER, again (like with H.M.) the conclusions to be reached from the case are not as simple as you might at first imagine. Think carefully about how the details fit with the assumptions of the Multi-Store Model. |
Study 2 - Shallice and Warrington (1970) - Case Study of K.F.
KF suffered brain damage as a result of a motorcycle accident. KF had no problem with long-term memory, but his digit span was only two items (in others words he could only remember two digits at a time whereas, on average, people remember seven digits in short-term memory). These findings suggest that different parts of the brain are involved in short-term and long-term memory. Warrington & Shallice found that KF’s short-term forgetting of auditory letters and digits (things that are heard) was much greater than his forgetting of visual stimuli. They also found that KF’s short-term memory deficit was limited to verbal materials (e.g. letters, words) and did not extend to meaningful sounds (e.g. cats mewing), in other words he couldn't remember things like words, but could remember meaningful sounds.
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Assignment 3 - Analysing K.FLooking at the case summary on the left, what conclusions can you draw in relation to the Multi-Store Model? Find as many points as you can.
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Here is the full research paper from Shallice and Warrington (1970). Use it to find greater insights into the case of K.F., and to analyse the conclusions of the researchers.
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Evaluating research methodsAll of these three studies are case studies. This clearly has major implications for how widely we can confidently generalise the findings from them.
Assignment 4 - Evaluating case studiesCreate a table of the pros and cons of case studies. Make sure that for each point you are able to relate it to each specific case study.
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Analysing the interrelationships in case studies of memoryThe other requirement of the command term is to 'analyse the interrelationships of the issue'.
What relationships can you see between the three studies above? Refer back to the assumptions of the Multi-Store Model. Are there any new insights that you can gain through looking at all of the results holistically? See below for one suggestion... |
Finding DOUBLE DISSOCIATIONS in cases of brain damage
Triangulating evidenceThe cases of Clive Wearing and H.M. both involve damage to the hippocampus, an area that we already have seen is hugely important for learning and memory (e.g. in the Hormones and Environment on Physiology pages). These studies can therefore be used as triangulating evidence which reinforce the importance of the hippocampus in long term memory.
H.M. in his role as the most studied man in history, had his brain scanned numerous times. This information can be used in the 'Brain Imaging Technologies' section. |
Assignment 5 - Section A questionRead back through the details of the studies above, and then answer the following question from memory:
Analyse the interaction between cognition and memory (8) |
22 mark section B question
All sections with a Level 3 command term can be assessed in a 22 mark essay (remember that a learning objective with a 22 mark command term could also come up as an 8 mark question, but not vice versa).
Although any Level 3 command term could be asked, we'll concentrate on the one given in the learning objective, so the question is Examine one interaction between cognition and physiology in terms of behaviour (22) You will need to plan an essay which will be about 2-3 sides of A4 long, including a detailed focus on the command term. The marking criteria are below. ALWAYS refer to these before you begin to plan your essay. It is crucial that you know what the examiners are looking for so that you can write exactly what is needed for top marks! |
Planning a great 22 mark questionKNOW THE COMMAND TERM! This is absolutely crucial! A different command term requires a different style of essay, so you need to tailor what you write to the question. You will still be able to use the same pieces of information, but how you use them may vary.
PLAN PLAN PLAN! Every year the examiners' comments mention that essays which are clearly planned score the best marks. FOLLOW THEIR ADVICE! Don't be afraid to spend up to 10 minutes in an exam planning your essay (and longer earlier in the year when are learning and practising). USE EVIDENCE! You have 2 detailed studies here to use, but you should also look to find triangulating evidence using other experimental methods or from other areas of the syllabus EVALUATE! You must evaluate the studies you present. Evaluating means talking about the strengths and weaknesses of the study as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the level of analysis as a whole with reference to the question (e.g. reductionist explanation of genetics in some behaviour) |
Revision |
ExtensionScoville and Milner (1957) actually reported on a number of case studies in their famous paper. You can read them below, as well as their initial report on H.M.
We will look at some of the details from the video below in the next section, but it is also relevant to what we have covered here.
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