Memory_Literature

Memory is defined as a behavioral change caused by an experience whereas learning is a process for acquiring memory. In recent years there have been many new developments in the study of memory. First of all, there is the realization that there are different types of memory; declarative memories are those available to our consciousness which allow us to recall certain facts or dates, giving us conscious recollections about those facts or dates. While procedural memories are not available to our consciousness, these are the memories that allow us to access a previously learned skill from our memory banks (Okano, Hirano & Balaban, 2013). Procedural memories are also known as non declarative memories (Zola-Morgan & Squire, 1993). Learning begins in the human nervous system; neurons fire and make connections throughout the human brain. It depends on what is being learned which parts of the brain are stimulated. For example, the left prefrontal lobe is where you would learn/or use the concepts of right and wrong while the right prefrontal lobe is where you associate the feelings that go along with right or wrong. Implicit-explicit memory distinction is fundamental to the cognitive neuroscience of memory; a very important form of implicit memory is perceptual priming. This means the facilitated processing of a stimulus as a result of previous exposure to that stimulus even in the absence of the actual stimulus. This means for example, a treasured memory of your grandmother baking apple pies can be triggered by the smell of apple pie even in the absence of the actual pie baking in the oven. Your brain already equates the smell with the memory so it evokes the images within your mind. The use of MRI and PET scan machines are being used to show the damage done to the human brain which affects memory. Previously, the damage could not be actually seen, but with the advancements now available to those in the medical field, it has given a much more detailed look into the human mind than had been available to them in the past. They allow physicians to actually see the damage within the brain rather than being forced to depend solely on the patients’ description or by the use of deceased human brains. These advancements have sparked a plethora of literary papers by a variety of different types of physicians both in the psychological and psychiatric field as well as medical doctors. References Okano, H., Hirano, T., & Balaban, E. (2013). Learning and memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97(23), 12403-12404. Retrieved from http://www.pnas.org/content/97/23/12403.full Zola-Morgan, S., & Squire, L. R. (1993). Neuroanatomy of memory. Annual reviews neuroscience, (16), 547-563. Retrieved from http://www.neuro.iastate.edu/Uploads/SquireLR_AnnRevNS93.pdf