Memory and Human Survival

1531 Words4 Pages

CASE SCENARIO ESSAY: TOPIC 1

After a motor vehicle accident Tom was left with an acquired brain injury with damage to the frontal lobe and the left temporal lobe. As a result Tom has been experiencing many difficulties, in particular with his memory. Memory refers to the mental capacity to retain information and convert it into a form that can be stored and retrieved at a later time. Storing and retrieving memories involves passing information from one stage to the next and then retrieving that information from long-term memory. (Burton, Westen & Kowalski, 2012, p.261) Memory is an integral part of human survival and without it, learning new skills, such as the ones required by Tom to regain his loss of function, could never prevail.

Memory has been of interest to psychologists since the late nineteenth century (Burton et al. 2012, p.260) and as a result, numerous models have emerged to help explain the processes involved in the formation of a memory. In modern times, it is widely accepted that there are three major components of memory; sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory.

Sensory memory is considered the first stage in the formation of a new memory. It requires an individual to pay attention to a stimulus. Sperling (1960) stated (As cited in Burton et al., 2012) “sensory registers hold information about a perceived stimulus for approximately half a second after the stimulus disappears, allowing a mental representation to retain in memory briefly for further processing.” Although all five senses can be retained and used to form a memory, auditory and visual senses are significantly noted in this stage of memory. The term iconic storage is the name given to the short period of time visual informati...

... middle of paper ...

... (1999). The multiple component model. Retrieved from http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/HomePage/Class/Psy355D/WorkingMemory.pdf

Burton, L., Westen, D., & Kowalski, R. (2000). Psychology (3rd ed.). Australia: John Wiley & Sons.

Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2014). Wernicke area. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/639879/Wernicke-area Mastin, L. (2010) Episodic and semantic memory. Retrieved from http://www.human-memory.net/types_episodic.html

Royal Adelaide Hospital. (2013, July 3). Brain injury rehabilitation service. Retrieved from http://www.rah.sa.gov.au/birs/bi_cognitive_impairment.php Scoville, W. B., Milner, B (1957). Loss of recent memory after bilateral hippocampal lesions. Journal of neurology neurosurgery and psychiatry, 20(11), 11–21. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC497229/pdf/jnnpsyc00285-0015.pdf

Open Document