Do Memories Reflect the Operation of Different Systems - Essay Example

Cognitive Psychology: Do Memories Reflect the Operation of Different Systems, or are They Different Ways of Accessing a Unitary Long-Term Store 2007 Cognitive Psychology: Do Memories Reflect the Operation of Different Systems, or are They Different Ways of Accessing a Unitary Long-Term Store Cognitive psychology is the school of psychology which is used to examine the internal mental processes of the human system, including those such as problem solving, memory and language, and cognitive theory contends to the fact that the solutions to problems take the form of algorithms - rules that are understood, but which do not always necessarily guarantee solutions. In cognitive psychology and in fact psychology in general, memory is considered as being "an organism's ability to store, retain and subsequently recall information. Although traditional studies of memory began in the realms of philosophy, the late nineteenth and twentieth century put memory within the paradigms of cognitive psychology. In recent decades, it has become one of the principal pillars of a new branch of science called cognitive neuroscience, a marriage between cognitive psychology and neuroscience" (Wikipedia, 2007). There are many different issues within the realm of cognitive psychology that are important to discuss, and the aim of this paper is to discuss one of these issues in particular, which is memory; here we will be discussing the question of whether memories reflect the operation of different systems or whether they are different ways of accessing a unitary long-term store. In order to do this, not only are the terms memory and cognitive psychology going to be have to be discussed more, but as well any and all other key related issues. By doing this, we will be able to gain a much more informed and knowledgeable understanding on the subject matter at hand overall. This is what will be dissertated in the following. Memory is the brain's power to remember things, and it comes in different forms, with three major different types of memory, which are: sensory, short-term, and long-term. Sensory memory is the type of memory which refers to those items which are detected by the sensory receptors, of which are retained temporarily in the sensory registers and which have a large capacity for unprocessed information but are only then able to hold accurate images of sensory information for a certain amount of time. There are also different types of memory within sensory memory, and "The two types of sensory that have been most explored are iconic memory and echoic memoryVisual sensory memory is more commonly referred to as iconic memory. Auditory sensory memory is known as echoic memory" (Eysenck & Keane, 2000). The short-term memory on the other hand is the memory which acts as a sort of scratch-pad for temporary recall of the information under process, and long-term memory is the memory which is intended for the storage of information over a longer period of time, and information from the working memory is transferred to it after only a few seconds, and, unlike in working memory, there is little decay. Different domains or types of memory also exist within the brain, and, like a database for example, memory is organized in different areas of the brain. "A person, without effort, can remember their phone number, birthdates, the taste of chocolate, the sound of children playing, the scent of a rose, the knowledge of how to ride a bike, the feeling of fear and the intention to remember to pick up milk on the way home" (Hartwell, 2007). The three most major domains of memory are: knowledge memory, event memory and personal memory. With knowledge memory, this is the information that is taken in regarding the world and external things, and within the domain of knowledge memory, information about numbers, music, language, stories, and facts, for instance, are stored. Event memory, on the other hand, refers to "a person's ability to remember whether or not they have done something, where they have put something, when and where something happened to them and remembering dates. Planning memory refers to a person's ability to remember to do something at a particular time or place, whether they can remember to remember to do something, for example, a person having the thought 'I was supposed to do something, I know I told myself to remember it, what is it, why am I standing here' Skill memory refers to the ability to remember how something is done, a particular task, how to operate a camera, for example" (Hartwell, 2007). Finally, with personal memory, this is where a person retains all of the autobiographical information, skill information, social information and planning information - thus all of their own personal information. In regards to the question of whether memories reflect the operation of different systems or whether they are different ways of accessing a unitary long-term store, there are many different issues that need to be taken into consideration in order to come up with a proper answer here, and one of the first of these issues is in regards to what has been previously discussed, which is all of the different types and domains of memory exist. This is where the one side of this question comes from - the theory that memories are simply different ways of accessing a unitary long-term store. This particular theory - out of the two given - is without a doubt the least logical and least structured, as we know that there are many different depths and factors that are involved with memories, and the research and evidence that we have surrounding the matter of memory shows us that memories are in fact different ways of allowing us to access a unitary long-term store but as well they strongly reflect the operation of different systems in our brain. Current studies in neuroscience in particular go to show and support the notion that a memory is a "set of encoded neural connections. Encoding can take place in several parts of the brain. Thus, neural connections are likely to go across various parts of the brain. The stronger the connections, the stronger the memory." (Braisby & Gellatly, 2005). The operation of different brain systems involved in different types of memory is described. One is a system in the primate orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala involved in representing rewards and punishers, and in learning stimulus-reinforcer associations. This system is involved in emotion and motivation. A second system in the temporal cortical visual areas is involved in learning invariant representations of objects. A third system in the hippocampus is implicated in episodic memory and in spatial function. Fourth, brain systems in the frontal and temporal cortices involved in short term memory are described. The approach taken provides insight into the neuronal operations that take place in each of these brain systems, and has the aim of leading to quantitative biologically plausible neuronal network models of how each of these memory systems actually operates. (Rolls, 2000). From this review we can conclude many different things, several which are of particular importance, namely the fact that when it comes to the question of whether memories reflect the operation of different systems or whether they are simply different ways or processes of accessing a unitary long-term store, research and statistical evidence goes to show us that memories are actually both; more so they reflect the operation of different systems, as memories are taken in and processed using a multitude of different human systems, of which are primarily located in the brain, but some which are in other areas of the human body as well. Memory is one of the most major issues within the realm of cognitive psychology overall, and due to the advances in this field over the past few years in particular, cognitive psychology has come along far, especially in more recent years. It is not uncommon to find cognitive theories within social psychology, personality, abnormal psychology, and developmental psychology, and the application of cognitive theories mainly and most primarily coincide with that of comparative psychology. Memory is truly an incredible and fascinating issue, and the process in which memory is inputted into the human brain and then processed from there is one which has been debated about for decades now; different scholars and personas have varying ideas in regards to what memory is actually really all about, and so only by discussing particular issues, such as those which have been previously discussed in this paper, can we be able to come to a truly informed and knowledgeable understanding on the subject of memory overall. References Braisby, N. & Gellatly, A (2005). Cognitive Psychology. London: Oxford University Press. Eysenck, M. & Keane, M. T (2000). New York: Psychology Press. Hartwell, E (2007). The Different Types of Memory, online article retrieved April 2, 2007, from http://ezinearticles.com/The-Different-Types-Of-Memory&id=509242 Martin, N., Carlson, N. R. & Buskist, W (2007). Psychology. London: Pearson. Rolls, E. T (2000). 'Memory Systems in the Brain', Annual Review of Psychology, 51: 599-630. Wikipedia (2007). Memory, online article retrieved April 2, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory Acronyms Terms Read More