Memory and its disorders The Self and Memory

Memory and its disorders The Self and Memory Chris Moulin School of Psychology University of Leeds c. j. a. moulin@leeds. ac. uk

What is Memory For? • To learn locations language skills people • To be yourself your life story your responses your ideas your understanding

Plan • The Self Reference Effect • AM Basics • The Self Memory system

The Self • An adaptive, biological entity (e. g. Daniel Dennett) • Many definitions • Don’t get too bogged down in these

The self reference effect • Self is a powerful organizing structure in memory • E. g. the self reference effect Incidental memory task How much do these adjectives relate to you (or a friend, or levels of processing) Material processed in relation to the self is better retained

Autobiographical Memory • Autobiographical memory is a complex interaction of: Episodic memory Semantic memory Constrained by: Self processes Executive function

A memory freely recalled by a 54 -year old recalling memories from any point in his life. I remember a bright sunny morning walking down a hill near our house. I had on a red jacket, red shirt, blue jeans, and brown suede boots. I was seventeen. I was going into town and I felt great. . . it was a feeling of being sort of utterly calm, utterly well, a feeling of expectancy: interesting things were about to happen. It was a feeling I don’t think I have had in such a pure form since.

A response made by a person asked to recall a memory to the (cue) word “Ship”. We were going on holiday to France. I remember that we stayed at a boarding house in Dover and went down to the ferry very early the following morning. My brother and I were wildly excited it was the first time we had been abroad and the first time we had been on a ship of any sorts. I have a vivid memory of looking back at the White Cliffs as the boat pulled out of the harbour - they seemed immensely tall, (Conway, 1996).

Things that go bump in your life • Accessibility of AM changes across the lifespan • Most memories are retrieved from 20 -30

Conway’s contribution Conway, M. A. , & Pleydell-Pearce, C. W. (2000) The construction of autobiographical memories in the Self Memory System. Psychological Review, 107, 261 -288. Conway, M. A. , Meares, K. , & Standart, S. (2004). Images & goals. Memory, in press. Conway, M. A. , Singer, J. A. , & Tagini, A. (2004). The Self and Autobiographical Memory: Correspondence and Coherence. Social Cognition, 22, 495 -537.

The working self • Control processes of the working self cannot directly influence the generation of patterns of activation in the knowledge base. • But they can control or channel them by altering/elaborating cues.

In Conway’s model memories are generated within a complex mental system called the “self-memory-system” or SMS. The SMS has two major components: § A knowledge base (in long-term memory). § A set of control processes - which we call the “Working Self”.

Conway suggests there are two forms of memory: The phylogenetically older memory system - protoepisodic memory primarily concerned with correspondence. And the phylogenetically more recent - conceptual system primarily concerned with coherence.

Older route Newer route

• The fronto-temporal system is largely concerned with issues to do with coherence. • The temporo-occipital system is largely concerned with issues to do with correspondence.

Primary Global Impairments • Patient S. S. (Cermak & O’Connor, 1983) Injury: Extensive - taking in left frontal, orbitofrontal, temporofrontal junction, bilateral hippocampus and amygdala. Impairment: Dense RA & AA. No Memories - knew events had occurred, general idea of events and periods in his life. • Patient K. C. (Tulving, et al. , 1988) Injury: left frontal-parietal, right parietal-occipital Impairment: Dense RA & AA. No memories - some lifetime period knowledge. • Patient L. T. (Kapur, et al. , 1992) Injury Bilateral temporofrontal Impairment: Dense RA Mild AA - No memories, some personal fact remained, indication of emotional recognition. • Patient E. D. (Markowitsch, et al. , 1993; see too Kroll, Markowitsch, et al. , 1997) Injury: Bilateral temporofrontal Impairment: Dense RA Mild AA - No memories, some personal facts remained.

Secondary Global Impairments • Patient M. H. (Ogden, 1993) Injury: Occipital lesions (+other areas) Impairment: Severe disruption of visual imaging abilities. Dense RA (for visual memories) no AA. Post-morbid memories all nonvisual. • Patient L. D. (O’Connor, et al. , 1992) Injury: R. H. Lesion extending from posterior frontal regions through the temporal lobe to occipital regions. Plus, more circumscribed LH lesion. Impairment: Severe disruption of visual imaging abilities. Dense RA no AA, virtually no memories even for childhood but retained some factual knowledge. • Patient D. H. (Hunkin, et al. , 1995) Injury: Circumscribed lesions in right parieto-occipital and left occipital lobes. Impairment: Dense RA for pre-injury events, very mild AA, and 18 years after the injury has a good but visually impoverished autobiographical memory.

Fractionation of AM • Patient P. S. (Hodges & Mc. Carthy, 1993) - Injury: Bilateral paramedian thalamic lesion. Impairment: Dense RA and AA. Preservation of an ‘island’ of AM knowledge relating to when he had been a naval rating during WWII. He believed himself to be at home on shore leave. • Patient R. F. R. (Mc. Carthy & Warrington, 1993). - Injury: Temporal lobe lesions Impairment: Dense RA & AA. Had preserved access to lifetime period knowledge (a sort of personal c. v. of his life) with very occasional and sporadic recall of a specific memory. He was found to have excellent knowledge about the appearance of people he knew but could recall no events associated with them. • Patient K. S. (Ellis, et al. , 1989) - Injury: Right anterior temporal lobectomy for intractable epilepsy Impairment: No amnesia but could not access knowledge about people who featured in events she was otherwise able to recall ‘normally’.