I need to respond to 2 of my peers on my discussion board. This is for my Physiological Psychology class. The response has to be at least 200 words. Classmate 1: Brittany Kirk Chapter 12 1. Scientists throughout history have divided memory into a variety of different modes. Initially, memory was conceptualized as being either short-term or long-term (Kalat, 2016, p. 395). Short-term memory was thought of as information that would, barring distraction, eventually turn into long-term memory. The idea of shortterm memory was later replaced with working memory, which contains the ideas we keep at the forefront of our minds as long as they are relevant to the task at hand (Kalat, 2016, p. 397). Memory came to be divided into several subtypes, including episodic (the memory of specific events), explicit (memory of information), implicit (non-verbal memory such as facial recognition), procedural (the ability to perform previously learned skills), spatial (recalling location), semantic (memory of facts) and contextual (remembering the surrounding aspects of an episodic memory) (p. 399-403). 2. H.M. was a subject whose hippocampus was removed in an effort to eliminate his seizures. As a result of this surgery, H.M.’s memory was severely affected. He became almost completely unable to form new memories and severely limited in his ability to recall pre-surgery events (Kalat, 2016, p. 398). However, his working memory continued to function normally (p. 399). H.M.’s surgery gave researchers unique insights into the role and limitations of the hippocampus in terms of memory. 3. Confabulation is the attempt to fill in missing episodic information by patients suffering from Korsakoff’s syndrome (Kalat, 2016, p. 404). Confabulation is different from lying because it is a guess about an event they truly do not recall, rather than an intentional fabrication consciously aimed at concealing the truth. Chapter 13 1. By studying the language-impaired, we can learn how people come to produce language – the specific brain areas as well as other physiology required to achieve speech. There are people with otherwise normal brains who are nonetheless language-impaired, demonstrating that language is not an exact function of brain size (Kalat, 2016, p. 438). Research of these individuals led modern science to identify Broca’s area as being of primary importance for speech (p. 440). In studying bilingual people, researchers have learned about important periods for language acquisition, the areas of the brain utilized by bilingual individuals, attention differences between those who are monolingual vs. bilingual, and the dissimilarities between those who learned a new language early in life vs. later (p. 440). 2. There exists much overlap between language and musical processes. Broca’s area becomes activated while speaking as well as while composing music. Many of the skills one learns while becoming an expert musician transfer to the performance and perception of language. There is evolutionary evidence that language and music arose simultaneously (Kalat, 2016, p. 443). While this suggests many shared brain areas, language is not the exact same cognitive process as musicality. Many individuals on the autism spectrum, for example, are able to perform music but are not otherwise able to communicate verbally. This would indicate separate structures and processes for the utilization of language. 3. Consciousness is a nebulous concept, with a long history of scientific and philosophical disagreement. Scientists have mostly agreed on a working definition of consciousness about a stimulus: it occurs when “a cooperative person reports awareness of one stimulus and not another” (Kalat, 2016, p. 449). In this way, consciousness and attention are inextricably linked, and potentially more or less the same thing in the scientific community. When an individual loses consciousness, they become unable to attend to stimuli. Kalat, J. W. (2016). Biological Psychology (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. Classmate 2 –Tiffany Aspinwall How many different kinds of memory can you think of and how are they different? 1. Short-term memory is the memory of an event that has just occurred (Kalat, 2013). 2. Long-term memory helps us access events which occurred further back (Kalat, 2013). Short and long-term memory differ in terms of capacity. Short-term memory is useful for memorizing phone numbers or short passwords and is limited to about seven digits while long-term memory allows us to retain a much larger capacity of information (Kalat, 2013). Short-term memory is dependent on rehearsal and once the information is forgotten, it is gone for good while a hint can help us remember something with long-term memory (Kalat, 2013). 1. Episodic memories are memories of single personal events (Kalat, 2013). 2. Explicit memory, or declarative memory, is deliberate recall of information that is recognized as a specific memory (Kalat, 2013). 3. Implicit memory is more vague than explicit memory, it is the influence an experience has on one’s behavior even though that influence might not be recognized (Kalat, 2013). The difference between explicit and implicit memory is that explicit memories are detailed and specific and can be communicated verbally while implicit memory cannot be verbalized and is a vague feeling. For example, if a specific family member had been cruel to me when I was very young and I have no explicit memory of the event, my implicit memory might encourage me to steer clear of them. Why was H.M. important to our study and understanding of memory? Henry Molaison (H.M) suffered from multiple epileptic seizures on a daily basis even after trying all antiepileptic drugs available (Kalat, 2013). As a last resort, he agreed to undergo a lobotomy and had his hippocampus and parts of his medial temporal cortex removed. This surgery, while it greatly reduced the frequency of his seizures, caused him to have extensive memory impairment (Kalat, 2013). Much was learned about the hippocampus following H.M.’s surgery. It is now known that the hippocampus is instrumental in forming memories and in the recall of stored memories (Kalat, 2013). H.M.’s short-term memory remained intact as long as he was not distracted but his long-term memory was damaged. (Kalat, 2013). How is confabulation different from lying? Lying is deliberately saying something one knows to be untrue whereas confabulation is when the brain creates false memories to fill in the blanks after a brain injury or disease which causes one to lose their memory (Kalat, 2013). Chapter 13 Questions: What do we learn about language by studying people who are bilingual or language-impaired? Studying those with impaired language abilities and those who are bilingual has led to a greater understanding of how and when language develops and the areas in the brain which are important for language. For example, research has shown that it is important to learn language while young in order to avoid being language impaired and it is easier for a child to learn a second language than it is for an adult (Kalat, 2013). Damage to Broca’s area can cause difficulty in understanding the meanings of words and pronunciation (Kalat, 2013). Damage to Wernicke’s area leads to a difficulty in recalling object names (Kalat, 2013). Are music and language different manifestations of the same cognitive processes? According to Kalat (2013), the process that led to the development of language also led to the development of music. Music and language are similar in that they both require one to be able to detect subtle changes in sounds (Kalat, 2013). In addition, there are several parallels between language and music. For example, those with an aptitude for music are often able to learn a second language better than the average person and timing and volume are altered in music and in speech in order to convey emotion or emphasize a word (Kalat, 2013). How are consciousness and attention related? While consciousness does not require attention, attention does require consciousness. In other words, you can be conscious while directing your attention at nothing at all but you cannot pay attention to something and not be conscious (Kalat, 2013). Reference: Kalat, J.W. (2013). Biological psychology (12th ed). Boston: Cengage Learning
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