1. Lecture 5: Memory and the Self

2. Todays Lecture –Common sense ideas about the Self –Controversy within Cognitive Psychology over the self Its just an illusion? A distinct cognitive system? –Some Men that Time Forgot Amnesic patients Jimmie G, P.S., C.W. and M.L.

3. –I know that I exist, the question is, What is this I that I know?

4. Some Common Sense about the Self 1. Continuous over time, past, present and in the future 2. Singular 3. Responsible for controlling the mind and the body (will power) 4. Determines your individuality

5. Who is behind the wheel?

6. Consolidation Mechanisms Attentional Control EncodingStorageRetrieval Attentional Control Semantic Records Perceptual Records Binding Context Semantic Records Perceptual Records Binding Context Self

7. Cognitive Psychology is Soulless! Reason 1 concerns the brain –a. There may not be a single, controlling centre of the brain –b. Circuits can work independently of one another Reason 2 concerns function –No Homunculi allowed!

8. Our Mental Library? New experiences and knowledge are filed away systematically Search and retrieval operations can take advantage of the library organisation to speed things up But how is all this managed? By a librarian?

9. How To Include the Self in a Cognitive Model The self is a biological / physical process, carried out by the brain Functions that support memory, attention, etc, should be independent (segregated) from those involved in the self The neural basis for self-related functions may lie in the prefrontal cortex

10. Some Common Sense about the Self 1. Continuous over time, past, present and in the future 2. Singular 3. Responsible for controlling the mind and the body (will power) 4. Determines your individuality

11. Men that Time Forgot Amnesic Patients –Jimmie G. –P.S. –C.W.

12. Amnesia PastFuture RetrogradeAnterograde

13. Oliver Sachs Patient Jimmie G. Korsakoffs amnesic –A chronic alcoholic –Severe retrograde amnesia and dense anterograde amnesia! –49 years old, but considered himself to be 19 and living in the late 1940s.

14. McCarthy and Hodges Patient P.S. 67 year old stroke victim –Severe retrograde amnesia and dense anterograde amnesia! A delusion more compelling than rational thought –P.S. lived as if he was in the early 1940s. –His delusion was resistant to contrary evidence and argument.

15. Memorys Influence on Continuity Continuity depends on access to the full range of memories for past experiences Our self-identity now may be constructed out of our most recent memories

16. Patient C.W. A middle aged victim of Herpes Simplex Encephalitis virus –Severe retrograde amnesia and dense anterograde amnesia! –Quote from C.W.s wife: He perceives the world as you or I do, but as soon as hes perceived it and looked away, its gone for him. A moment to moment consciousness

19. Some Common Sense about the Self 1. Continuous over time, past, present and in the future 2. Singular 3. Responsible for controlling the mind and the body (will power) 4. Determines your individuality