HD 300 1st Edition Lecture 19 Outline of Last Lecture I Introduction a 2 arguments Reviewing the research Suggestibility Memory Social Factors Affecting Memory Questioning Use of anatomically correct dolls Concerns of anatomically correct dolls Courtroom procedures Highly publicized cases Summary II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI Outline of Current Lecture I Levels of memory II Tools to enhance memory III Types of Memory IV PTSD V Trauma Learning Current Lecture Signup sheet for pop quiz 3 today will be open next week Next Tuesday NO CLASS Veteran s day Unit 16 False Memory Syndrome and PTSD I II Levels of Memory a Perception individual senses or perceives something b Short term memory 15 30seconds c Decision conscious or unconscious on what to retain d Intermediate memory 60 seconds e Long term memory i Some things get stored here but we are unaware that they are ii May last a lifetime iii May change over time but usually pretty set iv May not be able to access it readily Tools to enhance memory These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute a Examples i Rehearsal ii Organization iii Imagery b Children are less sophisticated at using these tools i Partially because of inexperience with the tools ii Mostly because immaturity of pathways in brain III Types of memory a Infantile memory i Inability to remember early memories or events that occurred very early in life ii Memories not encoded in long term memory Piaget iii Other researchers earliest memories are either 1 Encoded differently and therefore not remembered 2 They are there but no retrieval mechanism b Implicit memories i Represent earliest fundamental neural system functioning ii Unconscious but affect behavior without us understanding why c Explicit Memories i Can be immediately recalled ii How we can remember exactly where we were and what we were doing at a specific point in time 1 flashbulb memory an incident so profound that it is captured like a picture in our memories d Psychological Defense Mechanisms i Suppression 1 A conscious decision to put the memory on the back burner 2 The memory may be manifest in other behaviors such as promiscuity eating disorders etc 3 Its like a computer icon ii Repression 1 Unconscious a The event is so traumatic that the psyche cannot deal with it It is forgotten but is stored in the brain somewhere 2 These events may also be manifest in behaviors but the person has no recollection of past events 3 The memory may appear in dreams or flashbacks e False memory syndrome i Memory is not exact ii Memory is open to individual interpretation and can be based on suggestions that an even occurred when in fact it did not iii False memory has more to do with suggestibility and less to do with memory iv Leading questions are not appropriate in suspected cases of abuse IV V v Therapists with their own agendas are most at risk for triggering false memories f Determining credibility of memories i Credible memories 1 Recalled spontaneously and early in the therapy process 2 More likely to be triggered by something in the individual s environment rather than prompting ii False memories often do not appear until after much prompting and after a long period of time has passed iii Video of Rosanne s false memories and claims of incest Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD a Involves exposure to a traumatic event i The person experienced witness or was threatened with death or serious injury or there was a threat to the physical integrity of self or others and the response involved intense fear helplessness or horror b Involves the limbic system of the brain i Area of the brain that encodes incoming information ii Area of the brain that influences regulatory process of eating sleeping attachment affect sex and aggression iii Seat of the alarm system that protects an individual in the face of danger fight or flight Trauma Learning PTSD a A traumatic incident particularly if it is severe prolonged or repeated may result in trauma learning b No reduction in stress afforded by the flight or flight response i Continued stress c Fluctuations in hormones in brain structures result in memory systems being altered d Release of opiates in the brain numbing state i Processing and encoding of the event becomes disconnected ii After the trauma is over the alarm state remains between flight fight status and a state of numbness e Adaptive state is altered i Cellular changes then become fixed ii Lasting effect that is not clearly understood iii Results in hyper sensitization of structures in the limbic system 1 Flashbacks 2 Night terrors f Desensitization involving the hippocampus i Chemical process destroys receptor sites involved in memory ii Results in change in the development of the hemispheres of the brain 1 Structural 2 Permanent changes