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PSYCHOLOGY IN EVERYDAY LIFE
Hippocampus hero One contender for storing memories created by classical Frontal
champion memorist is a mere birdbrain — the conditioning. People with a damaged lobes
Clark’s Nutcracker — which can locate up to cerebellum cannot develop some condi-
6000 caches of pine seed it previously buried
(Gould et al., 2013; Shettleworth, 1993). tioned reflexes. They can’t, for example,
link a tone with an oncoming puff of air, Hippocampus
so they don’t blink just before the puff,
better, both a week as anyone else would learn to do (Daum &
and 6 months later, Schugens, 1996; Green & Woodruff- Pak, 2000).
than did students Implicit memory formation needs the
who studied in cerebellum. Basal
the morning Your memories of physical skills — ganglia
and restudied in walking, cooking, dressing — are also
the evening with- implicit memories. Your basal ganglia, Amygdala Cerebellum
out intervening sleep deep brain structures involved in motor FIGURE 7.7 Review key memory
(Mazza et al., 2016).
movement, help form your memories for
structures in the brain
Tim Zurowski/All Canada Photos During sleep, the these skills (Mishkin, 1982; Mishkin et al., 1997). Frontal lobes and hippocampus: explicit memory
formation
hippocampus and
If you have learned how to ride a bike,
Cerebellum and basal ganglia: implicit memory
brain cortex display
thank your basal ganglia.
formation
rhythmic pat -
Although not part of our conscious
Amygdala: emotion- related memory formation
terns of activity,
as if they were adult memory system, the reactions and
skills we learned during infancy reach
talking to each other (Euston et al., 2007; far into our future. Can you remember triggers your glands to produce stress
Khodagholy et al., 2017). The brain seems learning to talk and walk as a baby? If hormones. By making more glucose
to replay the day’s experiences as it you cannot, you are not alone. As adults, energy available to fuel brain activity,
transfers them to the cortex for long- our conscious memory of our first four stress hormones signal the brain that
term storage (Squire & Zola- Morgan, 1991). years is largely blank due to infantile something important is happening.
When our learning is distributed over amnesia. My [ND’s] son, Ellis, will not, Stress hormones also focus memory.
days rather than crammed into a single as an adult, consciously remember his They provoke the amygdala (two limbic
day, we experience more sleep- induced happy visit to Disney World at age 2. To system, emotion- processing clusters)
memory consolidation. And that helps form and store explicit memories, we to boost activity in the brain’s memory-
explain the spacing effect. need a command of language and a well- forming areas (Buchanan, 2007; Kensinger,
developed hippocampus. Before age 4, 2007) (FIGURE 7.7).
Implicit Memory System: The we don’t have those memory tools. The resulting emotions often per-
Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia sist without our conscious awareness of
LOQ 7-11 What roles do the REtRIEVE REMEMBER what caused them, as one clever exper-
cerebellum and basal ganglia play in ANSWERS IN APPENDIX F iment demonstrated. The participants
memory processing? 6. Which parts of the brain are important were patients with hippocampal dam-
for implicit memory processing, and which age, which left them unable to form new
You could lose your hippocampus and parts play a key role in explicit memory explicit memories. Researchers showed
still — thanks to automatic processing — processing? them first a sad film, and later a happy
lay down implicit memories of newly 7. Leslie, who experienced brain damage film. Although these viewers could not
conditioned associations and skills. in an accident, can remember how to tie consciously recall the films, the sad or
Memory loss following brain damage her shoes but has a hard time remembering happy emotion lingered (Feinstein et al., 2010).
left one patient unable to recognize her anything you say during a conversation. After a horrific experience — a school
How can implicit versus explicit information
physician as, each day, he shook her processing explain what’s going on here? shooting, a house fire, a sexual assault —
hand and introduced himself. One day, vivid memories of the event may intrude
after reaching for his hand, she yanked again and again. The result is “stronger,
hers back, for the physician had pricked The Amygdala, Emotions, more reliable memories” (McGaugh, 1994,
her with a tack in his palm. When he and Memory 2003). The persistence of such memories
next introduced himself, she refused to LOQ 7-12 How do emotions affect is adaptive. By waving warning flags,
shake his hand but couldn’t explain why. our memory processing? memory protects us from future dangers.
Having been classically conditioned, she By focusing our attention on the remem-
just wouldn’t do it (LeDoux, 1996). Implic- Arousal can sear certain events into the bered, important event, memory reduces
itly, she felt what she could not explain. brain (Birnbaum et al., 2004; McGaugh, 2015; our attention to minor details (Mather &
Your cerebellum, a brain region extend- Strange & Dolan, 2004). Excitement or stress Sutherland, 2012). Whatever captures
ing out from the rear of your brainstem, (perhaps when you performed music our attention gets recalled well, at the
plays an important role in forming and or played a sport in front of a crowd) expense of the surrounding context.

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