Cognition: Lecture 6

Memory should be viewed “…not as the ability to accurately revive impressions once obtained, but as the integration of impressions into the whole personality and their revival according to the needs of the whole personality” (Rappaport, 1952/1961)

i.e. accuracy is not always desirable

Cognition: Lecture 6

• Today’s topics:-

– Martin Conway’s autobiographical memory model incorporating the ‘working self’

– Revision / Summary of key points from each lecture

McCarthy and Hodge’s 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.

Memory & Self:Common Sense vs. Cognitive Views

• Common sense perspective:-– Memory only provides information to the Self

• Reflecting the distinction between nature (what is essential, there from birth onwards) vs. nurture (the acquired personality)

• The Self is ‘essential’

• Cognitive perspective:-– There is no ‘essence’, just personality– Personality is acquired via experience– Past experiences shape your ‘self-image’

An Example of a Self-Image • I am:-

– 20years old (it is 2008)– I am a student at Aberdeen Uni.– I am not married– I have no kids– I am a party animal who loves clubbing– All my friends are students– I am aware of the latest crop of great bands and musicians

• These features reflect a constellation of facts all derived from memory, that reinforce a single, stable, coherent Self-image.

• To achieve coherence, certain facts may need to be forgotten, or at least rendered difficult to access! (e.g. you may not have looked at music charts for months).

Conway’s Model

The Self Memory System (SMS) has two principle components:-

• 1. Autobiographical knowledge base– organised specifically to support our sense of self

• 2. The (working) Self– comprises a goal hierarchy, and various other

internal mechanisms

Autobiographical Knowledge Base

‘Self’

Episodic Memory tied to specific experiences

(e.g. the CMF)

Retrieval

Consolidation

Encoding

Self-relatedsemantic knowledge

Abstracted from specificexperiences

Goal Hierarchy

Take a peek inside yourself…

Conceptual Self

Self

Autobiographical Knowledge

Base

semantic knowledge

Episodic Memory(CMF)

Key point: the SMS system is ‘goal-driven’

The SMS greatly extends the CMF

• Conway: “all daily experiences are destined to be forgotten”– Unless they support longer-term goals

• In the short term, accurate memories are vital– Where did I leave my keys

• In the long-term, coherence (between goals) is vital– The ‘Husband-Hermit’ or ‘Saint-Sinner’ dilemma

SMS Goals• Short term (e.g. daily)

– Take the car for a service…– Find the keys…– Post the letter…

Overriding principle: accuracy!

• Long-term– Get a job– Learn how to drive– Buy a house– Become a solitary religious hermit– Be a loving husband

• Overriding principle: coherence

But: there is an accuracy-coherence trade-off!

Potential for conflict!

How is the trade-off achieved?

• The goal hierarchy acts to maintain a stable and coherent set of short and long term goals

Goal Hierarchy

Eat and drink (everyday)Keep warm (everyday)

Have a conversation (most days)Watch TV (particular times)

Find the car keys (in 5 minutes)Avoid tripping up (when I walk)

Post the letter (sometime today)Dentist appointment (this week)

Revise (next month)Obtain graduation ball tickets (next few

months)Find a less annoying partner (yesterday!)

Get a 2:1 (next couple of years)Loose weight (before going on holiday)

The SMS: key points

• New memories are not formed ‘automatically’ from our experiences– But, experiences are always encoded (e.g. as per the CMF).

• An ABM is formed (and retrieved) only when the (working) self interacts with the autobiographical knowledge base

– Such interactions are entirely goal-driven

• Hence, specific experiences will be forgotten unless they relevant to a goal - within the goal hierarchy

• Stable self-image emerges from the coherence imposed by the goal hierarchy, perhaps at the expense of accuracy