“Even after his death,
the famous amnesic H.M. is revolutionizing our understanding of how memory
works and how we maintain it as we age”
By: Donald G. MacKay
Published: Scientific American Mind, May / June
2014 issue; http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rebuilding-memories-makes-them-stick/
Level of difficulty:****
BEFORE YOU READ
Research
Henry Molaison and discover who he was. An understanding of his experiences
will help you cope with the text.
QUESTIONS
1.
What was the long term implication of the
surgery H.M. underwent? What was the unintended impact of the surgery on Henry?
2.
It
emerged, as a result of the studies with Henry, that the hippocampal region
prevents ………………………………………………………………..
3.
The
writer states that “These insights also solved a 100-year-old mystery” What is
the answer to the mystery? Use your own words.
4.
What
does “Such cases” in the sentence “Such cases are pure fiction” refer to?
5.
If
you met H.M. at a supermarket, chatted for a minute and then came across each
other again at the checkout he would likely ask who you were
because…………………………………..
6.
It
was discovered in the middle of the 20th century that two areas of
the brain,…………………..worked jointly to build and preserve both
…………………………and…………….
7.
Read
the experiment with the ambiguous sentences to the end. What initial hypothesis
of the writer was proved wrong by the experiment? Why did the writer hold this
hypothesis?
8.
At
the end of the experiment, it became obvious that H’s ……………………….were degenerating
although both his ………………………………and his ………………………….were working like clockwork.
9.
The
reason why the writer decided language was a useful way to study many aspects
of memory was……………………………………………………………………………….
10.
As
a result of his studies into specific age related problems related to language,
the writer reached the conclusion that………………………..This problem involves
both…………………………and ……………………………………………………….
11.
The
underlying reason for the problem described above is……………………………………………………
12.
The
writer and a colleague decided to retest Henry and compare his results to those
of healthy adults in order to test the writer’s hypothesis
that………………………………………………
13.
Read
the information concerning the second experiment the writer and Lori E James
conducted with Henry. What interesting general observation was made at the end
of the test?
14.
Read
the whole of the Boston naming test to the end. The deficits observed in
lexical memories of average elderly adults is due to………………………………………………………..
15.
In
Henry’s case, the greater deficits observed in the lexical memories was
attributed to the fact that…………………………………………………………………………………………….
16.
Read
the story of the riffle. This example was provided to prove that……………………………
WRITING TASK
Based on what you have
learnt from the text, describe how memory works.
THE ENGINE OF MEMORY (OR
REBUILDING MEMORIES MAKES THEM STICK) KEY AND TEACHER’S NOTES
This is a tough but very interesting text detailing how our memories are
formed and preserved. Due to its style, it makes a very good reading exercise
albeit a difficult one. There is one thing one needs to remember about
Scientific American Mind articles: the same article may have a different name
in the digital copy. To make finding the article easier I have included the
month and year so search for that issue first. I also give you the lengthy
subtitle which doesn’t change. Various other sites also have copies of the
article, links to which are provided.
1.
His
condition revolutionized the study of memory and the brain; he could no longer
learn new information.
2.
Forgetting
OR us from forgetting forever
3.
The
hippocampal regions of patients with amnesia were no longer functioning properly
or had been damaged.
4.
Trauma
immediately wiping out a character’s past but the protagonist still being able
to form memories of new facts and experiences.
5.
Brief
interruptions wiped out his extremely fragile memories for recent events
6.
The neocortex and the hippocampal region;
episodic and semantic memories
7.
That
Henry would perform well on the sentence comprehension test; because H’s
neocortex was unimpaired.
8.
Lexical
memories, neocortex, Broca’s area
9.
The
uniformity of word knowledge
10.
Normal
adults older than 65 experience slight but reliable difficulties in retrieving
lexical information learned decades earlier; the ability to recall pronunciations
of familiar but rarely used words; the ability to spell familiar but
irregularly written words
11.
The
degradation of the relevant neural connections in the neocortex
12.
Henry’s
hippocampal damage prevented from offsetting the degradation that accompanies
normal aging.
13.
Comparing
Henry’s results with those of these individuals revealed dramatic deficits in
Henry’s lexical memories.
14.
The
synaptic connections in the neocortex deteriorating with age
15.
The
hypoccampal maintenance system was defunct / the hippompus couldn’t craft new memories
those that had been degraded or fragmented with time
16.
Some
episodic memories are impossible to check and correct
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