...Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Psychological "trauma" is defined by the American Psychiatric Association as an experience beyond "the range of usual human experience," that "would be markedly distressing to almost anyone, and is usually experienced with intense fear, terror and helplessness" (DSM-IIIR, p. 247). Examples include a serious threat to one's life (or that of one's children, spouse, etc.), rape, military combat, natural or accidental disasters, and torture. Sexual activity with an adult is a traumatic experience for a child.Like adults who experience trauma, children and adolescents who have been abused cope by using a variety of psychological mechanisms. One of the most effective ways people cope with overwhelming trauma is called "dissociation." Dissociation is a complex mental process during which there is a change in a person's consciousness which disturbs the normally connected functions of identity, memory, thoughts, feelings and experiences (daydreaming during a boring lecture is a good example).How does trauma affect memory?People may use their natural ability to dissociate to avoid conscious awareness of a traumatic experience while the trauma is occurring. For some people, conscious thoughts and feelings, or "memories," about the overwhelming traumatic circumstance may emerge at a later date. This delayed retrieval of traumatic memories has been written about for nearly 100 years in clinical literature on military veterans who have survived combat.In fact...
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...psychological disorders such post-traumatic stress disorder as well as anxiety disorders. One source of unwanted emotional reactions is memories of stressful or traumatic events. Past research has found that highly emotional memories can be difficult to forget, and can be frequently brought into conscious awareness without volition. Traumatic memories may well be remembered due to unique organizational and structural features in memory. Whether such memories lack proper coherence and organization, or whether they are overly integrated into the life story, stressful memories appear to differ from everyday memories their structure and organizational features. As a result, once a stressful experience has ended, the experience can continue to affect an individual through his or her memory of the event. In spite of the ongoing controversy surrounding how the organizational aspects of stressful and traumatic events differ from those of non-traumatic memories; most researchers agree that emotion is a central aspect of traumatic events. Many factors influence which moments from our past are remembered best, and the affect experienced during an event is an important contributor. “Flashbulb memories” which are events of emotional significance are more likely to be recalled vividly than mundane experiences, and neurobiological research has confirmed...
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...hurricane of feelings and memories without anything shielding them or holding them down to the ground. Mostly, these people think of things as if they just want to get things over with. Treating memories as if it’s an object, people makes the most out of memories and then simply throws it away as if it’s something useless or dilapidated. Others try to suppress whatever memory they kept as if burying a time capsule, in a place they seldom go to, hoping that the time capsule won’t resurface by itself as time passes by. Contrary to what people usually think, memory and trauma are not objects that can be disposed; memory and trauma are things that stick to us, become dormant and subtly resurfaces in different ways. From the material, ”Remembering, Repeating and Working Through,” we see concepts the repeating and working through as ways of dealing remembering memories, especially trauma. Diving into the paper, just like familiarizing one’s self with a map, it’s best to discuss the terms that are going to be the main points before using it again and again in the paper. Repression is the conscious (or unconscious) suppression of a memory. In simpler terms, we try to hide memories, bury it and try to seal it mostly because the memory being hid is a trauma that we experienced. Resistance is the blocking of memory from conscious memory. As the term implies, we resist a memory from being “stored” into our conscious memory, thus avoiding the chance of a memory being remembered as time passes...
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...Having our traumatic memories erased can lead to greater harm. Throughout the article, Jonah Lehrer talks about the different treatments people succumb to in order to have their worst memories erased. Some of the treatments include PKMzeta inhibitors, Propanol, MDMA, etc. While all of the drugs have the same goal of wiping out bad memories, they each have their downsides that causes them to fail. While drugs seems like a worthy idea, ultimately what happens is people will not learn from their past mistakes which therefore leads them to repeat the same actions such as drug addiction. By taking pills to erase memories, this will enable people to lose total control of their mind by not becoming the person they want to be. Starting off, everyone has experienced...
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...made up from their conscious memories. His view is that a person can only be the same person as they were in the past if they can expand their consciousness back to their previous actions and memories. So, everything that a person can remember from their past are what makes up their personal identity. An example that Locke gives of the memory theory is the idea of body switching. He explains that if two people switched bodies, then the two individuals would still be themselves, because they still have their memories, which Locke believes that is what makes up someone’s personal identity. He uses the example of a prince entering the body of a cobbler. He states that the person would still be the same as the prince and not the cobbler, because he still has his memories and experiences from being a prince. Another example that supports the memory theory is amnesia. When a person suffers from irreversible amnesia, many people take it almost as if that person is dying. Although, the individual is still alive and still a person, they do not have the memories and experiences that make up their personal identity. Even though that person is still themselves and is still in their own body, what gave them their personality and made them who they are is gone....
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...MODULE C – History and Memory Sample 1 How has your understanding of events, personalities or situations been shaped by their representations in the texts you have studied. Refer to your prescribed text and at least TWO other related texts of your own choosing. History can be defined as “the methodical record of public events” where memory is defined as “the faculty by which events are recalled or kept in mind”. Thus history and memory interrelate as history can be seen as the contextual justification for memory. “The Fiftieth Gate” is a poignant interweaving of history and memory. The text follows protagonist, Mark Baker an historian, son of Holocaust survivors Genia and Yossl (Joe), on an historical journey through memory, to uncover the origins of his past and act as a catalyst for future generations to also connect with their history. Mark Baker’s journey through history and memory is also executed through his conventional ideas that memory is biased and less valid than history. There are numerous references to the discrepancies between the personal memories of his parents and the documented history Mark as an historian believes. In this way it is apparent that Mark is on a quest for verification, “my facts from the past are different”. This displays the flaw Mark traditionally notes in memory and his need for historical evidence. As responders accompany Mark on his journey, they also encounter the complexity of simultaneously being a son and an historian. This...
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...Memory is one of the most important attributes that we as humans have access to. Memory involves the power to store experiences and bring them forward into the field of consciousness. However remembering issues as memories that are completely false is known as false memory syndrome (FMS). False memory syndrome can occur when you experience a traumatic or life changing event and you can’t recall the memories you experienced from that day properly but are strongly convinced that they happened to you. most people tend to recall memories not as exact as they happened because of events that occurred prior and preceding it that can alter the way we remember how they happened. However False memories are complete made up experiences that never took...
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...com/locate/neuropsychologia The neural basis of implicit learning and memory: A review of neuropsychological and neuroimaging research Paul J. Reber n Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, 2029 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208, United States art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t Article history: Received 6 November 2012 Received in revised form 14 June 2013 Accepted 15 June 2013 Available online 24 June 2013 Memory systems research has typically described the different types of long-term memory in the brain as either declarative versus non-declarative or implicit versus explicit. These descriptions reflect the difference between declarative, conscious, and explicit memory that is dependent on the medial temporal lobe (MTL) memory system, and all other expressions of learning and memory. The other type of memory is generally defined by an absence: either the lack of dependence on the MTL memory system (nondeclarative) or the lack of conscious awareness of the information acquired (implicit). However, definition by absence is inherently underspecified and leaves open questions of how this type of memory operates, its neural basis, and how it differs from explicit, declarative memory. Drawing on a variety of studies of implicit learning that have attempted to identify the neural correlates of implicit learning using functional neuroimaging and neuropsychology, a theory of implicit memory is presented that describes it as a form of general plasticity...
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...aspects of human experience in new ways. Mark Raphael Baker, in his 1997 historical memoir, The Fiftieth Gate, deliberately chooses a fragmented, polymorphous structure united within an overarching narrative to embody how the disparate aspects of past human experience can be understood through the symbiotic reconciliation of the once polar oppositions of history and memory. Like Baker, Joe Kubert, in his graphic novel, Yossel April 19, 1943, deliberately chooses a raw drawing style and fictionalised recreations of silenced voices of the past to embody the subjective reality that is omitted from documented history. Both...
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...Implicit memory also referred to as unconscious memory refers to the unintentional retrieval of information that got obtained during a certain learning episode on tests that do not need conscious recollection of the previous learning episode (Garrett, 1975). Explicit memory, on the other hand, is the memory performance in which it can retrieve a previous learning episode consciously. Implicit memory requires very little effort to recall, whereas explicit memory requires significant and more concentrated effort to bring memories to the surface. Systematic investigation of implicit memory is a representation of the relatively new research direction in cognitive psychology as well as neuropsychology. A significant difference between explicit memory...
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...MEMORY-WORK: AN INTRODUCTION Jennie Small University of Technology, Sydney Research methodology, from the perspective of Critical social science, is considered as: inherently political, as inescapably tied to issues of power and legitimacy. It is assumed that methods are permeated with assumptions about what the social world is, who the social scientist is, and what the nature of the relation between them is (Lather, 1991, p.12). Critical social science moves away from description of behaviour as enduring social fact to attempting to understand how behaviour is produced, thus recasting behaviour as “the effects of contingent and contested processes of change” (Churchman, 2000, p.100 citing Scott). Feminists and those working within a social constructionist paradigm have debated whether there are research methods specific to such approaches. In other words, is there a social constructionist or feminist method? Schwandt (1994), in discussing constructivist, interpretivist approaches to human enquiry, commented that “what is unusual about the approaches cannot be explained through an examination of their methods. They are principally concerned with matters of knowing and being, not method per se” (p.118). Feminists have also considered that it is the methodology and outcomes rather than the methods which define the research as being feminist. Nonetheless, while feminists have adopted a variety of methods, they have tended to prefer qualitative...
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... December 16, 2013 Senses: its effect on recalling information Memory is the power or process of reproducing or recalling what has been learned and retained especially through associative mechanisms. It is the store of things learned and retained from an organism’s activity or experience as evidenced by modification of structure or behavior or by recall and recognition (Merriam-Webster, 2012). Senses enable us to see, smell, hear and etc. but people usually rely on their eyesight and hearing to remember or recall things. People did not recognize the full potential of our memory, that the other senses also help us to remember and recall things for example of it is the sense of smell which is least recognized. We know the odor of a burning lumber because it is stored in our memory when we encounter it in the past like in cooking so when we smell a burning lumber in our home and we know that our home is made of lumber and none of the members of our family is cooking, we automatically think that our home might be in the process of burning. The sense of smell is a model for the so-called physical sensors used for detecting chemicals in the atmosphere. Like a sound, an odor will intrude upon conscious awareness and affect it as long as the odor is there. The sense of smell constantly and automatically monitors the environment for odors. This monitoring is usually automatic, it is apparent in common experience, to detect odors even when attention is engaged in other ongoing tasks...
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...defined as sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts. In layman’s terms, common sense is the knowledge and experience which most people already have, or which the person using the term believes that they do or should have. The limitations of this approach can be grouped into three categories: extrinsic limitations (the result of factors extraneous to experience), limitations of common sense as a social practice (ensuing from the way knowledge is shared and communicated) and intrinsic limitations (limited viewpoint). Extrinsic limitations Extrinsic limitations can be bias or dogmatic. Bias limitations is insights based on personal experiences are difficult to distinguish from one's preferences, desires or fears. Dogmatism limitation is when beliefs based on common sense become embedded in a particular cultural framework, they are very difficult to change and often become dogmatic. Limitations of common sense as a social practice Limitations can be intangible or elusiveness in nature. According to this limitation, common sense is based on clues often too complex and subtle to be rationally explained and systematically described. Intrinsic limitations Intrinsic limitations are limited in scope and inaccurate in nature. Limited scope means that common sense is limited one’s own experiences which is not taking into account all aspects of reality. Imprecision limitations mean that common sense relies on ‘rule of thumb' methods and, therefore...
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...1. Part A: Sam Miller believed that in order to be able to differentiate memories that are real with memories that merely seem to be existent, one must actually be present to determine its actuality. Sam then suggested that God might have created two individuals one containing the physical body on earth and the other containing the non-physical form of the body in heaven, that way the non-physical body carries the memories and experiences that other one did on earth after it decomposes. Sam supposed that just like existence, memorizing an experience is possible because it is imaginable and although those memories might be seemingly hard to distinguish because there are two different bodies’ involved, the identical memories still makes a person...
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...Recovering memories after a traumatic experience is a controversial issue that researchers study for a long time and there are opposite opinions on that matter. Some psychologists believe that after having an appalling experience as children, the mind in order to protect us repress these memories and we can only recover them in older age. Others though oppose to this opinion that such experiences can never be forgotten. One question that arises is that if repressed memories can be recovered or are they after years false memories. Having this in mind Richard J. McNally and his colleagues have contacted many studies, in order to examine which are the mechanisms that may be responsible for people to either repress and recover memories of trauma or create false memories of trauma. For their studies they used four groups of women. The first was the “repressed memory” group. In this group, the subjects were women that they thought they had been sexual abused as children but had no memories of it, just some indications. The second group was the “recovered-memory” group. In this group, women said that even though there was a long period of time that they had not thought about their abuse they...
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