To Propose A Design For A Cognitive Neuroscience Study On A Topic That

To Propose A Design For A Cognitive Neuroscience Study On A Topic That To Propose A Design For A Cognitive Neuroscience Study On A Topic That Interests You â€" Assignment Example > There has been considerable controversy amongst neuroscientists over the last 25 years over the cognitive and neural organization of long-term memory. Tulving proposed the fractionation of memory into two different types, episodic and semantic in one of the earliest and most influential theories of long-term memory (Grahama et al. , 2000). Episodic memory refers to our repository of personally experienced events, the retrieval of which needs conscious recollection of the exact temporal partial setting of an episode from the past. On the other hand, semantic memory applies to our store of culturally-shared general knowledge regarding the world including the meaning of words, facts, concepts, objects and people. This kind of information does not need recollection of when and where it was learnt initially unlike episodic memory (Tulving, 2009). According to Grahama et al. (2000), episodic and semantic memory were considered in Tulvign’s original conception of long-term memory psych ologically and neurologically different, a dichotomy reflecting the manner in which human brain is supposed to obtain, process, and store information. Initially, it was thought that patients with amnesia who show impaired new episodic learning although the fractionation spared semantic knowledge however, this view have been challenged by recent studies. Nyberg Tulving (2006) assert that Tulving revised his model so as to account for the evidence against a simple dissociation between episodic and semantic memory suggesting that episodic memory is a subsystem of semantic memory and is, hence, reliant upon the integrity of semantic knowledge. This hierarchical view has been expanded by the most recent instantiation of his theory known as SPI- Serial encoding, Parallel storage, and Independent retrieval. There are four main groups of cognitive memory system in this theory including perceptual representation; semantic; working; and episodic memory. This theory has three crucial premis es including: (1) information is encoded into system serially, with encoding in one system dependent upon output from the previous stage (Nyberg Tulving, 2006). (2) Information can be stored in different systems in parallel; and (3) information in different systems can be retrieved independently without any impacts on retrieval of information from other systems. This concept describes why an amnesia patient- deficit of episodic memory- may still be capable of retrieving semantic information that was acquired earlier in life. Parkin (2005) stipulates that due to the fact that there was inadequate evidence until recently that patients could be presented with a selective impairment to semantic memory Tulving’s prediction regarding the dependence of new learning on semantic memory has never been tested specifically. A newly described syndrome called semantic dementia, which results in a progressive, relatively selected deterioration of semantic memory has rectified this situation. A century ago, pick noted that patients with neurodegenerative disease could show a focal cognitive deficit like impaired language (Parkin, 2005). Mesulam reported six patients with slowly progressing aphasia, some of whom showed fluent and articulate speech which notably consisted of few word contents some 90 years following this initial description. This economic pattern has been illustrated to reflect a progressive breakdown in the central store of semantic memory affecting both and non-verbal aspects of conceptual skills about objects, concepts, people, facts, and the meaning of words.