Declarative memory and amnesia: A Review of Literature

Abstract

This review intends to examine the effect of hippocampus damage on declarative memory and to discover the correlation between the hippocampus and declarative memory. Considered the impact of declarative memory on people with amnesia, including complex decision-making on IGT task, use of the common ground for communication, and the word use in the language. It is important to define the correlation of hippocampus and declarative memory because hippocampus function plays a key role in the formation of declarative memory. Hippocampus affects the operation of declarative memory that the hippocampus dominates the formation and storage of memories in the brain. If the hippocampus is damaged, those people with amnesia will lose the ability to form new declarative and long-term memories, and the precious memories will disappear together.

Introduction

Amnesia is the brain disorder marked by the damage of the hippocampus, which is located in the main area of the brain that helps humans handle declarative memory. The disorder is characterized by someone who can no longer store information, retrieve the memory, and destroy the ability of thinking. The impairment of declarative memory greatly disturbs amnesia’s daily living, including personal independent living, mistakes at work, and difficulty in acquiring new knowledge (Gupta et al. 2009; Yoon et al. 2017). Amnesia’s memory system is severely affected by the absence of declarative memory. The bilateral hippocampal damage is a contributing factor to declarative memory impairment (Gupta et al. 2009; Hilverman et al.2017; Yoon et al. 2017). Researchers want to discover how hippocampal damage influences amnesia patients’ cognition process, including complex decision-making on IGT, the use of the common ground for communication, and the word use in the language production (Gupta et al. 2009; Hilverman et al.2017; Yoon et al. 2017). This review aims to find out how declarative memory impairment poses a serious threat to amnesia patients. The objection of writing this review is to gather information from a series of studies by summarizing the relationship between declarative memory and hippocampal and generalizing these results to discover how impairment of decorative memory affects amnesia. At the same time, these results will contribute to future research on amnesia and explore how amnesia patients store their memory. Current research shows that human declarative memory influences the preservation and accumulation of external information in amnesia patients.

Analysis

Complex decision-making on IGT 

Complex decision-making tested on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). The Iowa Gambling Task was choosing a different card, which depends on the different amounts of reward and punishment (Gupta 2009). People who have amnesia could not develop complex decision making on IGT. That shows complex decision-making was dependent on neural networks in the brain, including declarative memory (Gupta et al. 2009). Due to people with hippocampal damage, they had fewer details and fewer imagistic features when they described something ( Hilverman et al.2017). Having the impairment of complex decision-making prevented people do complex descriptions. The impairment of declarative memory led to the impairment of decision-making and language production in amnesia (Gupta et al. 2009; Hilverman et al.2017). Gupta et al. (2009) concluded that declarative memory played a critical role in complex decision-making. That shows people who had decision-making impairments were the result of declarative memory impairment.

Word use in language

Word use in language is when people look back at the events and experiences of our daily lives, they can generate vivid words to describe some specific events ( Hilverman et al.2017).

Word use in language production was dependent on declarative memory. People who had amnesia produced less imageable words when they described the narrative events ( Hilverman et al.2017). Unlike the amnesia tailored their communicative language while they talked under the absence of declarative memory, the impairment of declarative memory affected amnesia used word uses to talk about narrative events (Yoon et al.2017; Hilverman et al.2017). Hilverman et al. (2017) concluded that declarative memory was related to amnesia’s word use, in which the impairment of declarative memory provided disruptions of language production to amnesia. Common ground for communication

Common ground is the mutually known information, which is people know the information each other in conversation (Yoon et al. 2017). The effect of memory impairment was found in the common ground of communicating (Yoon et al.2017), and in word use of language production  (Hilverman et al.2017). Hilverman et al(2017) found that impairment of declarative memory prevented amnesia patients’ word use when they talking. However, Yoon et al. (2017) found that declarative memory impairment had no prevented amnesia from using their common ground to communicate with others. In contrast, amnesia had a significant in acquiring and using partner-specific knowledge in which they can adjust their language to communicate with their partner (Yoon et al. 2017). The impairment of declarative memory provided negative effects on amnesia in complex decision-making and word use (Gupta et al. 2009; Hilverman et al.2017). However, Yoon et al. (2017) sought a positive effect in the absence of declarative memory, which is amnesia used the common ground for communication. As a result, common ground information could acquire in the absence of declarative memory that amnesia tailored their communicative language, and provided more descriptive expressions for their partner than other people without hippocampal damage. (Yoon et al. 2017)

Conclusion

  There is a strong correlation between the hippocampus and declarative memory, which the declarative memory plays an important role in amnesia. The impairment of declarative memory influences the preservation and accumulation of external information in amnesia patients. The damage of the hippocampus and impairment of declarative memory brings negative effects on amnesia patients’ word use and complex decision-making. The impairment of declarative memory prevents amnesia from producing imageable words in language production and making a complex decision. However, impairment of declarative is not preventing amnesia from using the common ground for communicating. On the contrary, it makes amnesia patients use their common ground to share their knowledge with their partner in the absence of decorative memory. In the broader context, the damage of the hippocampus seriously harms the human cognitive system, which brings inconvenience to human life. Future research should have a deeper understanding of amnesia, researchers should examine how the memory system of amnesia works when the hippocampus is damaged, and how amnesia forms their memory without declarative memory. Such as how short term memory and implicit memory help people with amnesia in the cognitive process.

                                                           Reference

Gupta R, Duff C, Denburg L, Cohen J, Bechara A, Tranel D. Feb 2009. Declarative memory is critical for sustained advantageous complex decision-making. Neuropsychologia. [accessed 2020 June 22]; 47(7): 1686–1693. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2697903/

 Hilverman C, Cook W, Duff C. Nov 2017. The influence of the hippocampus and declarative memory on word use: Patients with amnesia use less imageable words. Neuropsychologia. [accessed 2020 June 22]; 106: 179–186.

Yoon S, Duff C, Schmidt S. Jul 2017. Learning and using knowledge about what other people do and don’t know despite amnesia. Cortex. [accessed 2020 June 22]; 94: 164–175. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5567824/

Peer review

1. Is the title informative and specific?

Straight to the point and very eye-catching.

2. Are section headings used effectively? Does the organization seem logical?
Yes, they are. Everything is organized.

3. Does the review synthesize the articles or is it just a summary? Give an example.
The review does synthesize the articles. For example, “Hippocampus depending on declarative memory and their connection are well recognized. The hippocampus damaged is the contributing factor to amnesia. (Hilverman et al.2017; )…… Current research shows that the development of human declarative memory proves the progress of…” This made me understand the topic more with this info.

4. Does the introduction move from general to specific and include relevant history and key terms?
What is the thesis? Is it the main point or finding of the lit review?
The thesis is how amnesia patients’ memory systems work under the impairment of declarative memory.

5. Are there any grammar, spelling, or punctuation mistakes? Are “you” and “I” pronouns avoided? List a few examples.
Some sentences had a misuse of commas. Other sentences need punctuation it just kept ongoing.

6. Are in-text citations (and References page) incorrect CSE name-year style?
yes they are