CHAPTER 3

MEMORY

1. INTRODUCTION
1. Memory is the major contributor to the learning process. It operates in close collaboration with all other neurological functions in
1. A quest to master skills
2. To acquire knowledge, and
3. To create products
2. Demands on memory intensifies as a child progresses through his/her education due to a constant influx of new information and skill mastery requirements. These demands decrease significantly in adulthood due to more repetitive types of skills and knowledge required in day-to-day life
3. Memory is not a unitary process. The memory model in the neurological construct is divided into three distinct systems including
1. Short-term memory
2. Active working memory
3. Long-term memory
4. These systems are interactive and are in a constant state of communication with each other
5. Conversely, each of the three systems serve different functions and has their own distinct characteristics and capabilities



2. SHORT-TERM MEMORY
1. Short-term memory captures and holds incoming data just long enough to make a quick decision about how that information will be utilized, transferred, or forgotten so that there continues to be space available for the constant stream of new data
1. Short-term memory exhibits a number of processes occurring simultaneously including:
1. The incoming data must undergo a very rapid preliminary interpretation; however, it may not necessarily represent the final understanding of the input
2. This incoming stimuli must be evaluated for saliency determination; in other words, what is important versus what is unimportant/distracting
3. A recoding/abbreviating process takes place in order to condense the information so it will fit into this small capacity system
4. The data must be registered with adequate depth of processing as this information can decay within two seconds. This would require the utilization of rehearsal strategies which might include:
1. articulatory loop which is an actual vocalization, subvocalization, or internal statement of the information, or
2. "visual scratch pad" whereby the incoming stimuli is transformed into imagery
2. Both saliency determination and processing depth also are aspects of attention; therefore, they represent an important crossroads with short-term memory
3. The various processes involved in the development of short-term memory occur as a result of normal maturation, practice, and experience intertwined with a number of capacities which influence its function. These capacities would include the following:
1. Rate of processing incoming information which include rapid access to prior knowledge
2. Ability to accommodate sufficiently large amounts of data, i.e., "chunk size," as well as information density
3. Adequacy of processing in specific formats including interpretation of verbal and visual inputs
4. Strength of attention processing controls
5. Use of effectiveness of rehearsal
6. Freedom from anxiety
4. In summation, short-term memory function is not only intimately bound to a network of other neurodevelopmental capacities but also to the active working and long-term memory systems.
5. It should also be remembered that unless information initially passes through short-term memory, little or no data can advance to long-term memory. This will have major implications both on teaching and learning.
2. Dysfunctions of Short-Term Memory
1. Dysfunction within the Attention-Retention Dimension
1. There are a number of areas at which memory and attention overlap in their functions. This is especially evident in students with attention deficits exhibited by their problems with saliency determination and processing depth
2. Incidental learning is an example of a weakness in saliency determination in which the student, when confronted by a variety of stimuli, has a tendency to register non-essential, incidental information as opposed to more relevant or key material
3. Shallow processing manifests itself in areas such as inability to follow directions, need for constant repetition, or a tendency for information to "go in one ear and out the other." Non-utilization of rehearsal strategies further exacerbates these problems
4. Inconsistencies will be much of the clinical picture in students with attention deficits as their short-term memory efficiency will vary from time-to-time
2. Chunk-Size Dysfunction
1. This problem is exhibited when the amount and density of information reaches a level that prevents a child from rapid processing, recoding, and saliency determination of the data to be registered into short-term memory
2. Examples of this type of deficit includes difficulty with long sentences, complex diagrams and other visual displays, and in high-content subject areas often encountered in the late elementary and secondary school years
3. A variant within this type of dysfunction is specific difficulty with "linear chunks" in which the student cannot deal with information arranged in linear fashion, i.e., five number digit span, imitating tapping sequence
3. Rate-Related Dysfunction
1. This problem is associated with the inability to process incoming data quickly enough to register the information into short-term memory
2. Observations of such behavior such as not being able to keep pace with flow of instructions, explanations, etc. are examples of this dysfunction. These students, in fact, may show more of an ability to understand visual demonstration models which allow for slower processing
3. Consideration also must be given to the possibilities of mental fatigue and distractibility contributing to flow of incoming data when a student appears to have attention deficits related to slow processing
4. Attribute-Specific Dysfunctions
1. Certain attributes can elude a particular student in registering data adequately. These include:
1. visual-spatial
2. verbal (including phonological) which can inhibit the development of reading and spelling abilities
3. sequential/linear
2. Other attributes which play minor roles include kinesthetic, haptic, and olfactory.
3. Three parameters which further characterize these three common sets of attributes include:
1. rate
2. volume (chunk size)
3. complexity
4. A child may have problems with only one attribute or, at the other end of the spectrum, all three. Likewise, the same may be true with the parameters.
5. Rehearsal Failure Dysfunctions
1. Children develop better ways in which to make use of their short-term memory as they mature and they do so by the use of rehearsal strategies.
2. Lack of utilization of subvocalization, imaging, self-testing, and other rehearsal tactics will not increase the depth or rate of processing.



3. ACTIVE WORKING MEMORY
1. Active working memory allows one to hold several facts/ideas in mind temporarily while working to create a product or seeking to understand them more fully.
2. This "workspace of thinking" extends, modifies, or combines inputs from short-term memory with other incoming or previously stored data in several different forms:
1. Proximal and distal planning - retaining a long-range plan while tending to more immediate needs. Example: writing a composition- the distal plan is what one intends to write; the proximal need - how to spell a particular word
2. Task component suspension - learning tasks have multiple subtasks embedded within them which need to be maintained while the task is being carried out. Example: Utilizing the many steps required to solve a math problem. If you need to carry a number, what is the next process?
3. Progressive ideational development - the ability to blend or combine parts of a story, explanation, or ideas which is critical in learning tasks which require problem solving, making judgements, etc. For instance, watching a movie or reading a book require one to remember what's occurred earlier while absorbing/viewing the rest of the plot.
4. Bridging of short-term and long-term memory - the necessity to search long-term memory for prior knowledge while putting short-term memory in a "holding pattern."
3. Facilitators of Active Working Memory
1. Attentional strength is great - mental fatigue, distractibility, and poor set maintenance are serious deterrents to performance of active working memory
2. The student comprehends well the subject matter or tasks at hand - a good grasp of the content increases the capacity of active working memory
3. Some aspects of the task or effort are automatic
4. The student has good resistance to retroactive inhibition - this inhibition can erase other recent inputs which are still needed
5. The student is sufficiently free from anxiety
4. Dysfunctions of Active Working Memory
1. The following are common symptoms of active working memory dysfunction:
1. A tendency to lose one's way in the middle of a mathematical problem
2. Trouble remembering information from the top of a page or beginning of a chapter while reading the final paragraph
3. A frequent propensity to forget what one was going to say
4. Difficulty thinking through problems or engaging in extensive reasoning in one's head
5. Confusion and comprehension problems, i.e., problems with comparing and contrasting
6. Problems invoking simultaneously all the different subskills needed for writing output, i.e., spelling, punctuation, ideation
7. A tendency for attention to immediate needs to undermine more global or longer range intentions, i.e., forgetting what sentence to copy while sharpening a pencil
2. Impairment in active working memory, as with all forms of neurodevelop-mental dysfunction, may be due to a primary weakness in a particular function or to the failure of other functions to collaborate effectively with that function - a dysfunction at the juncture between two functions


4. LONG-TERM MEMORY
1. Levine says, long-term memory is the system that allows for the permanent storage of knowledge, skills, and experience
2. Long-term memory functions and dysfunctions are best discussed in terms of how information is organized
3. Storage in Long Term Memory
1. Paired Association
1. Consolidating paired associations with regards to academic success
2. Paired association can be mastered by rote and/or combining modalities by recruiting additional sensory pathways whenever possible
2. Dysfunctions of Paired Association - The most common forms of dysfunctions of paired association include:
1. Trouble with phoneme-grapheme correspondences
2. Troblems acquiring new vocabulary
3. Slow consolidation of math facts
4. Problems with factual knowledge in geography or history
5. Poor performance in densely factual science classes
3. Procedural Knowledge
1. Declarative knowledge is stored in all other long-term memory formats
2. Procedural knowledge is confined to its own system of formatting which could be either motoric or non-motoric
4. Dysfunctions of Procedural Consolidation - The most common forms of dysfunctions of paired associations include:
1. Iimpairments in writing, such as spelling, grammatical constructions, and use of language
2. Mathematics - suboptimal consolidation of the nonmotor procedures that are so much a part of arithmetic computation and other activities that require the use of sequential steps
3. Spelling, grammatical construction, and the use of language
5. Rules and Regularity
1. Information about rules may be either about the rule itself or information about the rule
2. Children can develop schemata which are variants of such self-taught rules
6. Dysfunctions of Rules and Regularity
1. All areas requiring rules or the mastering of rules
2. Grammatical rules, spelling rules, foreign language rules, and mathematical rules
7. Categories
1. Children may put information into specific categories e.g., mental imagery and/or semantic categories
2. Consolidation works best when mental imagery and semantics are used together
8. Dysfunction of Category Consolidation - Dysfunctions of category consolidation include:
1. Classification systems
2. Categorization systems
3. Passive consolidation patterns
9. Experiences and Episodes
1. Direct experiential memory does not need to pass through short-term memory in order to gain a place in long-term memory
2. Episodic memory stores details that are closely associated with specific past events
10. Dysfunction of Episodic and Experiential Memory
1. Children are unlikely to be affected by these dsyfunctions in school
2. Adults are likely to be affected by dysfunctions of episodic and experiential memory in a career setting, which requires prior knowledge
11. Consolidating Information in Long-Term Memory - Factors that facilitate long-term memory storage include:
1. Consolidating information in more than one format
2. Elaborating on new knowledge
3. Sleeping immediately after studying
4. Well-developed metamemory
5. Making conscious use of memory strategies
4. Access to Long-Term Memory
1. Access Through Association - This involves an encounter with one half of a paired association and the often rapid, sometimes automatic, remembering of the other half
2. Dysfunctions of Association - see discussion under Consolidation on p. 81
3. Access Through Pattern Recognition
1. Recognition memory plays an essential role in every subject area
2. Recognition involves knowing you have seen a stimulus before and responding on the basis of past experience
3. Recognizing an underlying pattern in the presence of superficial differences is a requisite for academic success in areas such as:
1. recurring ideas within a story or poem
2. variations on themes in music
3. functional patterns in biology or chemistry
4. letter patterns
5. morphological patterns
4. Dysfunctions of Pattern Recognition - Dysfunctions of pattern recognition can have effects on learning such as:
1. Difficulty solving word problems
2. Poor understanding of lengthy texts
3. Lack of understanding of all academic themes
4. Trouble with grammatical construction and parts of speech
5. Access Through Recall
1. Recall involves minimal or no cuing
2. Children are expected to recall with growing speed, precision, and simultaneity
6. Dysfunctions of Recall
1. Children with recall dysfunctions do poorly on tests even though they study
2. D trouble with spelling and with learning math facts
3. trouble with word-finding
4. Difficulties with writing and remembering what was learned
5. Delayed automatization of needed subskills
6. Trouble answering questions that elicit a highly specific answer



5. BRAIN LOCATIONS OF MEMORY FUNCTIONS
1. No single memory center exists within the brain
2. More research is needed
3. Some possible generalizations exist
1. Most verbal memory is controlled by parts of the left hemisphere
2. Most visual and nonverbal memory are operated by parts of the right hemisphere
4. The Neuroanatomy of Many Aspects of Memory - a summary developed by Tranel and Damasio in 1995 defines specific anatomical locations of different memory functions(see Table 3-4 - p.90)



6. ASSESSMENT
1. Careful History Taking
1. Collecting questionnaires from parents and teachers(e.g. The ANSER System Memory Questionnaire Forms 2 & 3)
2. Interviewing the parents, teachers, and child
3. A systematic approach can help in finding a memory dysfunction
1. Are there general signs of memory functions? e.g. difficulty studying for tests, remembering information, retaining skills, etc.
2. Are there signs of short-term memory dysfunction? e.g. often needs directions/explanations repeated
3. Are there signs of active working memory dysfunction? e.g. difficulties in summarizing information
4. Are there signs of long-term memory dysfunction? e.g. problems remembering material for cumulative exams
2. Examination of the Child's Work - identifying error patterns
1. Writing samples
2. Spelling samples
3. Samples from mathematics
3. Direct Observation in the Classroom
1. Observing patterns of writing and written work such as copying from the board versus dictation versus writing a paragraph
2. Hesitation while completing math problems - may have difficulties in recalling math facts or procedures
3. Constantly requiring too much stopping and thinking; working at a slower pace than other students
4. When the child seems to know the material, yet does not know the answer when called on in class
5. Problems with study skills and strategies
4. Direct Testing of Memory
1. Most effective when looking at all other relevant information gathered, such as the history and the direct observations
2. Direct testing of short-term memory function
1. Using neurodevelopmental examinations - tasks include Digit Span, Verbal Instructions, Paragraph Comprehension, Drawing
2. Using psychological tests - e.g., the Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning (WRAML) tasks for short-term (Picture Memory, Design Memory, Finger Windows) and verbal memory (Story Memory, Sentence Memory, Number/Letter Memory)
3. Attention control, the child's rehearsal strategies, and patterns in the child's memory mistakes should be noted
3. Direct testing of active working memory function
1. Using neurodevelopmental examination - assessed on Alphabet Rearrangement (PEERAMID 2), Verbal Instructions, and Passage Comprehension tasks
2. Using psychological tests - e.g. On the WJ-R and the WRAML, the Story/Passage Comprehension subtests
3. Observe students during tasks involving mental arithmetic, writing, and retention during reading
4. Direct testing of long-term memory function
1. Using neurodevelopmental examinations - using tests of rapid naming, recall of practical sequences, alphabet writing activities, and days of the week
2. Using psychological tests - e.g. Delayed Recall test on the WMS-R
3. It is important to observe and conduct a direct interview with the student during a direct testing of long-term memory function
5. For a list of general indicators of short-term, active working, and long-term memory dysfunctions see Table 3-6, p. 94-97.



7. MANAGEMENT OF MEMORY DYSFUNCTIONS
1. Management of memory problems involves a blending of demystification, bypass strategies, and interventions at the breakdown points
2. General Guidelines to Aid Individuals with Memory Problems
1. Students Have a Need for Demystification
1. Knowing more about where his or her memory breaks down
2. Students need to know the differences between memory and understanding
3. Giving students positive feedback about memory issues
2. Teaching Specific Memory Strategies and Processes, Such as Metamemory
1. Use of Mnemonic Devices
2. Key words
3. Acronyms
4. Mental images
3. Guide High School and College Students with Their Course Load
4. Teach the use of Written "Memory Plans" to Help in Studying for a Test or Planning for a Project
3. For a list of bypass strategies and intervention suggestions regarding short-term memory dysfunctions, active working memory dysfunctions, and long-term memory dysfunctions, see pp.98-101