Free The Evolution Of Multiple Memory Systems Report Example

This article is about an evolutionary multiple memory system, that has brought together on the one hand the ideas of human and animal neuropsychology and on the other hand the ethological investigations of animal behavior . The main idea of the article is to determine whether memory is unitary or nonunitary. In order to make a choice and prove that, many researches were made and represented by the author. The article could be divided into 5 parts. So the first part of the article starts with a term memory and its explanation. Two views of memory system are presented: weak and strong which functioning depends on the type of information. In the second part an evolutionary view of memory system is given. The first one is a natural selection that was proved by Darwin and includes 3 steps that influence it: genes, the environment and natural selection. The second one is a heritable variation in memory. Genetic variation is very difficult problem in biology and many researches were made to find out and show that a difference in single genetic locus might lead to a difference in memory. The experiment with Drosophila (dunce) showed very clearly that any difference in genotype could produce differences in the nervous system with consequences for memory. But that happens only in case if these differences lead to different survival and reproduction. The experiment was made with blackbirds which were induced to mob a familiar predator, but the observer blackbirds couldn’t see the predator but only the process of mobbing and a novel. The results showed that the observer blackbirds remembered the animal they had previously seen mobbed. Animal contest plays also important role. The results of the experiment showed that outcome of the contest depend on learning and memory. According to Hollis , fish that defends the territory where it breeds, fight with much more effort if it has had the opportunity to associate the intrusion of other fish. Cooperation and altruism also take place in reproductive success where Triver’s point of view proves no relatedness between altruist and beneficiary, but Hamilton’s does. Foraging is a last one in this part proving that animals possess information on the expected distribution and abundance of food.
Adaptive specializations are another kind of memory that are used in the situations in which their rules make them suitable in a particular environmental situations. According to that all the multiple memory system is more capable in solving different environmental problem rather than single memory system.
The next part of the article is about multiple memory systems in humans and primates, where he allocates 2 memory systems. System 1 refers to as “habit” and system 2 refers to as “episodic”. The author gives an example of Milner’s research that was made with the help of amnestic patients. It showed that patients learn new habits and skills(system 1 function) in a normal manner what means gradually. A number of studies were made with nonhuman primates: test of delayed matching and nonmatching to sample. This experiment also showed the same results: in both cases the gradual learning is required. In the part of incompatibility in memory system 1 and 2 the author come to conclusion that data demonstrating dissociations between habit-skill learning and episodic remembering indicate that evolution has in fact produced different system to come with these mutually incompatible problems.
In the last part of the article, the author introduces the term exaptations. The importance of the idea is that few of the current functions memory serves can be genuine adaptations of memory.