Biological Level of Analysis

Session 17

Essay submission

First things first

Examine one interaction between cognition and physiology in terms of behaviour.

Evaluate two relevant studies.

Today’s learning outcome

Cognition is the mental process of acquiring and processing knowledge and understanding through thought, experience and the senses.

Cognitive processes include perception, attention, language, memory and thinking. 

What do we mean by cognition?

Physiology is the internal, biological mechanisms of living organisms – the way the organism functions 

What do we mean by physiology?

Amnesia can be defined as the inability to learn new information or retrieve information that has already been stored in memory.  

Amnesia is the condition in which people lose their ability to memorize/recall information.

There is an interaction between biological and cognitive factors in amnesia◦ Amnesia has a biological cause (e.g. brain

damage) and affects cognition (e.g. memory)

Amnesia

◦ injury  ◦ strokes ◦ infections  ◦ specific drugs – usually sedative ◦ Closed head injuries ◦ may also be a symptom of some degenerative

diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease. 

Causes of Amnesia

1. Anterograde Amnesia Impairment in ability to recall new information after

the onset  Inability to form new memories  Antero = new 

2. Retrograde Amnesia  Impairment in ability to recall old information before the onset  Inability to recall old memories  Retro = old 

Types of Amnesia

◦ Amnesia interacts directly with physiology because it is basically caused by damage in the hippocampus region of the brain.

◦ Therefore, the physiological effects of amnesia are what influences or affects cognition, particularly the mental process of memory.

◦ Studies demonstrating damage in the brain causing memory impairment illustrating the interaction between the two factors will be examined, including evaluation of some of the major cases.

Amnesia and Physiology

H.M first fell off a bicycle at 9 years old resulting in brain damage Epileptic seizures started at age 10  At age 27 (1953) H.M had brain surgery to control his epilepsy and to stop

seizures.  He had a bilateral medial temporal lobectomy.  They removed tissue from the temporal lobe, including the hippocampus.  H.M. was studied extensively for 40 years. 

After the operation, HM had anterograde amnesia – he was unable to create new memories . Nothing could be stored in his long-term memory (LTM).  His childhood memories were intact .

MRI Scan Results (1997) – Brain damage was pervasive and included the hippocampus, the amygdala, and other areas close to the hippocampus. 

Study 1: Milner & Scoville (1957) – H.M. 

Conclusion:  The hippocampus is needed for memories to be transferred to long-

term memory. 

Connection of study to question The case of HM reveals the interaction of cognition (memory) and

physiology (brain damage in the hippocampus) in amnesia.

◦ Brain damage in relevant areas caused memory impairment◦ This study suggests that certain brain regions are responsible for the

cognitive process of memory

Study 1: Milner & Scoville (1957) – HM 

Clive Wearing was a musician who got a viral infection - encephalitis. 

This left him with serious brain damage in the hippocampus (biological cause), which caused memory impairment (effect on cognition) 

He suffered from anterograde and retrograde amnesia 

He could not transfer information from STM to LTM. 

His memory lasted 7-30 seconds, and he was unable to form new memories. 

Wearing still had the ability to talk, read, write, conduct and sight-read music (procedural knowledge) 

Wearing’s episodic memory and some of his semantic memory were lost. 

MRI scans of Wearing’s brain showed damage to the hippocampus and some of the frontal regions. 

Study 2: Sacks – Clive Wearing (2007)

Conclusion:  The case of Clive Wearing provides insight into the

biological foundation of different memory systems, which is a cognitive process. 

Wearing’s case highlights the interaction between cognition and physiology as it establishes the link by illustrating the effect of physiological causes in the brain (brain damage occurring in hippocampi region, on the social and cognitive interactions of the individual. 

Study 2: Sacks – Clive Wearing (2007)

In amnesia patients, damage to certain brain areas impaired the patients' memory, therefore supporting the idea of the interaction between the physiology (of the brain) and cognition (of memory) in amnesia.

Therefore, amnesia has a bidirectional relationship between its physiological cause occurring in the brain and the cognitive process of memory.

Conclusions

Examine one interaction between cognition and physiology in terms of behaviour.

Evaluate two relevant studies.

Remember this is the same information we’ve seen before but YOU need to use the information

differently to answer the question

Structuring the question

Conclusion

Supporting Study 2 & Evaluation

Supporting Study 1 & Evaluation

Introduction

Let’s practise...