Author Question: After H.M. had part of his medial temporal lobe removed to help control his epileptic seizures, he ... (Read 68 times)

dollx · **on:** Jun 20, 2018

After H.M. had part of his medial temporal lobe removed to help control his epileptic seizures, he continued to display normal intelligence but impaired memory.

Describe some of the impairments H.M. experienced and some of the memory tasks he performed at normal levels. Why are these findings important for understanding memory?
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Question 2

Outline the stages of skill learning.

What will be an ideal response?

scottmt · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 20, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Answer: H.M. could recall information he had learned or experienced before his surgery. H.M. was also able to recall items that were held in memory for a short time. He could learn new motor skills as well (e.g., mirror tracing). Normal performance on priming and word stem completion tasks by other amnesiacs further indicate normal implicit memory. However, H.M. had no episodic memory for completing the mirror tracing task and had difficulty learning new information. The findings from H.M. and other amnesiacs are important because they provide evidence for a short-term/working memory and for a long-term memory. They also show differences between types of long-term memory. Finally, they show that the medial temporal lobe is not involved with all types of long-term memory.

Answer to Question 2

Answer: Fitts and Posner (1967) proposed three stages of skill learning: (1) cognitive stage in which knowledge is declaratively represented; (2) associative stage in which error rates and verbal mediations decline; and (3) autonomous stage in which behavior is highly accurate, rapidly executed, and requires little attention.