See module specification for other years:
2022-232023-24
Module will run
Occurrence
Teaching period
A
Semester 2 2024-25
Module aims
Our memories make us who we are. They allow us to delve into our past and project ourselves into the future. They are also hugely shaped by our emotions, mood, and mental health. How does the brain support something so complex, subjective and personal and why do these processes sometimes go wrong? This module will explore the cognitive neuroscience of long-term memory, with a specific focus on episodic and spatial memory. We will explore this topic from a wide variety of methodologies – from traditional experimental psychology, to neuropsychology, to brain imaging, to electrophysiological recordings. We will discuss how we remember and how we forget, and how these processes can be affected by emotion and mental health.
Module learning outcomes
Discuss the complexities involved in the study of long-term memory
Discuss memory research at multiple scales, from individual neurons to cortical networks
Describe research related to episodic and spatial memory
Demonstrate knowledge of the neural circuitry of the medial temporal lobe, including the hippocampus
Describe the main theoretical accounts of hippocampal function and dysfunction
Module content
Memory systems and declarative memory
Episodic and semantic memory
Recollection and familiarity
Medial Temporal Lobe architecture
Pattern separation and pattern completion
Functional neurons in the medial temporal lobes
Process and representational accounts of the medial temporal lobes
Remembering and Forgetting
Memory and Emotion
Indicative assessment
Task
% of module mark
Online Exam -less than 24hrs (Centrally scheduled)
100
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
Task
% of module mark
Online Exam -less than 24hrs (Centrally scheduled)
100
Module feedback
The marks on all assessed work will be provided on e-vision.
Indicative reading
The following review papers will give an reasonable overview of some of the topics and issues covered in the module:
Horner, A.J., & Doeller, C.F. (2017) Plasticity of hippocampal memories in humans, Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 43, 102-109.
Burgess, N., Maguire, E. A, & O’Keefe, J. (2002). The human hippocampus and spatial and episodic memory. Neuron, 35(4), 625–641.
Yonelinas, A.P., & Ritchey, M. (2015). The slow forgetting of emotional episodic memories: An emotional binding account. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 19(5), 259-267.