Explain how biological factors may affect one cognitive process.

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Emaan Jadoon

10/13/12 12G

Explain how biological factors may affect one cognitive process.

Cognitive processes are imperative for human behavior since their core is about knowledge and they way people use that knowledge under certain circumstances.  For example, our brain has different areas in which our memory, emotions, and perception are stored and all that is stored is fairly accurate.  Also, our brain stores memory in phases and then we retrieve it through language since the language of the brain is translated to the language of our body allowing us to understand the stored memory.  Eventually, the stored memories lead us to learning and finally to intelligence.  However, at times our biological factors such as hormonal levels or different areas of the brain are damaged in such a way that they hinder our instinct to use our cognitive abilities.

        In 1957, Scoville and Milner attempted the case study of H.M. H.M was a 7 year old boy who fell off from his bicycle and ended up with an injury to his head.  By the age of 10, he started to have epileptic seizures and by the age of 27, the epileptic attacks prevented him from leading and living a normal life.  Scovile performed an experimental surgery on H.M’s brain to stop the seizures and even though, they stopped he suffered from amnesia for the rest of his life.  The case study of H.M provides information on how particular brain areas and networks are involved in memory processing. This helped scientists to formulate new theories about memory functioning.  Also, H.M could no longer store new memory (anterograde amnesia). Most of his memories from before the operation remained intact (partial retrograde amnesia). He could not transfer new semantic and episodic memories (explicit memory) into LTM although he could form new long tern procedural memories (implicit memories). He was able to carry on normal conversions but he would forget immediately what the conversation was about.  

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        What can be learned about the relationship between the brain and memory from the case study of H.M is first, the memory systems in the brain constitute a highly specialized and complex system.  The hippocampus plays a critical role in converting memories of experiences from STM to LTM.  H.M was able to retain some memories for events that happened long before his surgery. This indicates that the medial temporal lobe with the hippocampus is not the site of permanent storage in itself.  It rather seems to play a role in how memories are organized and then stored elsewhere in the ...

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