MEMORY III:Memory Disorders/Dysfunctions, Amnesia, Dementia

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Introduction to Psychology PSY101

Lesson 25

MEMORY III

Memory Disorders/Dysfunctions

Memory loss has long been considered as a result of aging, but now physicians believe that there must be

some pathological reasons as well, that cause memory impairment: "Memory Cognitive Impairment" (MCI).

Although the suffering individuals are capable of doing every day tasks independently, they also heavily rely

on using diaries, calendars, reminders etc.

Amnesia

Greek word which means "forgetfulness".

Loss of memory with other mental difficulties

In old age, people are unable to retrieve memories.

Includes two types of amnesia.

1. Retrograde amnesia

2. Anterograde amnesia]

Dementia

· Severe and rare disease, mostly affects people in their 60's and the risk is doubled every 5 years

after 60; at 80, one out of every five people develops dementia.

· Symptoms may include repeating things several times, speech problems, intellectual problems,

and inability to remember the skills learned early in life e.g., dressing up, tying shoe laces, using

knives and forks etc.

· The sufferer is irritable, withdrawn, rude, facing anxiety, depression, suspicious attitude, and

aggressive.

Alzheimer's disease

· Common cause of memory loss in elderly people.

· Progressive loss of memory including effect on person's language and recognition of people; also

losing way, inability to plan things, difficulty in organizing daily tasks etc.

· Major symptoms include depression, lack of motivation, laziness, agitation, physical and verbal

aggressiveness; recent events are forgotten; delusions and hallucinations may also occur.

Huntington's disease (HD)

· Fatal disease that results in involuntary movements and cognitive impairment.

· Genetic disease that runs in families.

· It mainly affects important brain regions such as basal ganglia that have vital role in co-ordination

and movement.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

· Occurs mostly in adults, and is common in men than women.

· Develops in the age of 40- 70 but also occur in the twenties and thirties as well

· Affects motor neurons of the body (that bring messages from the brain to the different muscles of

the body).

Korsakoff's Syndrome

· Severe and often permanent loss of memory.

· Addicted/ long-term alcoholics are the sufferers of this syndrome.

· Memory impairment occurs because of brain damage caused by thiamine deficiency and

alcoholism.

· Major symptoms; hallucinations, Impaired dietary intake, repeating information several times, and

inability to remember things.

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Introduction to Psychology PSY101

Motivation

Ask Yourself

Why do some students want to get an "A" in every exam, and some don't even bother about it?

Why do the skydivers love to dive down from hundreds of feet above the ground?

Why do some people some people run after money and some refuse even the most attractive job

offers?

· Why do some people leave their country for earning money and some are contented and happy

with whatever is available to them at home?

· Why people become doctors, engineers, social workers, pilots, army men etc?

· And to ourselves, why we want to learn/ know about the particular subject?

The answer to all these questions can be explained by understanding the concept of motivation.

What is Motivation?

Motivation is a desire, drive, instinct or need that speeds up our behavior towards some goal.

Psychologists are interested in observing and evaluating the factors that motivate or direct human behavior.

A MOTIVE is a need or a want that causes us to act. Motivation involves goal-directed behavior, an

interesting field of study that investigates what motivates us to initiate or take action to pursue a goal. Early

theories focused on instincts, inherited automatic species-specific behaviors, and drives, physiological

compulsions that we need to satisfy such as hunger (food).

Basically, there are two types of motives that are essential for the proper human functioning

I. Primary/ unlearnt/ physiological/ biological motives

II. Secondary/ learnt/ psychological motives

I. Primary Motives

Concerned with all the biological/ physiological needs of the body. They are also known as unlearnt

motives because they entirely include the basic drives such as hunger, thirst, need for sleep, air, excretion etc

that do not need any sort of learning.

II. Secondary Motives

Also known as the psycho- social motives because they involve people's appreciation or appraisal in order

to live successfully in any society.

· Also important in the sense that they are the means of satisfying the primary motives such as work

and salary, good marks and appreciation from the parents.

· These are a source of mental satisfaction as well.

· The important and interesting fact about motivation is that organisms keep trying to achieve the

desired goal. When the goal is achieved, the motivation regresses and when not achieved, the

person keeps on trying to achieve it.

· When one motive is satisfied, we start to move forward to satisfy the next need and so on.

· This is how struggle continues throughout our lives.

Primary/Unlearnt/ Physiological/ Biological Motives

The major primary motives are:

Hunger

Thirst

Fatigue and sleep

Pain

Sex

Excretion

Air

Warmth and cold

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Hunger

The most urgent and desirable need in all organisms including human and animals.

Eating is related to the homeostatic mechanism of the body.

Psychologists have done research on animals to observe the level of motivation, which showed that

internal system, not only regulates the quantity of food intake but also the kind of food that has

been taken.

The systems that involved in when to eat and how much to eat is a complicated phenomena.

It is a proven fact that hunger is not only related with the empty stomach; people whose stomach

has been removed still experienced the sensation of it.

The animals have taken larger amount of food when it contains low level of nutrients as compared

to highly nutritive diet; showing that both animals and humans are sensitive about the nutritive

value of food.

Chemical secretions in blood: chemicals/ hormones secreted by the endocrine gland also play a

crucial role in the hunger drive e.g., studies showed that when glucose (sugar) was injected in rats,

they felt less hunger as compared to when they were given insulin which resulted in hunger pangs.

What Role Does Brain Play in Hunger Drive?

Hypothalamus, brain's vital organ concerned with hunger and operates on it by regulating its

activity i.e., food intake.

· In case of injury in hypothalamus, the most apparent change will occur in eating behaviors.

· Studies showed that when the rats' lateral hypothalamus was removed; it resulted in starving to

death and they refused to eat anything when given food.

· When the rat's ventromedial hypothalamus was removed, it resulted in the opposite i.e. extreme

overeating behavior; increase in weight by 400 percent than the actual weight.

· It is a known fact that hypothalamus regulates the huger drive yet it is not clear as to how it

operates.

External Factors in Eating Behavior

· Societal rules and conventions.

· Learn eating patterns from past experiences.

Eating-related disorders

· Obesity

· Anorexia nervosa

· Bulimia

Weight Set point

· A certain weight level that the body strives to maintain.

Metabolism

· The rate at which food converts into energy and then is expended by the body.

Managing and reducing weight

· Reducing weight is a tough task so try not to gain too much of weight.

· Eat wisely and do not be tempted.

· Slow eating helps.

· Avoid junk/ fad food.

· Do regular exercise; aerobics do help

· Make realistic goals and pursue them strictly.

· If you failed in achieving the set goal try again and do not feel guilty.

· Reward yourself off and on.... after considerable intervals.

Thirst

We can live without food for several days or even months, but without water, we can hardly live for

few days.

More than 75% of our body weight is due to the presence of water/ liquid.

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The thirst drive is largely internal and includes three basic mechanisms: when salt concentration in

our body becomes high, and then it triggers hypothalamus to act, resulting in thirst drive.

Secondly, when fluid volume decreases in the circulatory process, then this drive is stimulated e.g.

after injury when large amount of blood is wasted.

Another important factor is the increase in the body temperature.

The replenishment of water is very rapid; that is why we feel thirsty after a very short time.

Fatigue and Sleep

Rest and proper sleep is very important for the effective functioning of species.

After the hard work of the day, person becomes fatigued and needs adequate amount of rest in

order to be fresh again next day.

What causes fatigue is yet unknown, but chemical changes in the body that effect muscles may be

the factor causing it; one cause is the excess amount of lactic acid in the muscles.

Fatigue Can Be Psychological As Well As Physical

Frustration, anxiety, tension, worry, boredom etc are factors other than the physical ones causing

fatigue in persons.

In physical exertion, rest brings freshness and relief, but when the person is in stress or anxiety, rest

will not be helpful.

Partly, sleep is also related with the chemical activity in the body in which the brain, nerves, and

muscles are all involved.

The pattern of sleep is culturally based also; people make adaptation with the successive changes in

lightness and darkness; e.g. Norway.

Pain

What makes pain a drive?

· Avoiding injury, scar or wound is what makes it an important drive.

· When pain persists for a longer period of time, then it become a drive to get rid of it.

· Some people respond quickly to pain; more than the normal healthy individual would do and some

are less responsive to pain.

Pain is a blessing in disguise!!!!!!

Sex Drive

Very essential drive for the survival and continuation of species.

Societal and religious conventions, laws, and restrictions make it a more powerful drive for human

beings.

In humans, past experience, emotions and ways/ manner of expression play a very important role.

In males, gland is a testis; androgens and other middleman hormones of pituitary are responsible

for its expression.

In females, organ is an ovary; estrogens (arousal) and progesterone (pregnancy) are important and

vital glands for its expression.

Sexual drive is largely dependent on the chemical secretions in the body, which is a proven fact by

using animals as subjects.

Excretion: Bowel and Bladder Tensions

The body has to get rid of the waste regularly.

The satisfaction of this drive is very important to children as compared to adults for whom it has

less importance.

Toilet training in early childhood plays a very crucial role in the development of personality of the

child later in life.

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Introduction to Psychology PSY101

Harsh/ severe and too early toilet training causes sense of insecurity in the child;

Withholding of bowel movements even when not required may result from it.

Important thing to know about is that the bowel and bladder muscles are the last ones that come

under the child's control, so the toilet training should be given when the child is physically strong

enough and prepared for it.

Air

Oxygen = Most instant and essential requirement of human body.

Oxygen deficiency/ hunger can be felt when there is excess of carbon dioxide.

Continual supply of oxygen to the brain is very important because, although brain uses very small

amount of it but deprivation for only few seconds may result in anoxia or neural damage.

Even during birth of the child, sufficient amount of oxygen is required; otherwise it may result into

mental retardation or brain damage.

At high altitudes oxygen deprivation may result into strange behaviors; person loses control over

himself i.e. laugh or burst into tears very rapidly, memory becomes impaired, sense organs do not

work properly or in severe cases, brain damage may occur after prolonged deprivation.

Warmth and Cold

Every one, whether animals or humans is affected by weather; either it is cold or hot.

Avoiding the extremes becomes the basic motive for all living beings.

Our skin has separate receptor cells for warmth and cold.

Body temperature is regulated by complex mechanism as it largely depends on two factors;

i. The temperature in the external environment

ii. The internal body temperature

Brain's organ, hypothalamus, as with other basic drives, regulates the temperature of the body with

respect to the external environment.

Below 57 degree of normal temperature, body becomes stimulated; adrenaline and thyroxin are

secreted, blood pressure rises, muscular activity increased, blood is transferred to the internal

organs and tissues of the body rather than on the surface of the skin.

On the contrary, in hot weather, the reaction of the body is entirely opposite; i.e. body become

slow in its activity, perspiration appears, blood vessels dilates so that more blood become available

on the surface of the skin for cooling, blood circulation is increased.

Servo Control: For warmth and cold

To keep the body at constant temperature, many other adjustments also take place such as

use of blankets, heaters, hot drinks etc in cold season and air- conditioners, fans, cold

drinks etc in summer season____ such use is called servo control; also partly controlled

by hypothalamus and exhibited by the animals also.

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