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Oxford Psychology
The Evolution of Memory Systems: Ancestors, Anatomy, and Adaptations
Current theories about human memory have been shaped by clinical observations and animal experiments. This doctrine holds that the medial temporal lobe subserves one memory system for explicit or declarative memories, while the basal ganglia subserves a separate memory system for implicit or procedural memories, including habits. Cortical areas outside the medial temporal lobe are said to function in perception, motor control, attention, or other aspects of executive function, but not in memory.
'The Evolution of Memory Systems' advances dramatically different ideas on all counts. It proposes that several memory systems arose during evolution and that they did so for the same general reason: to transcend problems and exploit opportunities encountered by specific ancestors at particular times and places in the distant past.
Instead of classifying cortical areas in terms of mutually exclusive perception, executive, or memory functions, the authors show that all cortical areas contribute to memory and that they do so in their own ways-using specialized neural representations. The book also presents a proposal on the evolution of explicit memory. According to this idea, explicit (declarative) memory depends on interactions between a phylogenetically ancient navigation system and a representational system that evolved in humans to represent one's self and others. As a result, people embed representations of themselves into the events they experience and the facts they learn, which leads to the perception of participating in events and knowing facts.
'The Evolution of Memory Systems' is an important new work for students and researchers in neuroscience, psychology, and biology.
'The Evolution of Memory Systems' advances dramatically different ideas on all counts. It proposes that several memory systems arose during evolution and that they did so for the same general reason: to transcend problems and exploit opportunities encountered by specific ancestors at particular times and places in the distant past.
Instead of classifying cortical areas in terms of mutually exclusive perception, executive, or memory functions, the authors show that all cortical areas contribute to memory and that they do so in their own ways-using specialized neural representations. The book also presents a proposal on the evolution of explicit memory. According to this idea, explicit (declarative) memory depends on interactions between a phylogenetically ancient navigation system and a representational system that evolved in humans to represent one's self and others. As a result, people embed representations of themselves into the events they experience and the facts they learn, which leads to the perception of participating in events and knowing facts.
'The Evolution of Memory Systems' is an important new work for students and researchers in neuroscience, psychology, and biology.
- GenresSciencePsychologyBiology
526 pages, Hardcover
Published January 10, 2017
9 people are currently reading
138 people want to read
About the author
Elisabeth A. Murray
3 books3 followersElisabeth A. (Betsy) Murray was raised with her three brothers in Syracuse, New York. She received a B.S. in Biology from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas. Dr. Murray is an elected Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, of the American Psychological Association, and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She currently heads the Laboratory of Neuropsychology at the National Institute of Mental Health.
Research Interests
Dr. Murray’s laboratory studies the neural basis of learning, memory, emotion and response selection, with two main areas of focus. The first of these two research programs involves the independent mnemonic contributions of the different medial temporal lobes structures, the extent to which different medial temporal lobe structures must interact in storing information and their interaction with the prefrontal cortex. Her work has demonstrated that, for some types of memory, the entorhinal and perirhinal cortical regions in the ventral medial temporal lobe play a more important role than does the hippocampus. Not only does this area, termed the rhinal cortex, specialize in storing knowledge about objects, but it may serve as the core system for semantic memory.
A second focus of the Murray laboratory is the neural bases of decision making. This work examines the neural circuits critical for affective processing and the way in which affective information, including reward, guides response selection. This work has shown that the amygdala and orbital prefrontal cortex operate as part of a network involved in emotion, reward-based learning and goal-directed behavior. These circuits contribute importantly to behavioral flexibility in the face of changes in reward contingencies or reward value. A key hypothesis is that the orbital prefrontal cortex is part of a larger prefrontal region critical for the valuation of choice outcomes.
Dr. Murray’s laboratory has pioneered the use of MRI-guided stereotaxic surgery, a method that has for the first time allowed examination of the selective mnemonic contributions of various medial temporal lobe structures.
Research Interests
Dr. Murray’s laboratory studies the neural basis of learning, memory, emotion and response selection, with two main areas of focus. The first of these two research programs involves the independent mnemonic contributions of the different medial temporal lobes structures, the extent to which different medial temporal lobe structures must interact in storing information and their interaction with the prefrontal cortex. Her work has demonstrated that, for some types of memory, the entorhinal and perirhinal cortical regions in the ventral medial temporal lobe play a more important role than does the hippocampus. Not only does this area, termed the rhinal cortex, specialize in storing knowledge about objects, but it may serve as the core system for semantic memory.
A second focus of the Murray laboratory is the neural bases of decision making. This work examines the neural circuits critical for affective processing and the way in which affective information, including reward, guides response selection. This work has shown that the amygdala and orbital prefrontal cortex operate as part of a network involved in emotion, reward-based learning and goal-directed behavior. These circuits contribute importantly to behavioral flexibility in the face of changes in reward contingencies or reward value. A key hypothesis is that the orbital prefrontal cortex is part of a larger prefrontal region critical for the valuation of choice outcomes.
Dr. Murray’s laboratory has pioneered the use of MRI-guided stereotaxic surgery, a method that has for the first time allowed examination of the selective mnemonic contributions of various medial temporal lobe structures.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 21, 2019
My ratings of books on Goodreads are solely a crude ranking of their utility to me, and not an evaluation of literary merit, entertainment value, social importance, humor, insightfulness, scientific accuracy, creative vigor, suspensefulness of plot, depth of characters, vitality of theme, excitement of climax, satisfaction of ending, or any other combination of dimensions of value which we are expected to boil down through some fabulous alchemy into a single digit.
January 9, 2021
Patchy book with some fantastic insights and many mundane arguments. The main proposition - that humans are defined by explicit memory and generalization abilities - seems... unimpressive?
January 18, 2022
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Everyone should read this article.
Everyone should read this article.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews