Uncategorized | Psych 256: Cognitive Psychology, 003, FA23 (2024)

Language is one of the most fascinating areas of cognition. It is one of the most important cognitive skills we possess. It allows for communication between individuals and some have argued setups apart from other animals and primates(Chomsky,2020). Without language, we are unable to communicate with others and we are fortunate that we can speak and understand others, cause, others such as animals cannot express themselves as we do.

The class notes state that language allows us to create new ideas and communicate them with others. In addition, the book defines language as a system of communication using sounds or symbols that enables us to express our feelings, thoughts, ideas, and experiences. I agree with this point because there are 7,139 officially known languages in the world and imagine each has a different culture which can help to conclude that each expressed language in different ways. Learning a language, therefore, is not only learning the alphabet, but, it implies the meaning, the grammar rules, and the arrangement of words, also learning the behavior of the society and its cultural customs.

On the other part, when viewing language and mind as a whole system, it is evident that the functions of language are part of the brain system at the same time as being involved in the workings of the mind. Moreover, information is exchanged between language and perception, memory, and consciousness in both directions. Namely, language is involved in reciprocal and recursive information exchange with each element of the mind. Since language is tightly linked to the mind, it would be more natural to assume that language is a part of the mind than to think it is an entity that exists outside the mind.

Broca(1861) & Wernicke (1874) found that damage to a particular area of the brain creatively called Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area cause deficits in language ability. Broca’s area is involved in speech production, and damage to the area causes difficulty in producing speech. I have seen a case of a person at work who has this problem, she cannot properly speak well, and when she speaks, she has to take a long pause, and later pronounce the word that she wants to say. To me, she has damage in her brain that caused her the limitation of speech. Her native language is English but due to this problem, she cannot speak normally.

In conclusion, as it can be noted language not only brings the facility to communicate with each other, but it also expresses our feelings, ideas, and thoughts and damage to Broca’s area can influence how an individual can speak. In other words, Broca’s area is involved in speech production and damage to the area causes difficulty in producing speech.

References:

https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2281650/modules/items/39135821

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4267264/

Understanding Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM)

Autobiographical memories form the basis of our identity and guide how we interact with the world. In some people, such memories transcend ordinary collection and manifest as a remarkable ability to remember every single detail of their life since childhood virtually. It is an extraordinary phenomenon called Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM).

HSAM individuals have an uncanny capacity to relive personal experiences with unmatched precision, often dating back several years. They effortlessly recount such specific details as clothing worn, weather conditions, and conversations held, all this while with an accuracy rivaling photographic memory. Their exceptional recall goes beyond mundane occurrences to encompass personal achievements, life events, and fleeting encounters.

Although the capacity to relive the past with such clarity seems advantageous, HSAM has various challenges. The constant barrage of memories one experiences is overwhelming at times, making it impossible to focus on the present and fully engage in current experiences. Sometimes, decision-making is also a struggle since past experiences give one conflicting information.

A common case of HSAM on record is Alexandra Wolff. She virtually recalls all her life moments, from childhood to mundane daily activities. Although this ability enables her to access a vast past storehouse of her knowledge, she struggles with living in the present because her past is constantly present. Consequently, she experienced emotional detachment and isolation.

The issue has attracted scholarly attention, leading to researchers actively exploring the neurological underpinnings of HSAM. Their exploration seeks to understand the mechanisms of this otherwise extraordinary ability. Some early findings suggest HSAM individuals exhibit improved connectivity between their hippocampus and other sensory perception and emotional processing areas. Such enhanced connectivity may aid in detailed and vivid recalling of personal past experiences. However, we can only wait for further research and see if researchers will eventually unlock the mystery of HSAM.

Flashbulb memories are highly detailed, vivid memories for significant and highly emotionally charged events. These memories feel as if an old-school “flashbulb” illuminated the scene. Roger Brown and James Kulik introduced the term flashbulb memory in 1977 in their study of individuals’ ability to recall emotional and surprising events. The vividness and accuracy of flashbulb memories can vary across age and culture. The amygdala seems to play a key role in the formation and retrieval of flashbulb memories. A difference between a flashbulb memory and other everyday memories is that we recall the flashbulb memory many more times than a typical memory. Flashbulb memories recall what exactly went on, who we were with, where we were, and how we felt.

I have definitely had flashbulb memories happen to me way more than once. I have had flashbulb memories of many different things. I can recall the time my mom told me my nana had passed away. My nana was a very important figure in my life and she also passed so young and so soon. I still can vividly remember how I felt and what went down after my mom passed along the tragic news. I don’t think I will ever forget about it. Another flashbulb memory would be when my sister in law and brother shared the news that they were pregnant with their first ever baby. I can remember how happy everyone was, including myself, and how we celebrated after. The news was also shared on Mothers day, which was very sweet and now I associate that date with that memory. My flashbulb memories prove to be very emotional memories that I will carry with me forever.

Many people born before 2001 can all recall a very sad flashbulb memory. If they were old enough to understand what was going on during the September 11th 2001 attacks, they likely still remember everything vividly that day. Talarico and Rubin (2003) actually conducted one of the most famous studies on flashbulb memories involving September 11. The day after September 11, 2001, they asked college students a series of questions about where they were when they heard about the attacks. They were also asked to provide information about an everyday event that occurred in the previous few days. They were tested the following day, some 7 days later, some 42 days later, and others 224 days after the event. The researchers found out that the number of details recalled about the memory were similar for both everyday and flashbulb memories but the confidence in the memory was significantly greater for flashbulb memories.

These types of events have happened many times here in the United States. This can include the Challenger Explosion, Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968, or JFK’s assassination in 1963. People who were old enough to understand these events have vivid memory of those days.

False Memories

A false memory occurs when a person remembers an occurrence incorrectly or the experience never occurred. People may recall slightly different small details, or it could even be something larger. According to Perera, false memories can be caused by interference, lack of sleep, questions that are leading or confusing, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or false memory syndrome (2023). Elizabeth F. Lotus is an American cognitive psychologist at the University of California who primarily studies false memories (How Memory Can Be Manipulated, With Elizabeth Loftus, PhD, n.d.).

False memories develop from the same process as real memories (Goldstein, 2018). False memories are very common, everyone has them whether they realize it or not. The brain likes to fill any voids in memory with anything it can find, even if it is false. In a study, around 30% of people can be led into believing a false event, an event that never occurred (Otgaar et al., 2021). Some common false memories are remembering a trip that never happened, remembering all the details of a crime scene, thinking you closed the front door when maybe you did not, recalling an item on a list that was never there (but similar words were), among other things (Perera, 2023).

I happen to be aware of a false memory that I have. The memory is of me when I was 6, I remember going to Disney World and having a blast. I remember riding the rides, I remember what the delicious food tasted like. I remember the cold drinks on a hot summer day. I remember burning my feet on the ground at the water park because it was so hot. I mentioned this to my parents one day and I was shocked to find out that this never happened. Another example is another trip to the beach. I thoroughly remember going on a boat trip, I had fun and loved it. I came to find out that we never went on a boat ride. I know I have plenty of other false memories that I am just not aware of.

A very popular example of false memories is the Mandela Effect. The Mandela Effect occurs when a large number of people remember something incorrectly. The most common one is many people believe that Nelson Mandela was killed in prison however, he died over 20 years later in 2013. According to research from Prasad and Bainbridge, there are particular images that when shown to participants, many remember the same false memories (2022).

False memories are made the same way as true memories. They can be influenced by many things and everyone has them even if they are not aware. False memories can even cause innocent people to be convicted in a criminal case. As the topic of false memories becomes more popular, more research will be done to discover more information about them. It is truly fascinating the reach false memories have, especially when considering the Mandela Effect. According to research from 2020, when participants had to remember a specific event over three-fourths of them made an error (Diamond et al., 2020).

References:

Diamond, N., Armson, M. J., & Levine, B. (2020). The truth is out there: accuracy in recall of verifiable Real-World events. Psychological Science, 31(12), 1544–1556. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620954812

Goldstein, E. B. (2018). Cognitive Psychology: connecting mind, research, and everyday experience. Cengage Learning.

How memory can be manipulated, with Elizabeth Loftus, PhD. (n.d.). https://www.apa.org. https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/memory-manipulated

Otgaar, H., Howe, M. L., & Patihis, L. (2021). What science tells us about false and repressed memories. Memory, 30(1), 16–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2020.1870699

Perera, A. (2023). False Memory In Psychology: Examples & More. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/false-memory.html

Prasad, D., & Bainbridge, W. A. (2022). The visual Mandela effect as evidence for shared and specific false memories across people. Psychological Science, 33(12), 1971–1988. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976221108944

Memory is defined as the brain’s process of obtaining, storing, maintaining and retrieving information. Several parts of the brain have an important job in this process but one in particular is extremely important and that is the hippocampus. The hippocampus is located in the temporal lobe and is responsible not only for our memory but also for learning. One of its jobs is to help with the development, grouping and storage of our new memories and the emotions and senses attached to them. Damage to this area would be detrimental to a person’s daily life. They would have difficulty making decisions, holding conversations, following directions, recalling items or familiar places, making new memories and recalling old ones. As we age the hippocampus is involved in cognitive decline and is one of the areas affected by Alzheimer’s which has a significant effect on our memory.

Our memory consists of short term and long term memories. For this blog I will be briefly talking about our long term memory. There are two main categories and a few sub categories involved in our long term memory. The two main categories are explicit and implicit memories. The explicit category is broken down into episodic and semantic memories. Episodic memories are when we recall events such as a specific birthday party our prom or a first job. We can also remember the emotions both good and bad that were attached to these events. Semantic memories are facts and knowledge that we have about the world around us and our own specific life. Where we went to school, our old home address, the events on 9/11 and the vocabulary words we use are a few examples.

Implicit memories are the unconscious ones that we are not aware of. They are memories of things we have learned before and that our memory has stored away. These can be broken down further into three sub categories, procedural memory, priming and conditioning. Procedural memories have a skill or an action involved with them. Examples of procedural memories would be tying our shoes and remembering how to ride a bike. We automatically remember how to do these actions without having to sit there and think of the individual steps. Priming is when stimuli such as specific words, scents or pictures are used to help a person remember something in the future such as connecting the color yellow to the sun or a certain song to an event.

Our memories are not as simple as we think they are. I only briefly touched the surface of how our memory works. Our memories are formed, processed, stored and recalled in several parts of our brain. There are different categories and types of memories as described above and the average person has no idea about this or of the different processes the brain goes through on a daily basis when we recall our memories. Our memory is an extremely significant part of our daily lives and it isn’t until we begin to have trouble recalling memories or we lose them all together that we really begin to appreciate how our brain and memory functions.

References

The Pennsylvania State University. (2023).Lesson 6: Long Term Memory: Strucutre Canvas@PSU. https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2281650/modules/items/39135767

As a college student I am always looking for better ways to improve my attention and retention of information when completing my school work. When looking at ways to improve my study time I have read and been told that music can have an effect on how well you pay attention to the information. But does listening to music actually help during these cognitive tasks?

According to the Attenuation Theory developed by Treisman, he states that all incoming information is processed to some extent, with the unattended information diminished. (Goldstein, 2019). This would lead someone to believe that even while they are focusing their attention on their school work, the background music that they are listening to is still being processed to some extent. But is background music simply a distraction that is interfering with the processing of our school work? In an article published on Healthline titled, “Music and Studying: It’s Complicated” it discusses how music doesn’t affect everyone in the same way so there is no easy answer to this question. But it does go on to describe the pros to listening to music and how it can increase your focus. In a study done focusing on listening to classical music, “The researchers found evidence to suggest that music can engage your brain in such a way that it trains it to pay better attention to events and make predictions about what might happen,” (Raypole, 2023). Although this article does not give a direct answer as to yes music is beneficial or no it is not when completing cognitive tasks, it does provide the reader with information on how to choose the best music if they find that it is beneficial for them. Some of these suggestions include: choosing music that does not have lyrics, choosing slow or instrumental music, keep the volume low, stick to songs you do not have strong feelings about, and avoid streaming music that would contain commercials. (Raypole, 2023).

There was a study done that I came across when researching this idea of background music increasing attention during school work where the purpose “was to analyze the effect that listening to preferred music has on cognitive inhibition in healthy young and healthy older adults” (Izbicki, 2023). This study looked at both young adults (18-35) and healthy older adults (50-85). Part of their research included the Stroop test, which is based upon the Stroop effect. The Stroop effect uses a task in which a person is instructed to respond to one aspect of a stimulus and ignore another aspect. (Goldstein, 2019). They completed different variations of this test while also adding in the factor of background music. The music had three conditions: no music, neutral music, and preferred music. Just looking at the results for the young adults, since they are the most likely to be attending to school work, this study showed that music had no effect. “Results revealed no differences in task performance across music listening conditions. There were no differences in accuracy or reaction time between music conditions,” (Izbicki, 2023).

Between these two sources, and my own experiences I still am unsure if music does have an effect on my ability to hold better attention during my studying. In my own experience I believe that non lyrical music does help to block out other sounds and distractions from the environment. I believe it does help me to focus better on the information in front of me. This is something that should be studied more as it could help more college students with better study habits.

References

Goldstein, E. B. (2019). Cognitive Psychology. Cengage Learning, Inc.

Izbicki, P., Elkin, C., Gettes, E., Gustafson, E., Meyer, A., Norman, M., & Stegemöller, E. L. (2023). Preferred music listening does not affect cognitive inhibition in young and older adults. Psychomusicology: Music, Mind and Brain, doi:https://doi.org/10.1037/pmu0000300

Raypole, C. (2022, August 10). Music and Studying. https://www.healthline.com/health/does-music-help-you-study

Sara Watson

Dr. Abdollahi

Psych 256

October 15, 2023

Capacity of Short Term Memory

7 +/- 2 is a rather odd number but just the same this is the Capacity of our short-term memory according to George Miller. In 1956 George Miller conducted several experiments that backed this well know number of cognitive psychology. The way George Miller conducted his experiments was to get a participant a group of letters without conscious choice then he would ask them to recite the proper order. If the participant got this correct, then they would add a letter to the length of letters if it was incorrect the length would be decreased by one. After, preforming his experiments George Miller found an average amongst his tests of seven letters plus two or minus two letters. This is how he deduced that of Short Term Memory capacity is about 7 characters that can be recollected. George Miller also found another interesting technique that participants used that he called chucking. Where the individual would find patterns or pneumonic devices to help extend the length of characters that could be recalled by a single individual. For an example of chunking, think of your phone number or any relatives phone number that you memorize for emergencies (412-356-1078 made up phone number). The way that society has chucked up the numbers and separated them with dashes helps us to perceive three different numbers making the possibility of us coding this into our short term memory longer maybe even moving it into the long term memory. Many researchers have complaints with the capacity that George Miller came up with. Therefore, further research must be done to disprove his research and continue our learning of the capacity of Short Term Memory. In addition, to the telephone number example of chunking people can also then take these chunks and repeat them over and over helping them to remember the numbers even stronger. With this rehearsal process you can see that this would have a skewed effect on the results of the short term memories capacity. Researchers in both England and the United states wanted to find a way to test around the rehearsal and chunking that was occurring in Miller’s experiments. So they applied a new approach to the digit span task. Not only did the participants have to recall digits but they also had to count down at the same time to try to override the two loop holes participants found in the other round of experiments. We as a class got to experience this first hand in our Phonological Similarity Labs this being the hardest experiment that I encountered in this class to complete. The act of trying to retain digits while counting down truly affected the way I retain information. Therefore, forcing me to realize that I personally heavily rely on chunking information and rehearsal with pneumonic devices to help me retain information.

Workcited

You need to have JavaScript enabled in order to access this site. Log In to Canvas. (n.d.). https://canvas.instructure.com/courses

Goldstein, E. B. (2007). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience E. Bruce Goldstein. Wadsworth.

In 1995, the People of the State of California initiated a prolific courtroom battle that would later be considered the “Trial of the Century”. In retrospect, the highly publicized criminal case provided a wealth of psychological insights, specifically related to the encoding and retrieval processes involved in long-term memory. At its core, the case centralized upon the double murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, and it relied heavily on witness testimony. These first-person accounts, which involved reiterations regarding what individuals saw, heard, and experienced, were pivotal in establishing the events leading up to and following the murders, thus establishing a case against the plaintiff. In the context of the O.J. Simpson trial, the principles of long-term memory and cognitive psychology offer valuable insights into the complexities surrounding witness testimonies and the legal system.

One fundamental aspect of long-term memory is the retrieval process in witness testimony; this proves equally as valuable as the encoding process in shaping our ability to accurately remember events. Research demonstrates that memory failures often occur due to issues in the retrieval process. This is particularly relevant in the O.J. Simpson trial, in which the accuracy of witness testimonies was paramount. The information was stored in the witnesses’ long-term memory but, without retrieval cues, individuals struggled to easily access the mental transcripts recounting previous events. Research proves that retrieval cues, such as words, stimuli, places, or feelings are a necessary element in memory recall; without these components, individuals may fail to accurately describe pertinent details.

Retrieval cues proved valuable not only in eyewitness testimonies but also in O.J. Simpson’s personal interactions with the jury. One of the most memorable events of the trial relates to Simpson’s performative try-on of the notorious glove allegedly worn during the crime, garnering his attorney’s catchphrase “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit”. Given the passage of time since the murders transpired, precisely recalling germane details became increasingly more difficult. The glove’s presentation invoked cues relating to fit, color, and sensory aspects, such as the smell of leather. This object was inserted in the trial as an ultimately unsuccessful effort to corroborate the defense’s evidence and convict Simpson for the proposed crime.

The context in which an individual encodes information at retrieval is critical for proper memory formation, pertaining to both physical and internal states. Inconsistency throughout this encoding process can cause faulty memory retrieval; shifts within the context of the courtroom, emotional states, and physical experiences retain the potential to taint remembrance and consequently produce inaccurate perceptions.

Humans are not without flaw, however, and researchers are working to explain the phenomenon of memory inaccuracy. Experts propose that errors within encoding, consolidation and storage, and retrieval are susceptible to misinterpretation. Encoding errors occur when the “memory of an imagined event is falsely remembered as a perceived event”; storage complications are a second foreseeable challenge, as “recent studies have indicated that factors such as sleep affect memory consolidation”; finally, particular cues or tasks may result in the formation of false memories at retrieval (Johnson, 2016).

In conclusion, the O.J. Simpson trial serves as a thought-provoking, real-world case study of how long-term memory, cognitive psychology, and the principles of memory recall play a vital role within the legal system. Understanding the intricacies of long-term memory and the factors that influence memory accuracy is essential for assessing the reliability of witness testimonies in high-stakes trials, and findings derived from this interrogation harness the potential to inform court proceedings in the future.

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2023). PSYCH 256: Lesson 8. Long-Term Memory: Encoding and Retrieval.

Johnson, R. L. (2016, February 9). How does the law treat repressed memories?. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/so-sue-me/201602/how-does-the-law-treat-repressed-memories

Nadel, L., & Sinott-Armstrong, W. (2012). Memory and Law. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199920754.001.0001

How much time do you spend on your phone each day? We often spend what feels like just a few moments scrolling through social media, checking text messages, making phone calls, even shopping – but that time adds up. Everything is online; all the way down to mobile banking or simply paying our bills. Every day people share almost 5 billion posts to Facebook, 500 million tweets to Twitter, 70 million pictures on Instagram, and 12 years’ worth of video to YouTube (Krikorian, 2013; LePage, 2015; Zephoria, 2016). While this seems minor, anything we do repeatedly for long periods of time can have effects on our brain. So, what are the repercussions here?

Using social media for long periods of time may cause issues with short-term memory and information retrieval. Short-term memory is a function of the mind that provides limited amounts of material for a very limited period. This plays a role in learning new information as well as speech production and comprehension. This can also be seen as our “immediate memory” since it is a very quick process, about 30 seconds or less. Having problems with short-term memory can lead to an array of issues such as forgetting important events, something that was recently read or even where you set something like your car keys. This is a lot more serious than just having “forgetful” behavior.

According to Dr. Majid Fotuhi at NeuroGrow, the average person spends about 3 hours a day on their phone, most of that being social media. What we do every day has an impact on our brain structure, including our attention and cognitive function. For example, an article containing stretched truth or false information puts us at risk for memory distortion. Memory distortion happens when the retrieval of memories is not correct, and the information is remembered in a way that is different from reality. This can stem from the “fake news” phenomenon, or where something like a news article uses strong verbiage that it can be perceived in a multitude of ways.

Another way social media may cause harm to our memory is through the reliance on outside sources. Everything is accessible from the palm of our hands, including fast internet searches for answers to most of our questions. This can have an impact on our memory storage and the way we are able to retrieve information. If we use Google to find all our answers, this is less information we need to remember. Our brain will rely on technology over itself, especially when this is done repeatedly. This may leave us with a memory deficit or other issues with the working memory (also known as short-term memory).

Heavy social media use may also have an impact on our focus and concentration. Since usually we are multitasking while on our phones, this can negatively affect our cognitive abilities. The ability to retain information, maintain focus and hold concentration quickly diminishes. This may show up in other areas of our livelihood like our careers, school or at home. This is something worth keeping in mind when you are on Instagram in bed when you are trying to fall asleep or scrolling Facebook on your study break.

References:

1. Fotuhi, M. NeuroGrow. Published September 21, 2020. “What Social Media Does to Your Brain”. https://neurogrow.com/what-social-media-does-to-your-brain/. Accessed October 15, 2023
2. Molokotos, E. PsychCentral. December 6, 2018. “The Effects of Media on Memory”. https://psychcentral.com/lib/the-effects-of-media-on-memory#1. Accessed October 15, 2023.
3. S.M. Courtney. John Hopkins University. May 26, 2010. Science Direct. “Short Term Memory: Psychological and Neural Aspects“. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780080453965001573. Accessed October 15, 2023.

Although a painful thing to think about, traumatic brain injuries occur in adolescents very often. In 2020, researchers at the National Institute of Health determined that one in five adolescents in the United States has experienced a traumatic brain injury (National Institute of Health, 2020). Traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs when there is sudden trauma to the head that causes brain damage at varying degrees of severity (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019). They range from mild to severe which is determined through evaluation of imaging (CT or MRI), behavior observation, cognitive exams, length of unconsciousness, etc. There are endless scenarios where a child or adolescent may end up with a TBI, such as a fall (50.2%), being struck in the head by something (24.8%), motor vehicle accidents (6.8%), and assault (2.9%) (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, n.d.). Even mild TBIs can cause long-lasting effects like difficulty concentrating, aggression, migraines, short-term memory loss, tinnitus, and more especially if there is damage to the temporal lobe. Those with symptoms of concussions or TBI must be evaluated immediately to prevent any additional damage.

Adolescents with TBIs will often recover well over months with the symptoms lessening as time from the initial head trauma increases. However, those with severe brain injury potentially take years to recover or experience more severe symptoms like seizures or delayed development. These children may have increased difficulty with short-term memory while their long-term remains mostly functional. Adolescents with short-term memory dysfunction after TBI often struggle to remember how they got their TBI, as their brain could not form a new memory of the event. They also struggle to remember new names, faces, facts, and conversations they had moments before. According to the Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society in 2009, the proposed reason as to why there is often difficulty related to short-term memory is that there is damage to the medial temporal lobe causing anterograde amnesia.

Anterograde amnesia is a form of memory loss that prevents those experiencing it from forming new memories (Cleveland Clinic, n.d.). This means that even though a child with a TBI may be present for a moment, experiencing stimuli, they may forget that moment within seconds or minutes. Children who experience problems with short-term memory loss or anterograde amnesia cannot retain short-term memories of things like whether they just talked to someone because their brain’s ability to recall and consolidate is impaired from injury. These processes of recall or consolidation are unable to occur as they regularly would and the information is not retained. Recall is essential to the information being held in the STM and eventually being stored in the long-term memory (Goldstein, 2018).

Some adolescents with impaired ability to form or retain memories may never regain total ability to do so after a TBI. Again, the severity and length of symptoms of a TBI depends on the severity of the TBI to begin with. Those who experienced a mild TBI may only experience memory difficulties for months. Those who experienced a moderate to severe TBI may have issues with their memory for years or even the rest of their lives. It is vital to extensive screening when a child presents with the aforementioned symptoms. Delayed treatment can be detrimental to adolescents experiencing a traumatic brain injury.

Works Cited

(n.d.). Pediatric traumatic brain injury. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/pediatric-traumatic-brain-injury/#collapse_2

Anterograde amnesia: What it is, symptoms & treatment. Cleveland Clinic. (n.d.). https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23221-anterograde-amnesia

Goldstein, E. B. (2018). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience (5th ed.). Cengage Learning US.

Hart, T., & Sander, A. (n.d.). Memory and traumatic brain injury. MSKTC. https://msktc.org/tbi/factsheets/memory-and-traumatic-brain-injury#fsmenu3

Ilie, G., Trenholm, M., Boak, A., Mann, R. E., Adlaf, E. M., Asbridge, M., Hamilton, H., Rehm, J., Rutledge, R., & Cusiman, M. D. (2020, March 12). Adolescent traumatic brain injuries: Onset, mechanism and links with current academic performance and physical injuries. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7067417/#:~:text=Results,were%20more%20prevalent%20in%20males.

Kim, J.-S., Kim, O.-L., Seo, W.-S., Koo, B.-H., Joo, Y., & Bai, D.-S. (2009, November). Memory dysfunctions after mild and moderate traumatic brain injury : Comparison between patients with and without frontal lobe injury. Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2796352/#:~:text=Memory%20impairment%20is%20a%20common,in%20recall%20and%20recognition1).

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2019). Definitions of Traumatic Brain Injury . https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK542588/

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). What are common symptoms of traumatic brain injury (TBI)?. Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/tbi/conditioninfo/symptoms