The Case Study of Eugene Pauly (1992)

Results

- AMI - EP did extremely poorly for recent, better but below control scores in adult, and nearly as high as highest-scoring controls in childhood - MRI - indicated that EP's basal ganglia wasn't damaged which explained how EP could find the kitchen and bathroom and make breakfast and do other habitual/routine tasks

Implications

- Can be applied to memory and the idea of localization of function. - Use this information to figure out how/what will happen if the basal ganglia is damaged. - This information can be used for other studies on how some parts affect other parts of the brain since similar methods/procedures are able to be applied to other studies.

Evaluation

- Case study, difficult to generalize the findings of the study. - Difficult to replicate. - Triangulation of data makes the study more reliable since multiple data points show similar results.

Walking Around the Block

- EP was able to walk around the block by himself since his wife took him on a daily walk around the block after surgery and he was able to find his way home without problems. If asked while on his walk where he lived, he wouldn't be able to say, he would say he didn't know. If he had to leave his familiar path, he would get lost (associative task reverts to cognitive)

Conclusion of the Study

- Memory is more complex than initially believed and the creation of memory wasn't solely dependent on the hippocampus. - Even with hippocampal damage, tasks can be learned even if they don't remember learning, habids need to be triggered, a cue leads to a routine.

Research Method

- Qualitative and Quantitative - Longitudinal case study

Aim

- Study the way that our memory works and gain a further understanding about how memory is gained,developed, and changed - Deepen understanding of how memory works

Procedure

- Use of triangulation: 1. Interviews with EP and his family - EP was unable to describe how he would travel from his home to locations in his neighborhood that he visits with his wife 2. Psychometric testing - IQ testing proved no impairment of intelligence 3. Observational studies - watching how EP solved problems or behaved on memory tasks 4. MRI - found the anterior temporal lobe was the most damaged, including the amygdala and hippocampus 5. AMI (autobiographical memory interview) - asks for detailed info about 3 periods of life (childhood, early adult, and recent). - within each period, tested for personal semantic knowledge and autobiographical memory (accuracy of responses verified by two family members). 6. Took 16 different objects and glued them on cardboard rectangles, organized them into 8 pairs, on one of the object bottoms it said correct and EP had to choose between the two - EP wasn't able to remember which object was correct - repeated 2x a week for months, on each day the experiment was repeated, there were 40 pairings - after 28 days, EP chose correctly 85% of the time; 36 days 95% - he would even turn the objects over on his own, not remembering that there was a sticker since he could never recall doing this task - when Squire (researcher) asked EP to pull the correct objects form a pile, he was unable to do so, but could if the object was with its consistent pairing.

Role of the Basal Ganglia

Several tasks we do rely on procedural memories and make this transition from an active frontal lobe to an active basal ganglia. Assists in turning cognitive memory into associative memory.