Schmolck et al.

Monday, 18 March 2024 11:30 pm

Semantic Knowledge in Patient H.M. and Other Patients With Bilateral

Medial and Lateral Temporal Lobe Lesions

• Aim:
We investigated the effects of damage to the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and anterolateral
temporal cortex on semantic knowledge. We studied eight male controls, two patients with
lesions limited to the hippocampal formation, three post encephalitic patients with extensive MTL
lesions and variable damage to the lateral temporal cortex, and patient H.M.
• Procedure
○ Sample
○ Methods
 A series of nine tests involving 24 living and 24 non-living items was given, along with
four additional tests of semantic knowledge.
 Sample: 8 male controls; and 1 female and 5 male participants.
□ Two participants had damage to the hippocampal formation (HF)
□ Three participants had medial temporal lobe lesions with damage to the
anterolateral temporal cortex (MTL+)
□ HM had a bilateral medial temporal lobe resection for severe epilepsy.
 All participants were given nine tests using the same line drawings from two
categories;
□ 24 in the category of ‘animals’
□ 24 from the category of ‘objects’.
 Each of the 48 line drawings, or items, could also be assigned to one of 8 sub-
categories.
 These were:
□ Non-living things
 6 electrical household items
 6 nonelectrical household items
 6 vehicles
 6 musical instruments
□ Living things
 6 water creatures
 6 birds
 6 domestic land animals
 6 foreign land animals
There was no time limit for the nine tests, unless specifically stated.

• Results
• Conclusion: There is a relationship between performance and the extent of damage to lateral
temporal cortex, particularly among the patients with MTL+ lesions. Patients with damage limited
to the hippocampal formation (HF) performed normally on tests of semantic knowledge. Patients
with large medial temporal lobe lesions and damage to anterolateral temporal cortex (MTL+)
exhibited mild to moderate impairment on these tests. The severity of the impairments to
semantic knowledge of the three MTL+ patients is milder than that of semantic dementia, where
the degradation of semantic knowledge is progressively more severe. Patient H.M. was impaired
on five of the tests but was less severely impaired than the three MTL+ patients. Schmolck et al.
concluded that deficits in semantic knowledge are most likely to be related to cortical damage
lateral to the medial temporal lobe.

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 lateral to the medial temporal lobe.
• Evaluation
○ Strengths
 Unique Case Study: The study utilized a unique case study approach, focusing on
Patient HM, one of the most extensively studied patients in neuropsychology due to
his profound amnesia. This provided valuable insights into the specific cognitive
deficits associated with medial temporal lobe lesions.

 Detailed Neuropsychological Assessment: The researchers employed comprehensive

neuropsychological assessments to evaluate semantic knowledge in Patient HM and
other patients with similar lesions. This allowed for a thorough examination of
semantic memory functioning in these individuals.

 Comparison with Control Groups: The study included control groups of healthy
individuals and patients with other types of brain lesions, enabling comparisons to be
made with regards to semantic knowledge deficits. This strengthened the study's
validity by providing baseline data for interpretation.

 Clinical Implications: Findings from the study have important clinical implications for
understanding the organization of semantic memory and the effects of specific brain
lesions on cognitive function. This can inform rehabilitation strategies and
interventions for individuals with similar neurological conditions.

○ Weaknesses
 Small Sample Size: The study's sample size, particularly for patients with bilateral
medial and lateral temporal lobe lesions, was relatively small. This limits the
generalizability of the findings and may reduce statistical power, potentially affecting
the reliability of the results.

 Limited Generalizability: Due to the unique nature of Patient HM's case and the
specific brain lesions under investigation, the generalizability of the findings to
broader populations may be limited. Results may not be applicable to individuals with
different types or severities of brain damage.

 Potential Confounding Variables: Factors such as age, education level, and

comorbidities in the patient groups were not extensively controlled for in the study.
These variables could have influenced semantic memory performance and may
confound the interpretation of results.

 Ethical Considerations: Although not directly mentioned in the study, ethical

considerations regarding patient consent, confidentiality, and well-being must be
carefully addressed in research involving individuals with neurological disorders.

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Bartlett et al.
Monday, 18 March 2024 11:44 pm

The War of The Ghosts

• Aim
○ To Investigate whether the memory of a story is affected by previous knowledge.
○ To find out if cultural background and unfamiliarity with a story would lead to distortion of
memory when it was recalled.
○ To test if memory is reconstructive and whether people store and retrieve information per
expectations formed by cultural schema’s.

• Procedure
○ Bartlett’s serial reproduction involved participants hearing a story and reproducing it after a
short time.
○ Bartlett asked the participants to read a Native American Legend, called “War of Ghosts”
○ The story contained unfamiliar names and terms.
○ The participants repeated the story after several days, weeks, months and years.

• Results
○ Bartlett found that participants changed the story as they tried to remember it. This
happened in the early stages (15mins) and throughout the further reproductions.
○ Some participants changed words such as ‘canoes’ to ‘boats’ and also changed the names of
the characters.

• Conclusion
○ Accuracy in recalling a story is uncommon in memory, with style, rhythm, and precise
construction rarely reproduced accurately.
○ After repeated reconstructions, the story's form and items become stereotyped and change
minimally.
○ However, with infrequent reproduction, omission of detail, simplification, and
transformation persist indefinitely.
○ There is significant interference during reconstruction, leading to alterations to fit the
participant's tendencies and interests.
○ Rationalization reduces the material to a more accessible or common form for the
participant.
○ This rationalization may occur because the material is initially connected to something else
in memory and is treated as a representation of it.
○ Recollections reflect the individuality and character of the person recalling the story.
○ Names, places, and events may be altered to align with the social group to which the
participant belongs.

• Evaluation
○ Strengths
 Replicability/Standardised: There is a high replicability of this study because the story
is standardised, which could allow for retesting the data.
 And developed a theory: From his conclusions, Bartlett developed the theory of
reconstructive memory which helps explain how memories are categorised and
interpreted so can be different when recalled.
○ Weaknesses
 Reliability: Reliability of the findings could be considered low because there were no
controls in place during the time gaps between serial reproduction testing of

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 controls in place during the time gaps between serial reproduction testing of
participants recall.
 Generalizability: Generalizability of the findings to a wider population is limited
because of the narrow cultural representativeness of the sample as they were all
British.

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Sacchi et al.
Tuesday, 19 March 2024 5:49 am

Changing History: Doctored Photographs Affect Memory for Past

Public Events

• Aim:
○ Study 1: Investigated how doctored photographs of past public events affect memory for
those events.
○ Study 2: To see if the exposure to a doctored photograph of a past public event would affect
people's intentions of going again.
• Procedure :
○ Study 1
 Participants viewed one combination of the photographs for the Beijing event and the
Rome event either seeing the doctored and original versions of each event
 Three sets of multiple-choice questions were used eg, attitude questions
 Photographs and questions were presented in a printed questionnaire that
participants completed in classroom settings
 For the Beijing event: a conspicuous (clearly visible) crowd was added on both sides of
the line of tanks.
 In Rome event: The original showed peaceful demonstrators marching in front of the
Coliseum.
 In the doctored version, police officers and aggressive looking demonstrators were
placed among the peaceful crowd.
○ Study 2
 Same procedure as original however one extra question was added to the Rome event
which included how likely they were to take part in a similar demonstration.

• Results
○ Study 1
 Beijing event: When asked critical questions, the participants that viewed the
doctored photograph produced a higher estimate of the number of people that took
part in the Beijing event and how many people were near the tanks.
 Rome Event: The critical questions focused on violence. Participants were asked if any
physical violence occurred between demonstrators and the law enforcement, if any
property was damaged and how many people were injured.
 Those exposed to the doctored photograph were more likely to respond ‘yes’ to all
three questions. (34% who saw the original said there were injuries compared to 67%
who saw the doctored picture that said that injuries occurred.
○ Study 2
 – Those that saw the doctored photograph gave lower rating of taking part to a similar
demonstration compared to those that had seen the original photograph.

• Conclusion:
○ Viewing doctored photographs affected not only the way people viewed past public events
but also their attitudes and behaviour intentions. The effect was similar for all age ranges.
○ The authenticity (real) of the doctored photographs may have led Participants to engage in
the reconstructive process of remembering and to retrieve bits of information that were
consistent with the misleading suggestions.
○ According to these finding, those intended to mislead others by deception and affect their
opinion by using doctored photographs may be successful.

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• Evaluation
○ Strengths:
 Sacchi’s task involved using doctored photographs of two famous events, the
Tiananmen Square protest in Beijing or the peaceful protest near the Coliseum, in
Rome which are real events that happened in society therefore increasing task
(internal) validity
 The findings for Saachi’s research an be can be seen and very applicable to real life as
they found that people give a reconstructed view of what happened during the event
by doctored photographs According to these finding, those intended to mislead
others by deception and affect their opinion by using doctored photographs may be
successful.
 All Participants were given informed consent and were given the right to withdraw
and did not cause any psychological harm. This shows that the research adhered to
ethical guidelines as the photographs were unlikely to cause any distress.

○ Weaknesses
 35% of of the participants were ‘completely unfamiliar’ with the 1989 Tiananmen
Square protest (Beijing pic) and were being requested to answer critical questions
according to their memory so there answers may not show a real or genuine
responses which shows the finding may not be valid.
 Only 31 out of 187 undergraduate participants used in the original group were male
this reduces generalizability to the male target population as there were more females
used from the two universities sampled
 The participants were deceived as they were not told that the pictures were doctored
and so full informed consent could not be obtained as the real aims were not given
until they were debriefed at the end of the experiment.

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