Skyler Maurer
Response Paper #1
Psych 3513 Dr. Julie Golomb In the first paper “Building Memories: Remembering and Forgetting of Verbal Experiences as Predicted by Brain Activity” by Anthony D. Wagner, et all, Wagner and his research team were attempting to explain the reasons why certain pieces of information are committed to memory, while others are forgotten. They studied the neural response during remembered and forgotten events and attempted to explain how certain things are committed to memory based on differences in neural activity. In order to do this, they used a few different brain imaging techniques. The team used fMRI in order to view brain activity during events that were remembered and forgotten. The team used both block design
…show more content…
In the second paper, however, ERP was used as the main imaging technique. Both of these techniques have pros and cons. fMRI is a great technique for viewing BOLD responses and therefore brain activity in certain regions of the brain. fMRI has poor temporal resolution however, and this must be accounted for when processing the data. ERP has a much better temporal resolution. You are able to see brain activity right after a given event. In article 2 it would have been impossible to achieve the results if ERP was not used. The trials were based on very time-sensitive brain activity. Because of the fact fMRI has poor temporal resolution it would have been a bad choice for this experiment. There was also some unanswered questions from the papers. For example, in the first paper the team was unable to exactly explain the role of the medial temporal lobe in memory formation. This provides an opportunity for future research. In the second paper, the paper made an unsupported claim in my opinion. They said the high capacity/low capacity groups account for the differences in memory storage in participants. I felt this was unsupported and needs evidence to back it up. There were also some drawbacks with the imaging techniques used. The ERP limited the amount of spatial resolution in the data. Since the electrodes were not placed directly on the brain it is hard to tell exactly where the impulses are coming from. The fMRI has bad temporal resolution and made it difficult to determine what brain activity corresponded to what stimuli. These drawbacks may have limited the accuracy of the