Procedural memory: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 06:30, 14 January 2020

Revision as of 00:04, 28 January 2020

Line 72:

===Choking under pressure===

It is well established that highly practiced, over-learned skills are performed automatically; they are controlled in real time, supported by procedural memory, require little attention, and operate largely outside of [[working memory]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Anderson | first1 = J. R. | year = 1982 | title = Acquisition of a cognitive skill | journal = Psychological Review | volume = 89 | issue = 4| pages = 369–406 | doi=10.1037/0033-295x.89.4.369| url = https://semanticscholar.org/paper/eb324f42d42dc29d9f89e044a76516227e4e2c66 }}</ref> However, sometimes even experienced and highly skilled performers falter under conditions of stress. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as choking, and serves as a very interesting exception to the general rule that well-learned skills are robust and resistant to deterioration across a wide range of conditions.<ref name="choking">{{cite journal | last1 = Beilock | first1 = S.L. | last2 = Carr | first2 = T. | year = 2001 | title = On the Fragility of Skilled Performance: What Governs Choking Under Pressure? | url = | journal = Journal of Experimental Psychology: General | volume = 130 | issue = 4| pages = 701–725 | doi=10.1037/e501882009-391| citeseerx = 10.1.1.172.5140 }}</ref> Although not well understood, it is widely accepted that the underlying cause of choking is performance pressure, which has been defined as an anxious desire to perform very well in a given situation.<ref name="choking"/> Choking is most often associated with motor skills, and the most common real-life instances are in sports. It is common for professional athletes who are highly trained to choke in the moment and perform poorly. However, choking can occur within any ___domain that demands a high level of performance involving complex cognitive, verbal or motor skills. "Self-focus" theories suggest that pressure increases anxiety and self-consciousness about performing correctly, which in turn causes an increase in attention paid to the processes directly involved in the execution of the skill.<ref name="choking"/> This attention to the step-by-step procedure disrupts the well-learned, automatic (proceduralized) performance. What was once an effortless and unconscious retrieval execution of a procedural memory becomes slow and deliberate.<ref name="Langer, E. 1979"/><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Lewis | first1 = B. | last2 = Linder | first2 = D. | year = 1997 | title = Thinking about choking? Attentional processes and paradoxical performance | url = | journal = Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin | volume = 23 | issue = 9| pages = 937–944 | doi=10.1177/0146167297239003| pmid = 29506446 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Kimble | first1 = G. A. | last2 = Perlmuter | first2 = L. C. | year = 1970 | title = The problem of volition | url = | journal = Psychological Review | volume = 77 | issue = 5| pages = 361–384 | doi=10.1037/h0029782| pmid = 4319166 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Masters | first1 = R. S. | year = 1992 | title = Knowledge, knerves and know-how: The role of explicit versus implicit knowledge in the breakdown of a complex motor skill under pressure | url = | journal = British Journal of Psychology | volume = 83 | issue = 3| pages = 343–358 | doi=10.1111/j.2044-8295.1992.tb02446.x}}</ref> Evidence suggests that the more automated a skill is the more resistant it is to distractions, performance pressure, and subsequent choking. This serves as a good example of the relative durability of procedural memory over episodic memory. In addition to deliberate practice and automization of skills, self-consciousness training has been shown to help with reducing the effect of choking under pressure.<ref name="choking"/>

====Rising to the occasion====

Line 101:

The striatum is unique because it lacks the [[glutamate]]-related neurons found throughout most of the brain. Instead, it is categorized by a high concentration of a special type of [[GABA]] related inhibiting cell known as the [[medium spiny neuron]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Smith | first1 = Y. | last2 = Raju | first2 = D. V. | last3 = Pare | first3 = J. F. | last4 = Sidibe | first4 = M. | year = 2004 | title = The thalamostriatal system: a highly specific network of the basal ganglia circuitry | url = | journal = Trends Neurosci | volume = 27 | issue = 9| pages = 520–527 | doi=10.1016/j.tins.2004.07.004| pmid = 15331233 }}</ref> The two parallel pathways previously mentioned travel to and from the striatum and are made up of these same special medium spiny neurons. These neurons are all sensitive to different neurotransmitters and contain a variety of corresponding receptors including dopamine receptors ([[DRD1]], [[DRD2]]), [[muscarinic receptors]] (M4) and [[adenosine receptors]] (A2A). Separate interneurons are known to communicate with striatal spiny neurons in the presence of the [[somatic nervous system]] neurotransmitter [[acetylcholine]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Zhou | first1 = FM | last2 = Wilson | first2 = CJ | last3 = Dani | first3 = JA | year = 2002 | title = Cholinergic Interneuron characteristics and nicotinic properties in the striatum | url = | journal = J. Neurobiol. | volume = 53 | issue = 4| pages = 590–605 | doi=10.1002/neu.10150 | pmid=12436423}}</ref>

Current understanding of brain anatomy and physiology suggests that striatal neural plasticity is what allows basal ganglia circuits to communicate between structures and to functionally operate in procedural memory processing.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Kreitzer | first1 = AC | year = 2009 | title = Physiology and pharmacology of striatal neurons | url = | journal = RevAnnual NeurosciReview of Neuroscience| volume = 32 | issue = | pages = 127–47 | doi=10.1146/annurev.neuro.051508.135422| pmid = 19400717 }}</ref>