Examining visual memory performance among a group of urban and rural population (Fars province, 2012)

Dissertation for Master's Degree (M.A.)

Inclination: General

       Investigation of visual memory performance among a group of urban and rural population

(Fars province, 2012)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate visual memory performance among a group of urban and rural population in Fars province. For this purpose (50 women and 50 men) were selected from the city of Shiraz and the villages of Richi and Kozerg located in the south of Kohmera Surkhi and the villages of Mozafari and Tasuj in the city of Kovar in Fars province using the available sampling method and taking into account the age, gender and level of education. ) and general health questionnaire (GHQ-28) to participate. The results showed that the difference in the average score of visual memory between urban and rural groups is statistically significant and this significance is in favor of the urban group. Also, the results of this study showed that there is a significant difference between the memory of faces in urban and rural groups and this type of memory is stronger in urban people.

Conclusion: The results show that the place of residence (city / village) is one of the important and determining factors in the growth and evolution of mental abilities and memory.

Key words: Visual memory, urban and rural groups, women and men.

Introduction

The decades behind our institutions (1990s) have been called the brain decade, and the knowledge gained in psychology and neuroscience in this decade was more than ten centuries ago. In today's era, in all fields that somehow deal with the structure or function of the nervous system, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and even research, requires accurate and reliable measurement of impaired functions caused by brain lesions and even measurement of healthy and normal brain and mind functions. Since the brain is a protected building (by glial tissues) and access to it, either through drugs or tissues, is very limited and difficult, the evaluation of brain injuries, especially injuries that are not evident in the brain structure and appear as functional disorders, is very important. One of the most accurate, low-cost and common methods in evaluating the brain and mind is investigations based on behavior and mental outputs. Therefore, through neuro-psychological evaluation [1] (neuropsychology), valid inferences can be made about the damaged or healthy structure and functions (Gazaniga[2], 2001). In fact, neuro-psychological trends try to link behaviors with brain activity, and the use of these methods in measuring areas such as memory, abstract reasoning, problem solving, spatial abilities, emotional consequences, and the detection of brain distortions, has attracted the attention of many cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists (Marnat [3], 2001). Specialists in this field use many tests when measuring the neurological deviation of patients. Most of the information they can obtain is through the use of advanced screening techniques such as (MRI and CT [4]). However, there are still collections of paper-and-pencil tests that these professionals can use to obtain more useful information (same source). Today, neuropsychological evaluation is used as a powerful tool in determining the location of the lesion and planning rehabilitation. In fact, the purpose of neuropsychological evaluation is to judge by gathering information about the possibility of a person's brain damage and the type of this damage, and to adjust a program for the rehabilitation of the injured person according to his functional deficiencies and what remains healthy in him. The middle temporal lobe contains structures such as the hippocampus, which plays an important role in memory (Alipour, 2012).

The most important area in relation to memory and learning is the hippocampus (Kandel [5], 2012). The hippocampus is located in the floor of the lateral ventricle in the temporal lobe of the brain.Almost any sensory experience activates at least part of the hippocampus, and the hippocampus also sends many output signals to the anterior thalamus, hypothalamus and other limbic parts, especially through the fornix, that is, through its main output route. Many studies have shown that visual memory functions require the health of the temporal lobe, the hippocampus, and the nucleus of the amygdala (Brown, Tuttle et al. [6], 2010; quoted by Moazzami, 2011). In general, outside the primary visual area (Brodmann's area 17), there are two large areas in the communication cortex of the parietal and temporal lobes, which are responsible for visual information processing and visual memory recording. These two parts are called secondary and tertiary visual areas, which are numbered 18 and 19 in Brodmann's classification (Slutink, Thompson et al. [7], 2011). Damage to the communication cortex of the occipital segment and its continuation in the occipital segment causes disturbances in the processing and analysis of visual information and the loss of visual memory (Zaidel [8], 2006). This research investigates in detail the function of visual memory in people. 1-1-Statement of the problem One of the most obvious characteristics of humans and distinguishing them from other animals is their rational cognition and thinking. Humans not only have a direct understanding of the world, but also have abilities to receive and process information, and this ability helps the development and evolution of the very orderly and at the same time complex nervous structure of humans, which has been achieved during individual development (Moghadam, Staki et al., 2013). One of the cognitive actions [9] that plays a major role in a person's activities and skills is "memory" [10] (Eyseng [11], 2000).

Memory is a set of connections between brain processes that gives us the ability to acquire, store and retrieve information and enables us to use this information at any time (Hackenberry [12], 2008). In fact, memory is vital for humans and other living organisms.  Practically all daily activities such as speaking, perception or understanding and even socialization depend on the information learned and stored about our surroundings (Trak-Brown [13], 2013).  It seems that almost everything we humans have or everything we are is the blessing of memory, and memory integrates countless phenomena of existence (Kleisterm [14], 1998; quoted by Saed, 2009).

The first stage of memory is called sensory memory [15]. A sensory memory acts as a storage place for sensory stimuli. A sensory memory stores an exact copy of what is seen or heard. Sensory memory is responsible for maintaining information taken from the environment for a few seconds or less (Crowder [16], 1992). This part of the memory is directly related to our memory and the duration of keeping information in this memory varies from a few thousandths of a second to a few seconds (Chalbianlu, 2013).  The information that is placed in the sensory memory includes all the main stimuli that have been noticed. For example, a visual sensory memory includes a brief image of a scene we saw, and an audio sensory memory includes a fleeting echo of a sound we heard. The information we have received remains in sensory memory until it is transferred to short-term memory. In order for us to be aware of a sensory memory, the information must be presented very briefly, so that we can see a trace of them, for example, lightning at night is a good example of being aware of a visual sensory memory (Locke and Hollingworth [17], 2008). In a sensory memory, there are buffers for each sensory channel. Visual memory [18] for visual stimuli, echoic memory [19] for auditory stimuli, tactile memory [20] for the sense of touch, Shamhai memory [21] for the sense of smell, and gustatory memory [22] for the sense of taste, which is the most important type of sensory memory, visual and auditory memory (Qolizadeh, Khairuddin et al., 2009). One of the most important sensory channels through which humans receive a lot of information and store it in their memory is vision (Hale and Hill[23], 2008).

During the past decades, research on visual memory has been pursued in several different research lines. One of these lines of research has been related to gender differences in cognitive functions in general and visual memory in particular. For example, research shows that there are gender differences in the field of object location memory and usually women perform better in this case (Gallagher [24] et al., 2006, Lachini [25] et al., 2005; Guede et al. [26], 2008).