The brain is the control centre of the human body, coordinating memory, emotions, movements, motivation and all bodily functions (Rushworth, 2015). It is a complex system comprised of many components, however, when an injury occurs, the areas of the brain that are damaged can cause substantial effects to the functioning of the mind and body. Acquired brain injury (ABI) is often used as a term to encompass a variety of other brain injuries, including Traumatic brain injury (TBI). ABI is defined as ‘an injury to the brain that is not hereditary, congenital, degenerative, or induced by birth trauma’ (Brain Injury Association of America, 2014, as cited in Tapson, Sierotowicz, Marks-Maran & Thompson, 2015), and is associated with cognitive deficits,
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‘Memory involves taking something we have observed and converting it into a form we can store, retrieve and use’ (Burton, Westen & Kowalski, 2015). Memory plays a substantial role throughout our lives, from simple everyday tasks, to remembering a specific period of time that occurred years ago. Memory can be split up into two main components; Short-term memory (STM) and Long-term memory (LTM) each comprised of different types of memory. Short-term memory is a ‘memory store that holds a small amount of information in consciousness…unless the person makes a deliberate effort to maintain it longer by repeating it over and over’ (Waugh & Norman, 1965, as cited in Burton, et al, 2015). STM is divided into Sensory and Working Memory. Sensory memory is the first stage of memory, that retains raw sensory data for a brief second, and attention is necessary in order for this data to transfer into LTM. Working Memory is defined as the ‘conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information’ (CrashCourse, 2015). LTM is essentially limitless yet is extremely difficult to access. It can be further broken up into different types of memory; Declarative memory – retains information and memory for specific events; Procedural memory – refers to the procedural knowledge of skills; Semantic memory – refers to general knowledge; Episodic memory – refers to the memories of specific events in one’s lifetime; Explicit memory – the ability to recall information consciously; and Implicit memory – memories that are expressed through skills (Burton, et al,
‘Memory involves taking something we have observed and converting it into a form we can store, retrieve and use’ (Burton, Westen & Kowalski, 2015). Memory plays a substantial role throughout our lives, from simple everyday tasks, to remembering a specific period of time that occurred years ago. Memory can be split up into two main components; Short-term memory (STM) and Long-term memory (LTM) each comprised of different types of memory. Short-term memory is a ‘memory store that holds a small amount of information in consciousness…unless the person makes a deliberate effort to maintain it longer by repeating it over and over’ (Waugh & Norman, 1965, as cited in Burton, et al, 2015). STM is divided into Sensory and Working Memory. Sensory memory is the first stage of memory, that retains raw sensory data for a brief second, and attention is necessary in order for this data to transfer into LTM. Working Memory is defined as the ‘conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information’ (CrashCourse, 2015). LTM is essentially limitless yet is extremely difficult to access. It can be further broken up into different types of memory; Declarative memory – retains information and memory for specific events; Procedural memory – refers to the procedural knowledge of skills; Semantic memory – refers to general knowledge; Episodic memory – refers to the memories of specific events in one’s lifetime; Explicit memory – the ability to recall information consciously; and Implicit memory – memories that are expressed through skills (Burton, et al,