Applied Memory

Question 1

1) According to the significant findings from the following tests, what type of memory is affect in these exceptional individuals?
- Logical memory free-recall
- Visual memory recall
- Names to faces

Answer 1

semantic memory
= issues with blocking
= because of error of retrieval and lack of associations in semantic memory

Question 2

2)According to the non-significant findings from the following tests, what type of memory is NOT affect in these exceptional individuals
Give reasons
- Forward and backward digit span
- Visual reproduction

Answer 2

short term memory
?????????
Visuospatial sketchpad= of working mem= in STM
Forward and backward digit span = sees if STM is okay

Question 3

4) What conclusions can we draw about memory function from the results of research on individuals with exceptional memory and these with memory deficits (e.g. Clive wearing)
Give reasons

Answer 3

that there are more than one type of memory
e.g. clive wearing= can remember his name and wifes name = explicit long term semantic memory
can remember how to play the piano= procedural
- show short term mem has a limited capacity as he cant remember numbers after a delay
- can complete fragment completion task
- he can encode information

Question 4

The conversation of suggestion into false memory involves misattribution
Are the types of misattributions seen in a paradigm like the DRM and the misinformation provided by Loftus & Pickerell (1995) the same?
Explain why they are/are not

Answer 4

• They are different
• DRM paradigm= source missattribution = combining a memory with another memory and thinking it comes from one place but really comes from another e.g. list of words realted to sleep but sleep not included, have a semantic network realted to words and concepts, as see/hear words activation start to travel to all the words that are related to that word including sleep - which isnt presented (sleep= critical lure) = misattribute source= mem of sleep actually when activation of list= never actually saw it but don’t realise.
• HOWEVER Loftus & Pickerell 95=converted a suggestion into a false memory via missattribution, told false story about childhood, 2wks later 29% recalled mem but not very clearly= planted info not because of activation from other words

Question 5

What are the 7 sins by Schacter (1999)?

Answer 5

= describe why we don’t have perfect recall

1) Persistence
2) Transience
3) Absentmindedness
4) Blocking
5) Bias
6) Source misattribution
7) Suggestibility

Question 6

What is the sin Persistence?

Answer 6

(more about abnormal brain and memory functioning than normal)
- May have unwanted intrusions of memory – might not want to remember everything perfectly = kind of thing see with people with PTSD

Question 7

What is the sin Transience ?

Answer 7

= forgetting

- may result from insufficient consolidation/encoding (in the first place)

Question 8

What is the sin Absentmindedness ?

Answer 8

– can’t remember what you did or where you did it e.g. parking the car and forgetting where you parked it. Problem with encoding- not paying attention when encoding
= never made it into memory in first place

Question 9

What is the sin Blocking?

Answer 9

= due to a lack of activation of semantic memory

• e.g. can’t remember someones name
  e. g. there are 3 things to remember but the 3rd one escapes me right now
• can also happen from interference from other information

Question 10

What is the sin Bias?

Answer 10

• Expectation can effect how a memory is perceived

- Adaptive to develop schema to guide memory organisation

Question 11

What is the sin Source Misattribution?

Answer 11

=process of combing a mem with another mem and thinking it comes from one place, when it actually comes from another
- Adaptive to not store details of each aspect of an event but focus on abstraction of a gist of a series of events

Question 12

What is the sin Suggestibility?

Answer 12

• Memory is malleable, it can be updated
  e. g. flashbulb mem= changes over time
• Adaptive to have the facility to up-date existing memories

Question 13

What supports Absentmindedness ?

Answer 13

Dual attention task:
-when put full attention to task= recalled well = 80%, when attention divided at encoding stage = much less accurate= 40% , divided attention at retrieval = 65%
= SUPPORTS THAT ITS ATTENTION DIVISION AT ENCODING THAT RESULTS IN ABSENTMINDEDNESS
= if not pay attention may forget if not consolidated

Question 14

What supports the sin Blocking?

Answer 14

James 04 = names/occupations easier/harder to remember if have more/less activation in semantic network
= blocking occurs due to lack of activation of semantic memory

Question 15

What supports the sin Bias?

Answer 15

Barlett 32 ‘The war of the ghosts’
- when pts recalled details changed
e.g. canoe became boat
- people were poor at this story, added things in & changed things
BAD AT REMEMBERING BECAUSE OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
= doesn’t fit as to how you think the story would proceed
- don’t remember so fill in with thins that fit into your cultural expectations

Question 16

Who did Bergman and Roediger 99 replicate?

Answer 16

Barlett’s the war of the ghosts
- found same results
= mem is a process of reconstruction

Question 17

What supports the sin Source Misattribution?

Answer 17

( source misattribution) =process of combing a mem with another mem and thinking it comes from one place, when it actually comes from another
DRM paradigm
= PET scans while recalling list of words
= added words (critical lure) like sleep to a list of words associated with it
= created a false memory

Question 18

What theory supports suggestibility?

Answer 18

(suggestibility= memory is malleable)
Loftus and pickerel 95
-	Plant complete mem of event that didn’t happen into pts = told event happened to them as a child
-29% remembered the false memory 
= suggests can implant a false memory
- closely linked w source misattribution

Question 19

What do Persistence, Transience, Absentmindedness and Blocking suggest about memory?

Answer 19

That memory is flawed at encoding, consolidation and retrieval
= could be important as a functioning human to not encode and consolidate everything

Question 20

What do Bias, Source Misattribution and Suggestibility suggest about memory?

Answer 20

That memory is reconstructive

Question 21

How do people with perfect recall differ ?

Answer 21

LePort et al 12
- higher levels of obsessive compulsive traits
- no diff in forward and backward digit span, visual reproduction task, depression
- part of brain are anatomically different in hippocampal systems = in middle of brain= which are very important in forming of episodic memory
= have very good episodic memory and have different structure of hippocampal systems

Question 22

How can recalling incorrect info/ not having perfect memory affect us in everyday life?

Answer 22

= impact of recalling incorrect, biased or false memories in eye witness accounts
- SUGGESTIBILITY - e.g. flashbulb memories = change over time
e.g. loftus and palmer- smashed/hit
e.g. loftus and pickerel = false memory
= can implant false mems

Question 23

What evidence supports the idea that memory is reconstructive ?

Answer 23

Barlett 32- the war of the ghosts
= bad at remembering due to cultural differences
- when don’t remember things , add things in that would fit into your cultural expectations
- Bergman and Roediger 1999= replicated and found the same
= have biases= affect how recall something
- mem can become confused because of combing info from different mem stores
-source misattribition= DRM paradigm = sleep example= created a false mem from a critical cue = confusion of combined info

Question 24

What models explain the methods used to test recall of episodic memory?

Answer 24

• barlets war of the ghosts
• then bergman and roediger replication of the war of the ghosts
• DRM paradigm= roediger and mcdermott

Question 25

Who developed the DRM paradigm?

Answer 25

Roediger and McDermott 1995