Autobiographical memory

Question 0

What are self defining memories

Answer 0

Memories that have significance to the working self image

Question 1

What is the lifespan retrieval curve

Answer 1

Autobiographical memories, the curve occurs with what is remembered

It is made up of period childhood amnesia
The reminiscence bump and period of recency

Question 2

Conway and pleydell-Pearce

Answer 2

Talk about goal hierarchy and the working self are linked to autobiographical memories, memory construction
They argue that the main focus of the working self is to control memory construction

Question 3

Fivush et al

Answer 3

Childhood amnesia

Under 5 yrs kids have a range of specific detailed autobiographical memories

Question 4

Freud

Answer 4

Infant memories are very intense and emotional may affect the adult working self so leads to lack of self

Childhood amnesia

Question 5

Goals of a child are different to goals of adults

Answer 5

Conway and pleydell-Pearce said this when referring to the childhood amnesia component of the lifespan curve

Question 6

What is the reminiscence bump

Answer 6

10-30 years remember more autobiographical memories

Question 7

Rubin et al

Answer 7

Argues memories recalled in this area are more accurate they are judged as been more important to the person

Reminiscence bump this is one explanation for it

Question 8

Non explanations of the reminiscence bump

Answer 8

NOT first time experiances
NOT more vivid during this time (Holmes and Conway)
NOT that they are more pleasant (Rubin et al)

Question 9

Explanations of the reminiscence bump

Answer 9

Rubin et al says better remembered coz events at this time occur during rapid change giving way to stability that acts till retrieval

Conway et al says better remembered coz they are self defining moments and have a powerful effect upon the working self which is late teen early adulthood.

Question 10

What is recency

Answer 10

Forgetting older memories due to decay
They are recently encoded so remain accessible
Other memories become less relevant to the working self goals could be lost forever or may just be put to one side.

Question 11

What are general events

Answer 11

They are autobiographical memories they are know,edge structures such as single events like a trip to London or repeated events like a staff meeting or extended events like a holiday to Spain. They are used to access lifetime periods

Question 12

Robinson

Answer 12

General events autobiographical knowledge

Said they can be organised into mini history they are structured around vivid episodic memories goal attachment

Question 13

Pillemer

Answer 13

General events in autobiographical knowledge

Said they are structured around significance for self

Question 14

Mcadams

Answer 14

General events autobiographical knowledge

Said they are structured together due to emotion

Question 15

What are lifetime periods

Answer 15

They are similar to general events but they ENCAPSULATE a period in the memory and provide a way in to autobiographical memories

Question 16

How do we get a life story schema

Answer 16

This can be created via life time periods as they give autobiographical memories that are then used to form life story schemas

They are stored at different levels like a hierarchy and they are less event specific then general events they are more CONCEPTUAL AND ABSTRACT like big line of little pockets

Question 17

What is episodic memory

Answer 17

This is the individuals own personal experiance

Question 18

What is semantic memory

Answer 18

This knowledge is social and universal

Question 19

What does Tulvings suggest about the episodic and semantic memory?

Answer 19

He says that you cannot have one without the other they are also linked, questions to this is how can we distinguish between the two and how do we define each memory for example a holiday is universal but also personal

Question 20

What does Conway say about episodic and semantic memory?

Answer 20

He built on the theory by tulving, says that episodic memory are largely sensory perceptual and event specific details of experiances are not given unless they are linked to lifetime memories and said they are rapidly lost as they are not linked to the LTM

Question 21

What is recollective experiance?

Answer 21

It is the sense of experiance of the self in the past, see images and details, mental representations not a dream however it may not always be true HOWEVER CONWAY et al argues that research has shown that it has a high probability that the event happened.

Question 22

What is the working self

Answer 22

Conway and pleydell Pearce
It is a hierarchy of interconnect goals, only some entre the consciousness, they contain life periods, life schemas, life stories and active models of the self. Goals are prioritised in terms of encoding, accessability and construction

Question 23

What do Conway and pleydell Pearce say about PSTD

Answer 23

They suggests that autobiographical memories can direct our attention inwards so can be disruptive to other cognitive functions and this is involuntary

Question 24

Markus

Answer 24

1977 Showed evidence that accessability to goal related autobiographical memories are linked to certain personalities traits, if strong dependant/ independent showed strong access to memory when behaving this was, people who did not have this trait did not have these memories.

Question 25

What did mcadams say about personality and memory

Answer 25

He tested two personality types Strong intimacy and distinctive power motivation They free recalled FINDINGS WERE each group was link to memories associated with assessed personality SUGGESTS goal structure of working self makes available knowledgeable base that relate to the most active goals

Question 26

What did erikson suggest

Answer 26

Looked at personality and memory Studied generativity type person They recalled memories linked to this personality type People who were not generativity did not

Question 27

Woike

Answer 27

1999 Support the connection between personality and memory Suggests the working self influence access to sets of goal related memories

Question 28

Pillemer et al personality

Answer 28

Found that individuals could give very clear accounts of self defining memories when they were both positive and negative for example interactions with professionals such as teachers that have had an impact upon them.

Question 29

Singer and salovey

Answer 29

Suggests memories are linked to good emotions which are then linked to goal attachment Memories linked to bad emotions are linked to progressive failure this falls in line with what Pillemer says Also said that each individual had own self defining memories that had critical knowledge for long term goals

Question 30

PTSD

Answer 30

Ways to show that a person has this is Memories will come spontaneous to mind Intense anxiety Suffer constantly being thrown into retrieval mode They have flashbacks Will avoid areas, situations that set the triggers off Cues will trigger things Have to have experianced a trauma Symptoms - re experiencing memories, avoidance,amnesia, hyper arousal constant red alert.

Question 31

What do Conway and pleydell Pearce say about PTSD

Answer 31

They say that it is due to the prospect of death affects goals of the working self, so struggles to process the memory, so encodes parts of it causing vivid images.

Question 32

What is memory construction

Answer 32

It is split into two parts GENERATIVE RETRIEVAL this is where remembering is intentional cues are used to probe knowledge goals of working self are activated, for example cinema, when did I go, I go a lot, when I was a student - link to lifetime period this can be used to access general event link to episodic memory then autobiographical memory is constructed!!!!!! DIRECT RETRIEVAL is spontaneous the working self can prevent it from fully forming if to much disruption can lead to PTSD which is triggered by cues. The main idea is that the working self is in control of the two

Question 33

Hague and Conway in construction

Answer 33

Tested the two areas of construction of memory found that retreaval time increased showed ppl memory words on a computer screen cue words time after the cue word was longer and shorter the memories were then classified as to what type of memory they had give, eg lifetime general etc= generative process ran its course and specific autobiographical memories were formed