Autobiographical memory

Question 1

Autobiographical Memory

Answer 1

Memory for your own life as personally experienced for both specific events and self related information.

Question 2

Memory Probe

..Critique

Answer 2

One cue word - recall one assoc. memory. Describe and date. Galton (1883).

Forgetting function formed from using a devised list of words on American students (straight diagonal line with log scales; memory / hour and time since memory (Rubin, 1982).

Hard to verify accuracy of memory content and date

Question 3

Cued events

..Critique

Answer 3

Usher and Neisser (1993): children aged 1-3

Crawley and Eacott (2006) :
Marked change at around 2 yrs and 3 months.
Most memories, inc. earliest verified as accurate.

Still problems of measurement of accuracy of parents memory, community memory, in which they have rehearsed the story together

Question 4

Diary Studies .. evidence of effectiveness of what (action)/ when (time)

..Critique

Answer 4

Wagenaar (1968): -encoding - records 1 event a day for 4 years including 4 cues and 1 critical detail.

                     - retrieval - each event only recalled once and testing was over a 1 year period. 
                                     - Standard Forgetting Curve was found, with the action cue being the most effective, 20x more successful retrieval than the cue of the date. 
                                      - the events initially rated as salient were recalled better.
                                      - EMOTIONAL INVOLVEMENT (especially positive) was found to help recall.
                     - recognition was almost ubiquitous.  

• Can include subjective aspects of an event and the verification of date and precise memory can be done.
• Problems: usually single case studies and act of recording may influence memory.

Question 5

Infrequent vs Frequent events

Actions vs Thoughts

Answer 5

Brewer (1988) used beepers to select random time (approx. 2 hours) at which part. should write down details.

Question 6

Reasons for Childhood Amnesia

Answer 6

Tulving (1973) - Encoding Specificity Theory

Dudycha and Dudycha (1933) - link to language.
Evidence - Schrauf (2000): individuals that learn new language during development find it harder to recall childhood memories when the cue is in the new language.

Eacott (1999) - semantic memory develops before episodic - fragmentary accounts lacking social and temporal context in children less than 4 years old.
Neurophysiology: episodic memory develops along with frontal lobes

Question 7

Remote memories turning to semantic

Answer 7

Cermak (1984): all/most remote memories are semantic - loss of contextual information through progressive modification/ rehearsal in neocortical areas.