Ch. 8 Flashcards
_ memory encompasses episodic memories of events we’ve experienced as well as semantic memories of basic facts about ourselves
autobiographical memory (AM)
Autobiographical memory is studied using _ _ of events that have already passed outside of experimental control, including personal interviews
retrospective reporting
The biggest limitation of retrospective report is…
it is often difficult to verify that what someone remembers is accurate
Memory for events from your life is _ memory, and memory for general knowledge is _ memory
episodic;
semantic
Autobiographical memory serves three functions:
- directive - guide current actions
- social - allow people with shared experiences to increase their social bonds
- _…
self-representation - determines what kind of behaviours and relationships you engage is in so you can maintain a stable identity in the future
One study conducted by Baron and Bluck (2008) found that participants enjoyed autobiographical stories about romantic encounters most when… These stories served to confirm the function of social bonding from autobiographical memory
the stores were true
Grace te al. (2016) found that people who reflect LESS/MORE on the past are less likely to share those memories with others, and are more likely to experience depression
MORE
Individuals with HIGHER/LOWER rates of depression appear to experience salient physiological arousal when recalling negative past events; conversely, they are less affected by NEGATIVE/POSITIVE. This pattern can strongly impact our self-representation
higher; positive
OR
lower; negative
Match the functions of memory to their definition:
DIRECTIVE/SELF-REPRESENTATIONS/SOCIAL
- guiding future directions
- increase social bonds
- internal reflections that aid identity cohesion
DIRECTIVE - guiding future directions
SELF-REPRESENTATIONS - increase social bonds
SOCIAL- internal reflections that aid identity cohesion
Grace et al. (2016) found a correlation between self-representation and depression. What were their results?
a. Lower rates of internal reflection are correlated with higher rates of depression
b. Higher rates of internal reflection without expressing them are correlated to higher rates of depression
c. Discussing internal reflections often is associated with higher rates of depression
d. Higher rates of internal reflection are correlated with higher rates of depression
b. Higher rates of internal reflection without expressing them are correlated to higher rates of depression
expressing them is helpful, but when you don’t it is shown to be less so
Individuals with Highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM) also known as _ report experiencing event-specific memories as if viewing the memories through a video recording (LePort et al., 2012; Parker, Cahill & McGaugh, 2006)
hyperthymesia
T or F: highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM)/hyperthymesia is associated with higher general cognitive and memory function
false
Which type of memory do individuals with HSAM show increased performance for?
a. basic facts
b. episodes from their lives
c. lists of numbers and letters
d. motor behaviours
b. episodes from their lives
According to the video on HSAM, how are individuals tested?
a. Potential HSAM individuals are given a task and need to solve it as quickly as possible
b. They use mnemonic devices to remember large amounts of info and are tested by how much they can remember
c. They are given dates and asked to identify public events that occurred on that day
d. They are tested based on their digit span
c. They are given dates and asked to identify public events that occurred on that day
How long does our memory for autobiographical information last?
a. theoretically, a lifetime
b. five years
c. typically 20 years, but it is difficult to test past that point
d. anywhere from 10 to 15 years
a. theoretically, a lifetime
Yes! We store memories across our lifespan. Although we may not remember all events from our lifetime (as with HSAM), we still hold our memories across our lifespan and it is difficult to verify that we have completely forgotten information.
Childhood amnesia (or ‘infantile amnesia’) is not having episodic memories…
from before age 2 - 4 years old
Bauer and Larkina (2015) conducted a longitudinal study to track changes which occur across early childhood. They found that between children and adults there were more rapid increases in forgetting for … compared to older children
4 - 6 ages
Bauer and Larkina (2015) conducted a longitudinal study to track changes which occur across early childhood. They found that between children and adults there were more rapid increases in forgetting for 4 and 6 year-olds (4 year-olds being the most likely to forget) compared to older children. Bauer and Larkina found that the difference in recall can be reduced if children are…
provided cues to aid their memory
Childhood amnesia refers to _ memories, not other forms such as semantic or implicit memories (i.e., how to walk or crawl, likes or dislikes…)
episodic
Children age 5.5 are NOT/ABLE to recall events from before the age of two
able, although at roughly 50%…and reducing to almost nothing by adulthood
In childhood, the brain produces a lot of new neurons, called _
neurogenesis
Neurogenesis happens in the _, where it is possible that this building of the brain causes memories to be overwritten, explaining infantile amnesia
hippocampus
According to Video 8.3 above, which area of the brain is most likely to experience neurogenesis across your lifespan?
a. frontal lobes
b. occipital lobes
c. hippocampus
d. parietal lobes
c. hippocampus
Yes! The hippocampus is extremely plastic and changes because it has to constantly encode new information.
Based on information discussed in Video 8.3, what is evidence that shows that children under four are learning? (Select all that apply.)
a. The brain is most plastic at this age and new neural connections are forming
b. Children can learn two languages easily at this stage
c. Pruning of connections occurs as the brain learns what is needed
d. There is less evidence that children learn at this stage and more converging evidence to support the idea that we experience amnesia because we learn so little
all of the above
There is a correlation between a child’s linguistic abilities and their ability to remember both verbal and nonverbal info, providing support for the hypothesis that _ _ has to do with young children’s underdeveloped language abilities
infantile amnesia
Because highly emotional events often tend to be what is remembered, the mismatch of memories for children and adult may lead to an inability to _ memories (West & Baer, 1999)
retrieve
We generally cannot remember life events that occur before which age?
a. 6
b. 4
c. 11
d. 8
b. 4
What is the process of growing new neurons called?
a. neural growth
b. neurogenesis
c. none of the above (it is not possible to grow new neurons)
d. dendritic generation
b. neurogenesis
Neurogenesis is the generation of new neurons after birth. Remember that “neuro” refers to neurons and “genesis” to “new.”
Remembering autobiographical memories is shown on a line graph as childhood anesia from 4 to 11, the _ bump occurs between age 15 - 25, whereas the period of recency is 47+
reminiscence
Cognitive abilities are at theiri peak during the same approximate age as the _ _
reminiscence bump (15 - 25)
T or F: a reminiscence bump occurs strictly from 15 - 25
false, does not seem to be based on biological age; rather, due to richer memories of times when one undergoes a lot of changes in their lives
People remember _ _ words and pictures better than more neutral stimuli (Buchanan & Adolphs, 2012)
emotionally charged
Emotionally-charged responses can lead to increased encoding by drawing a person’s _ processing(Oschner, 2000)
attentional processing
A phenomenon in which people often miss a repeated stimulus when it is presented quickly in a sequence is know as _ _
attentional blink
this occurs when people are shown a series of stimuli (such as words or letters), one at a time in very rapid succession. If people are asked to detect two targets embedded within the sequence, they often miss the second one if it follows right after the first one
Emotionally charged stimuli leads to greater/lesser attention and encoding
greater
Once the info is encoded, emotional content is stores MORE/LESS effectively
more
showing resistance to forgetting with the passage of time
Encoding and storage of emotional content appear to involve the amygdala, a structure which is a nucleus embedded deep within the _ lobes
temporal
What area of the brain is considered important specifically for processing and encoding emotional memories?
a. cerebellum
b. hippocampus
c. cortex
d. amygdala
d. amygdala
Which group of individuals did not experience different perceptual processing of emotional words while completing an emotional attentional blink task?
a. patients with right amygdala damage
b. patients with left amygdala damage
c. patients with frontal lobe damage
d. healthy controls
b. patients with left amygdala damage
_ memories, coined by Brown and Kulik (1977), were found to not decay over time
flashbulb
Neisser and Harsch (1992) interviewed people the day after a disaster and then a few years after that. They found that people were highly confident in their memories, and unaware that their responses…
changed dramatically over time
Note: the study did not report what happened when participants were told about these discrepancies
Talarico and Rubin (2003) had shown people’s accuracy in remembering the details of a flashbulb event and an everyday event as shown decline in accuracy over time, but the decline is much more pronounced in the EVERYDAY/FLASHBULB event
everyday
Talarico and Rubin (2003) had shown people’s accuracy in remembering the details of a flashbulb event and an everyday event as shown decline in accuracy over time, but the decline is much more pronounced in the everyday event.
People’s confidence in their memories remained almost unchanged for EVERYDAY/FLASHBULB events while they dropped precipitously for EVERYDAY/FLASHBULB events. These results suggest that flashbulbs memories really ARE/NOT more durable, but ARE/NOT quite as permanent as people think they are
flashbulb;
everyday;
are;
are not
Davidson et al. (2006) demonstrated that flashbulb memories are consistently recalled amount OLDER/YOUNGER adults with varying frontal lobe function, despite not many of OLDER/YOUNGER subjects being able to recall everyday control events
older;
older
Davidson et al. (2005) had shown that patients with damage to their amygdala remembered significantly LESS/MORE than those with damage to the frontal lobe for flashbulb memories
LESS
What appears to distinguish the flashbulb memory duration for individuals with frontal or amygdala damage is being able to remember emotionally salient events. Davidson et al. (2005) found that emotionally salient events were better recalled by adults with AMYGDALA/FRONTAL LOBE damage than AMYGDALA/FRONTAL LOBE damage. This also relates to temporal lobe damage, in which those with that damage have less memory than frontal lobe (the temporal lobe encompasses the amygdala structure, so it too would be damaged)
frontal lobe;
amygdala
Talarico and Rubin (2003) found that which one of these was true about people’s memories about 9/11?
a. both memory for details as well as confidence in memories declined significantly
b. neither memory for details nor confidence in memories declined
c. memory for details declined but not confidence in the memories
d. memory for details did not decline but confidence in the memories did
c. memory for details declined but not confidence in the memories