ch. 8 everyday memory & memory errors Flashcards
Self-image hypothesis
Proposes that memory is enhanced for events that occurs as a person’s self-image or life identify is being formed
Reminiscence bump
Empirical finding that people over 40 yrs old have enhanced memory for events from adolescence &a early adulthood, compared to other periods of their lives
Cultural life script hypothesis
person’s life story become easier to recall when they fit the cultural life script for that person’s culture
Amygdala
Subcrotical structure that is involved in processing emotional aspects of experience, including memory for emotional events
Cognitive hypothesis
Encoding is better during periods of rapid change, followed by stability
Weapon focus
Tendency to focus attention on a weapon during the commission of a crime, which is typically a high-emotion situation
Flashbulb memory
Refers to a person’s memory for the circumstances surrounding shocking events
Surrounding how a person heard about an event, not memory for the event itself
Repeated recall
Technique of comparing later memories to memories collected immediately after the event
Narrative rehearsal hypothesis
Idea that we remember some life events better because we rehearse them
Explanation for the “flashbulb” memories
Constructive nature of memory
It idea that what people repot as memories are constructed based on what actually happened plus additional factors such as expectations, other knowledge & other life experiences
Source monitoring error
Misidentifying the source of a memory
Failure to distinguish the source of the information
Cryptoamnesia
Unconscious plagiarism of the work of others
Associated with errors in source monitoring
Pragmatic inference
Occurs when reading a sentence leads a person to expect something that is not explicitly stated
These inferences are based on knowledge gained through experience
Schema
A person’s knowledge about some aspect of the environment
We develop schemes through our experiences in different situations (ex. Visiting a post office, going to a ball game, listening to the lecture)
Misinformation effect
Misleading information presented after the person witness an event changes how the person describes that event later
Misleading post event information (MPI)
Misleading information that causes the misinformation effect
Retroactive interference
Occurs when more recent learning (misinformation for this example) interferes with the memory for something that happened in the past (actual event)
Eyewitness testimony
Testimony by eyewitness to a crime about what they saw during commission of the crime
Post identification feedback effect
Increases the confidence of memory recall due to confirming feedback after making an identification, as in a police lineup
Cognitive interview
Interviewing a crime scene witnesses that involves letting witnesses talk with a minimum of interruption
Also uses techniques that help witnesses recreate the situation present at the crime scene by having them place themselves back in the scene & recreate emotions they were feeling, where they were looking &a how the scene may have appeared when viewed from different perspectives
