ch 9 Flashcards
The Manufacture of Memory
Refers to the capacity to retain and retrieve
information, and to the changes in the
structures that account for this capacity.
Reconstructive Process
Reconstructive Process
Memory is an active process.
Remember simple information by rote.
Complex information is often altered to make
sense of the material, based on what we already
know.
Source amnesia
The inability to distinguish what you originally
experienced from what you heard or were told about
an event.
H.M. & Reconstructing Memories
Initial Event:
H.M. ate a chocolate Valentine’s Day heart
Stuck the shiny, red wrapper in his pocket
Reconstruction #1:
“Well, it could have been wrapped around a big chocolate heart. It must be
Valentine’s Day”.
Reconstruction #2:
“Well, it could have been wrapped around a big chocolate rabbit. It must be
Easter.”
The Fading Flashbulb
Flashbulb Memories
Vivid recollections of shocking or emotional
events.
Example: tsunamis, explosions, or a violent
shootout.
Reconstructive Process
Remember the central aspects of flashbulb
memories.
Errors affect the details of these memories.
Talarico & Rubin (2003)
Compared ordinary memories with flashbulb
memories.
Initial Questioning:
54 students asked to report the details they
remember about 9/11 and a mundane event
that occurred prior to 9/11.
1, 6, or 32 weeks later:
Questioned about the details.
Completed a questionnaire that measured the
vividness of their memories, and their.
Confidence in the accuracy of these memories.
Talarico & Rubin (2003)
The students reported that flashbulb memories
were more vivid than mundane memories.
They also felt more confident in the accuracy of
flashbulb memories compared to mundane
memories.
Students confidence in flashbulb memories was
misplaced.
Details reported by students became less and
less consistent for both types of memories.
Confabulation
Confusion of an event that happened to someone
else with one that happened to you or
remembering an event when it never actually
happened.
The Conditions of Confabulation
1. Imagination Inflation The more you imagine an event, the more likely you are to believe that you were actually there. 2. Numerous Details Real events tend to produce more details than imagined events. However, the longer you imagine an event, the more details you are likely to add. 3. Easy to imagine If forming an image of an event takes little effort, we tend to think the memory is real. 4. Focus on Emotional Reactions Strong emotional reactions to an imagined event, often convince us that the events really happened.
Eyewitness Testimony
Eyewitness testimony is not always reliable, even when
the witness is confident about the accuracy of their
report.
Mistaken identification increases when:
Suspect and witness differ in ethnicity.
Interviewer employs leading questions, suggestive
comments, and misleading information.
Loftus and Palmer (1974)
Showed participants short films depicting car collisions.
Afterward, researchers asked some participants: “About
how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?”
Other participants were asked the same question, but
with the verb changed to: smashed, collided, bumped,
or contacted
Smashed= 657.7 km/h
Collided= 63.3 km/h
Bumped= 61.3 km/h
Hit= 54.7 km/h
Contacted= 51.2 km/h
Loftus and Zanni (1975)
Showed participants short films depicting car collisions.
Afterward, participants were asked questions about
events that had occurred on film.
Questions contained either:
1. An indefinite article. For example: Did you see a broken
headlight?
2. A definite article: Did you see the broken headlight?
Leading questions influenced participant recall.
Participants who were asked leading questions:
Produced fewer uncertain responses: For Example
“I don’t know”.
More “recognition” of events that never occurred.
For Example: “Yes, I saw the broken headlight.”
Children’s Testimony
Should children’s testimony of traumatic experiences
(e.g., sexual abuse) be trusted?
Children do recollect most events accurately.
Children’s recollections are influenced by
leading questions, suggestive comments, and
misleading information.
Probability of false memories increases when the interviewer:
Seeks confirming evidence and ignores other explanations.
Uses techniques that encourage imagination inflation.
Pressures or encourages the child to agree with them.
Uses bribes or threats to encourage the child to agree with them.
Garven (1998)
Initial Event
Young man visits children at their preschool, reads a story,
and hands out treats.
No inappropriate or aggressive actions occurred.
Interview Period
Experimenter questions the children about the man’s visit.
Group 1= leading questions
Group 2= leading questions influence techniques
Implicit Memory
Unconscious retention in memory, that affects our
current thoughts and actions.
Priming
Read or listen to information.
Later tested to see whether the previously learned
information affects performance on the same or another
type of task.
Implicit Memory
Relearning method
First Exposure: Presented with new information.
Second Exposure: Relearn information.
Master the information more quickly during second exposure.
Models of Memory
Wax Tablet
Memory traces left my experiences.
Library
Storing specific events and facts in an organized fashion
for later retrieval.
Video Camera
Every moment in our lives automatically recorded.
Models of Memory
Memory traces left my experiences.
Library
Storing specific events and facts in an organized fashion
for later retrieval.
Video Camera
Every moment in our lives automatically recorded.
Information Processing Model
Encode
Acquiring information and converting it to a memory record.
Store
Maintaining the record over time.
Represented as concepts, images, or cognitive schemas.
Retrieve
Recovering the information for use.
Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP)
Represents the contents of memory as connections
among a huge number of interacting processing units,
distributed in a vast network and all operating in parallel.
Similar to the parallel activity of neurons in the human
brain.
The Three-Box Model Of Memory
Information Processing Model
Sensory Memory 1. Large capacity 2. Contains sensory information 3. Very brief retention of images: Up to ½ sec for visual and 2 sec for auditory
Short Term Memory (STM) 1. Limited capacity 2. Brief storage of items: Up to 30 sec if no rehearsal 3. Involved in conscious processing of information
Long Term Memory 1. Unlimited Capacity 2. Storage thought by some to be permanent 3. Information thought to be organized and indexed
Sensory Memory
Momentarily preserves accurate images of sensory
information.
Provides a brief time to select specific items for
attention.
Includes a memory subsystem for each sense.
Pattern Recognition
Identification of a stimulus on the basis of information
already contained in LTM.
Occurs during the transfer of information from sensory
memory to STM.
Short-term memory (STM)
Limited-capacity memory system.
Maximum of 7 +/- 2 items may be stored.
Holds information for up to 30 seconds without
rehearsal.
Information is either transferred to LTM or it is
lost forever.
Chunking
Grouping small units of information into larger, meaningful units or chunks. Chunks may be a word, phrase, sentence, or visual image. Chunks depends on previous experience.
- Phonological Rehearsal Loop
STM as previously defined in the Information Processing Model.
At work when information is held in STM through rehearsal.
Capacity of about two seconds of material.
- Visuospatical Sketch Pad
Temporarily holds and manipulates visual images.
Example: Mentally rearrange furniture in your living room.
- Executive Control System
Handles the information that people can juggle at one time as they
engage in reasoning and decision making.
Example: Mentally weighing the pros and cons of studying versus going
out with friends.
Long-term memory (LTM)
Memory system involved in the long-term
storage of information.
No limit on the LTM’s holding capacity.
Organization Semantic categories Phonetic categories Word structure Familiarity Relevance Association with other information
Bousfield (1953): Semantic Categories
Participants memorized 60 randomly presented words. Words came from 4 semantic categories animals vegetables names Professions Participants recalled the words in clusters according to the semantic categories
Phonetic Categories and Word Structure
Information in LTM is often organized in terms of the way
words sound or look.
Tip-of-the Tongue Phenomenon
Refers to the experience of feeling that one knows an answer,
yet is unable to produce the word.
Incorrect guesses tend to be similar in meaning, and with the
correct number of syllables, stress pattern, first letter, and
prefix or suffix.
Changes in Neurons and Synapses
Short-term Memory
Neuron’s ability to release.
neurotransmitters is altered temporarily.
Eric Kandel’s Research
Studied sea snails, and sea slugs.
Specific forms of learning in the sea slug
result in a temporary increase or decrease
in the readiness to release
neurotransmitters.
Changes in Neurons and Synapses
Long-term Memory
Involves lasting structural changes in the brain.
Memories may create unique, stable pathways in the brain along which
signals flow.
Long-term Potentiation (LTP)
Long-lasting increase in neural excitability at synapses along a specific
neural pathway.
May be the means by which learning and memory occur in the brain.
Exact biochemical and molecular changes involved are still debated.
Consolidation
The process by which a long-term memory
becomes durable and stable.
Continue for several years in human beings.
May not be a once-and-for all process
Location of Memories
Frontal lobes Short-term memory
Prefrontal cortex, parts of temporal lobes Efficient encoding of words and pictures
Hippocampus Formation of
Long-term Declarative
Memories
Cerebellum Formation and
retention of simple
classically conditioned
responses
Cerebral cortex Storage of Long-term
memories
Hormones and Memory
Certain hormones enhance memory.
Epinephrine released by the adrenal glands during
stress and emotional arousal enhances memory:
Epinephrine causes the level of glucose to rise
in the bloodstream.
Glucose may enhance memory directly or by
altering the effects of neurotransmitters.
Effective Encoding
AUTOMATIC AND EFFORTFUL
Automatic Encoding
Acquiring information and converting it to a memory
record without conscious effort
Effortful Encoding
Focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or
events.
Select main points, label concepts, or associate.
information with personal experiences or material you
already know.
Basic Rehearsal
The review or practice of material while you are learning it.
Preventing rehearsal causes the contents of STM to fade.
Maintenance Rehearsal
Rote repetition of material in order to maintain its availability in memory.
Elaborative Rehearsal
Association of new information with already stored knowledge or new facts.
Analysis of the physical, sensory, or semantic features of an item.
Peterson & Peterson (1959)
Distraction Task
Memorize meaningless groups of letters.
Distraction Task
Immediately afterwards start to count backwards.
Within 18 seconds, participants forget most of the letter groups.
No Distraction Task
Allowed to rehearse items.
Recall performance improved.
Levels of Processing
- Shallow Processing
Structural encoding.
Emphasizes the physical or sensory features of a stimulus.
Example: How many letters are in the word mitten? - Intermediate Processing
Phonemic encoding.
Emphasizes what a word sounds like.
Example: Does the word rhyme with kitten? - Deep Processing
Semantic encoding.
Emphasizes the meaning of verbal stimuli.
Example: What function does a mitten serve?
Verbal Mnemonics
- Narrative Methods - Remembering a list of words by creating a story that
includes the words in the appropriate order. For example:
The wind and rain in combination nearly LOCKED out the rescue
efforts. CAP the flying ace, TOWELed the soap from his eyes,
pulled his GOGGLES from his SUIT pocket, and COMBed the
BRUSH for survivors (Weiten, 2001). - Rhymes - Remembering a list of words by creating a short poem in which
identical or similar sounds are replicated throughout. Example:
30 days has September, April, June, and November.
All the rest have 31 except for February, the shortest one.
Why We Forget
- Forgetting is adaptive
Need to forget to remember efficiently.
Forgetting contributes to our survival, happiness, and
sanity. - Decay Theory
Information in memory eventually disappears if it is not accessed.
Applies to sensory and STM.
Can not entirely explain lapses in LTM. - Replacement Theory
New information entering memory wipes out old information.
Example: Misleading information may replace accurate memories.
- Cue-dependent Forgetting
The inability to retrieve information stored in memory because of
insufficient retrieval cues.
Common in LTM.
State-dependent memory
The tendency to remember something when you are in the same physical
or mental state as during the original learning experience.
- Repression Theory
Psychogenic amnesia
The partial or complete loss of memory (due to
nonorganic causes) for threatening information or
traumatic experiences.
Usually ends after just a few weeks
Traumatic amnesia
Forgetting specific traumatic events, sometimes for
many years.
Memory is recalled with perfect accuracy.
Freud’s Repression
The selective, involuntary pushing of threatening or upsetting information
into the unconscious.
Critiques of Repression Theory
Hard to distinguish repression from normal forgetting.
Reluctance to think about an upsetting experience is not the same as an
inability to remember it.
Recovered memories often surface after therapists suggestive therapy
sessions.
Autobiographical Memories
Memories about our own experiences
Childhood Amnesia
The inability to remember events and experiences
that occurred during the first two or three years of
life. For example: Episodic memory is forgotten.
Explanations of Childhood Amnesia
- Brain areas for memory are not well developed.
- Lack of a sense of self.
- Impoverished encoding.- lack of words to explain something
- Focus on the Routine.
- Children’s ways of thinking about the world.
Autobiographical Narratives
Stories we compose to simplify and make sense of our lives. Have a profound impact on our plans, ambitions, and dreams. Works of interpretation and imagination. Reminiscence Bump People in old age tend to remember more from adolescence and early adulthood than from midlife.
Influence of Sex
Both sexes engage in elaborative encoding and deep processing to retain memories. Sex Females encode more details of events as they occur. These details provide retrieval cues that enhance later recall. Women remember more childhood events.
Influence of Culture
Affects how you encode and how you tell your story.
Individualistic cultures
Lengthy, emotionally elaborate memories of events
that focus on themselves.
Collectivist Cultures
Memories of family or neighbourhood activities,
general routines, and emotionally neutral events.
