Chapter 11 Flashcards
Autobiographical memory
Memory across the lifespan for both specific events and self-related information
Reminiscence bump
The tendency in participants over 40 to show a high rate of recollecting personal experiences from their late teens and early twenties
Life narrative
A coherent and integrated account of one’s life that is claimed to form the basis of autobiographical memory retrieval. A life narrative provides an organized set of schemas with which key episodic events can be integrated, both increasing the changes of consolidation, and making memory retrieval efficient
Autobiographical knowledge base
Facts about ourselves and our past that form the basis for autobiographical memory
Working self
A concept proposed by Conway to account for the way in which autobiographical knowledge is accumulated and used
Autonoetic consciousness
A term proposed by Tulving for self-awareness, allowing the rememberer to reflect on the contents of episodic memory
Flashbulb memory
Detailed, vivid and apparently highly accurate memory of a dramatic experience
Fading affect bias
The consistent tendency for negative memories, over time, to lose affective intensity at a higher rate than positive memories
HSAM is the acronym for…
Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory
What is the meaning of HSAM?
Memory cases in which people exhibit extraordinary memory for everyday autobiographical events over many years
SDAM
“Severely deficient autobiographical memory”
- Neuropsychological condition in which otherwise high functioning individuals nevertheless are largely unable to remember autobiographical experiences of re-experience them
Fugue state
A form psychogenic amnesia in which a person abruptly loses access to all autobiographical memories from their life, and their personal identity, often resulting in a period of wandering without knowledge of how they got to a location or why. This condition often resolves quickly (within days or weeks)
Fugue-to-FRA
A distinct form of psychogenic amnesia which starts with fugue, but is followed by recovery or relearning of identity, but with persistent and long-lasting deficits in autobiographical memories, especially older ones
Focal retrograde amnesia (FRA)
A distinct form of psychogenic amnesia without fugue or significant loss of identity, but with an abrupt loss of autobiographical memories that can be extensive and persisting
Gaps in memory
A distinct form of psychogenic amnesia without fugue or significant loss of personal identity, but with an abrupt loss of discrete periods of time, ranging from hours to months. Multiple gaps may be present
Reverse temporal gradient
The tendency, in focal retrograde amnesia, for the oldest autobiographical memories to be forgotten more than more recent ones, the opposite to what is shown in organic amnesia
PTSD is the acronym for ____ ____ ____ ____, and it stands for…
Post-traumatic stress disorder; Anxiety disorder whereby a dramatic and stressful event such as rape results in persistent anxiety, often accompanied by vivid flashback memories of the event
Posterior midline cortex
An area adjacent to and including the posterior cingulate cortex, often including the precuneus and retrosplenial cortex, which appears to be critical for autobiographical memory retrieval, especially for the reinstatement of vivid visual-spatial details.
Positivity bias
Positive memories enjoy grater accessibility than do unpleasant memories
Patients with HSAM show evidence of enhanced ____-____ connectivity
Prefrontal-hippocampal
SDAM is often associated with deficits in ____ ____, and with reduced activity in brain structures relating to ___-____ processing
Mental imagery; visual-spatial
Focal retrograde amnesia patients exhibit a ____ ____ ____ in their forgetting
Reverse temporal gradient
Autobiographical memory and ____ memory are clearly related but may also be ____ in important ways
Episodic; distinct
In Wagenaar’s study about ____ method (1986), he found that ____ cues improved retrieval, specifically the ____ and ____ cues were better than “when” cues.
Diary; more; who; what
Pros and cons to the diary method
Pro: Allows the unique events of a person’s life to be test stimuli
Con: May encourage unusually deep levels of processing; writing memory down may improve memory
Memory Probe Method
Participants are given a word, and asked to recall a relevant memory
Gluck and Bluck (2007) collected life memories form ~650 participants. They found that people generally remembered their ____ memories in their ____ life (10). On the other hand, ____ memories have a slight increase in their ____ life (40-50).
Positive; early; negative; late
Rubin Groth and Goldsmith (1984) wanted to study if cues need to be words. What were their findings?
They used smells to cue memories, and found that smell-cued memories were earlier and more emotional than word-cued memories
Berntsen and Thomsen (2005) found that participants who were involved in the Danish resistance had ____ accuracy scores for invasion/liberation memories, which suggests that flashbulb memories are motivated by strong ____ and ____ relevance
Higher; social; emotional
Neisse and Harsch (1992) wanted to examine how accurate are ____ memories. They surveyed participants one day after Challenger disaster, then two and a half years later. They found a substantial ____ in accuracy after time has passed.
Flashbulb; decrease
Talarico and Rubin (2003) asked participants to recall memories of 9.11 and everyday events, and in both cases they were cued with their own previous recollections. They found that as days passed, there is a ____ in consistency and ____ in inconsistency in both forms of memory
Decrease; increase
Bernsten (1996) conducted a ____ study to determine emotional valence of ____ memories. What was his results?
Diary; involuntary; he found that most memories are “positive” and “neutral”, followed by “highly positive” and “negative”, with the least being “highly negative”.
In Walker, Vogl, and Thomspon’s study about the fading affect bias (1997), they found that ____ memories had a greater ____ in affect intensity.
Unpleasant; decrease
The study by Conway, Wang, Hanyu, and Haque (2005) revealed that the ____ ____ is found across cultures and countries.
Reminiscence bump
Psychogenic amnesia
Amnesia which is not caused by a neurological cause, involves forgetting and gaps in autobiographical memory. It is extremely rare, but contains multiple patterns of symptoms classified by what cannot be retrieved
Flashback
Re-experiencing a memory vividly and involuntarily
Storm and Job (2012) conducted a study to examine whether ____ ____ is the result of reporting bias or due to difficulty accessing negative memories. What were their result?
Positivity bias; Increasing retrieval-induced forgetting decreased autobiographical recall of negative memories
