Chapter 7: Reliability of Memory Part 1

Question 1

List the 4 measures of retention:

Answer 1

• Recall
• Recognition
• Relearning
• Reconstruction

Question 2

What is free recall? Give an example:

Answer 2

Involves reproducing as much info as possible in no particular order.
Eg. When you tell your parents what you did at school.

Question 3

What is serial recall? Give an example:

Answer 3

Involves reproducing info in the order in which it was presented.
Eg. Remembering the alphabet.

Question 4

What is cued recall? Give an example:

Answer 4

Involves the use of specific prompts (cues) to aid retrieval and therefore reproduction of the required info.
Eg. Remembering the names of the 7 dwarves with the 1st letter of their names given.

Question 5

What is recall?

Answer 5

Involves reproducing info stored in memory with or without the use of retrieval cues.

Question 6

What is memory reconstruction?

Answer 6

Generally involves combining stored info with other available info to form what is believed to be a more coherent, complete, or accurate memory.
-Is an active process

Question 7

List the 3 types of recall:

Answer 7

• Free recall
• Serial recall
• Cued recall

Question 8

What is recognition? Give an example:

Answer 8

Involves identifying the correct info from among alternatives.
Eg. Remembering the names of the 7 dwarves with a list of true and false names.

Question 9

What is relearning, what does it mean if info is relearned quickly, and what is relearning also called and why? Give an example:

Answer 9

Involves learning info again that has been previously learned and stored in LTM.
-If info is learned more quickly the 2nd time, it is assumed that some info must have been retained from the 1st learning experience.
-Also called the method of savings because it can be used to measure the amount of info ‘saved’ from previous learning
Eg. It will be easier to relearn Italian because I have already learned it in school.

Question 10

What is the equation of relearning-saving scores?

Answer 10

SS=(T1-T2)/T1×100%
T1= Time or trials for original learning
T2= Time or trials relearning
SS= Saving score

Question 11

List what memory reconstruction is influenced by:

Answer 11

• Pre-existing knowledge
• Psychological state
• Expectations
• Personal expectations
• Cues in the environment
• Assumptions
• Values
• Motivations

Question 12

Why does reconstruction occur?

Answer 12

If a memory has gaps or is not clear, we tend to add info that helps ensure the retrieved memory is complete and ‘makes sense’.

Question 13

How do errors and distortions creep into memories?

Answer 13

• When we form a long-term memory, we actively encode and organise the elements and details of the experience throughout different areas of the brain.
• These are linked together within neural networks or pathways
• When we later attempt to access the memory, we do not retrieve a simple ‘readout’ of the entire memory
• Instead, we retrieve the encoded elements and actively reconstruct the memory

Question 14

What is an eye-witness testimony?

Answer 14

Any firsthand account given by an individual of an event they have seen.

Question 15

Why cannot eyewitness testimonies be regarded as infallible and why do distortions occur?

Answer 15

Eyewitness memories can be altered by post-event exposure to inaccurate info introduced during questioning.
-Distortions occur due to leading questions that contain ‘misleading’ info

Question 16

What is a leading question? Give an example:

Answer 16

A question phrased in a way that suggests what the desired answer is.
Eg. How fast was the car going when it ran into the stop sign? (presumption that there was a stop sign)

Question 17

Describe Loftus’ leading question research (study no. 1):

Answer 17

• Participants were shown clips of car accidents
• Participants were asked about ‘How fast were the cars going when they (smashed/collided/bumped/hit/contacted) each other?’
• Participants’ estimates of speed were influenced by how the questions were asked

Question 18

Describe Loftus’ leading question research (study no. 2):

Answer 18

• Participants viewed accident footage
• Participants were asked about ‘How fast were the cars when they (hit/smashed) each other?’
• One group was not asked about the speed of the cars
• A week later the participants were asked the question ‘did you see any broken glass’ even though there was no broken glass
• Participants ‘recollection’ of seeing glass was influenced by how the speed question was asked
• Suffered source confusion where they were unable to distinguish real info from false info given after the event

Question 19

What is brain trauma, what are its 2 types, and how can it occur?

Answer 19

Any brain injury that impairs with the normal functioning of the brain.

1. Congenital- Inherited
2. Acquired- Occur sometime after birth
   - Head impact, stroke, infection, lack of oxygen, drug use, tumour or neurodegeneration

Question 20

What is a neurodegenerative disease? What happens to neurons? Give an example:

Answer 20

A disorder characterised by the progressive decline in the structure, activity, and function of brain tissue.
-Neurons gradually become damaged and deteriorate, losing function
Eg. Alzheimer’s disease

Question 21

What is amnesia and what does it often result from?

Answer 21

The loss of memory that is inconsistent with ordinary forgetting.

• May be partial or complete, temporary or permanent
• Brain trauma often results in amnesia

Question 22

What is the effect anterograde amnesia (antero=forward)?

Answer 22

Causes the loss of memory for info or events after the trauma occurs.

• People lose the ability to form or store new LTM
• Little difficulty retrieving memories from before the brain injury

Question 23

How does damage to the hippocampus affect short-term memory?

Answer 23

Is still functional, since the hippocampus is not involved in STM encoding, storage, or functioning other than possibly the transfer of info about facts and events from STM to LTM.
-Unable to remember anything that leaves STM

Question 24

How does damage to the hippocampus affect semantic and episodic (explicit) memory?

Answer 24

May affect the formation of these memories and their transfer to the cerebral cortex for storage.
-Incapable of forming new long-term semantic or episodic memories

Question 25

How does damage to the hippocampus affect procedural (implicit) memory?

Answer 25

Able to learn hand-eye coordination skills required, without the memory of learning them.

Question 26

How does damage to the hippocampus affect classically conditioned (implicit) memory?

Answer 26

Absence of hippocampi has little or no effect on the acquisition or retention of conditioned simple reflexive responses through conventional classical conditioning procedures.
-Hippocampus is not required for classical conditioning or storage of these simple motor responses