Chapter 8 Flashcards
autobiographical memory
memory for specific events from a person’s life, which can include both episodic and semantic components
2 characteristics of autobiographical memory
- they are multidimensional
- we remember some events in our lives better than others
highly superior autobiographical memory
autobiographical memory capacity possessed by some people who can remember personal experiences that occurred on any specific day from their past
multidimensional nature of autobiographical memory
memories are multidimensional because they contains aspects like, hearing, touch, taste, vision, smells, spatial components and thoughts and emotions
reminiscence bump
- the finding that people over 40 years old have enhanced memory for events from adolescence and early adulthood, compared to other periods of their lives
- this may be due to the idea that special events happen during adolescence and young adulthood
self-image hypothesis
proposes that memory is enhanced for events that occur as a person’s self-image or life identity is being formed
cognitive hypothesis
- proposes that periods of rapid change that are followed by stability causes stronger encoding of memories
- adolescence and young adulthood fit this description because the rapid changes
cultural life script hypothesis
- the idea that events in a person’s life story become easier to recall when they fit the cultural life script for that person’s culture
- this has been cited to explain the reminiscence bump
cultural life script
culturally expected events that occur at a particular time in the life span
youth bias
the tendency for the most notable public events in a person’s life to be perceived to occur when the person is young (before 30)
memory and emotion
- emotions and memory are intertwined
- emotions are often associated with “special” events, such as beginning or ending relationships or events experienced by many people simultaneously
- there is also an idea that emotions are associated with better memory and has also been linked to improved memory consolidation
- better memory for emotionally arousing words
amygdala
- a subcortical structure that is involved in processing emotional aspects of experience, including memory for emotional events
- amygdala helps us remember events associated with emotions
stress hormones and memory
stress hormones released after emotional experience increases consolidation
flashbulb memory
- memory for the circumstances that surround hearing about shocking, highly charged events
- memories surrounding flashbulb events are especially vivid, but they are often inaccurate or lacking in detail
- e.g. a flashbulb memory for 9/11 would be memory for where a person was and what they were doing when they found out
repeated recall
- recall that is tested immediately after an event and then retested at various times after the event
- has shown that flashbulb memories are not like photographs like previously suggested
narrative rehearsal hypothesis
rehearsing the events in one’s mind makes the memory vulnerable to being modified
constructive nature of memory
- the idea that what people report as memories are constructed based on what actually happened plus additional factors, such as expectations, other knowledge, and other life experiences
- an aspect of the constructive nature of memory is illustrated by the phenomenon of source monitoring
source monitoring
- the process by which people determine the origins of memories, knowledge, or beliefs
- it is an example of the constructive nature of memory because when we remember something, we retrieve the memory and then determine where that memory came from
- e.g. remembering that you heard about something from a particular person would be an example of source monitoring
source monitoring error
- misidentifying the source of a memory
- aka source misattribution
- common and we are often unaware of them
- e.g. you decided you first heard about a movie from a review you read online but in reality you first heard about it from your friend
cryptomnesia
- unconscious plagiarism of the work of other
- an example of source monitoring error
jacoby et al. (1989) source monitoring
demonstrated a connection between source monitoring errors and familiarity by testing participants’ ability to distinguish between famous and non famous names
schema
- knowledge of a scene/environment
- can lead to false recall and recognition
- memory influences people’s schemas
- e.g. Deese-Roediger-McDermott Paradigm
script
- knowledge of the sequence of actions that occur during a certain situation
- can influence our memory by setting up expectations about what usually happens in a particular situation
- e.g. your coffee shop script might be waiting in line, ordering a drink and pastry from the barista, receiving the pastry, paying, and waiting near “pickup” for your drink
illusory truth effect
repeated presentation increases fluency/ease of remembering the statement and influences people’s judgments