Chapter 8 - Everyday memory

Question 1

Saying-is-believing effect

Answer 1

Tailoring a message about an event to suit a given audience causes subsequent inaccuracies in memory for that event.

Question 2

Autobiographical memory

Answer 2

Long-term memory for the events of one’s own life.

Question 3

Mentalising

Answer 3

The ability to perceive and interpret behaviour in terms of mental states (e.g., goals, needs).

Question 4

Highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM)

Answer 4

Exceptional ability to recall autobiographical memories in detail, generally accompanied by only average ability to recall other memories.

Question 5

Flashbulb memories

Answer 5

Vivid and detailed personal memories of dramatic events (e.g., 9/11)

Question 6

Flashbacks

Answer 6

Intense emotional memories of traumatic events that are recalled involuntarily by patients suffering from PTSD.

Question 7

Infantile amnesia

Answer 7

The inability of adults to recall autobiographical memories from early childhood; also known as childhood amnesia.

Question 8

Reminiscence bump

Answer 8

The tendency of older people to recall a disproportionate number of autobiographical memories from adolescence and early adulthood.

Question 9

Hippocampal neurogenesis

Answer 9

The process of generating new neurons in the hippocampus during early development.

Question 10

Life script

Answer 10

A schema-based on cultural expectations concerning the nature and order of a typical person’s major life events.

Question 11

Generative retrieval

Answer 11

Deliberate or voluntary construction of autobiographical memories based on an individual’s current goals

Question 12

Directive retrieval

Answer 12

Effortless recall of autobiographical memories triggered by a specific cue (e.g., being in the same place as the original event)

Question 13

Confirmation bias

Answer 13

A tendency for eyewitnesses’ memory to be distorted by their prior expectations.

Question 14

Misinformation effect

Answer 14

The distorting effect on eyewitness memory of misleading information resented after a crime or other event.

Question 15

Weapon focus effect

Answer 15

The finding that eyewitnesses pay so much attention to the presence of a weapon that they ignore other details and so cannot remember them subsequently.

Question 16

Own-age bias

Answer 16

The tendency for eyewitnesses to identify the culprit more often when they are of similar age to the eyewitness than when they are of a different age.

Question 17

Unconscience transference

Answer 17

The tendency of eyewitnesses to misidentify a familiar (but innocent) face as being the person responsible for a crime.

Question 18

Other-race effect

Answer 18

The finding that recognition memory for same-race faces is generally more accurate than for other-race faces.

Question 19

Retrospective memory

Answer 19

Memory for events, people and so on experienced in the past; see prospective memory

Question 20

Prospective memory

Answer 20

Remembering to carry out some intended action in the absence of an explicit reminder to do so; see retrospective memory.

Question 21

Time-based prospective memory

Answer 21

A form of prospective memory which involves remembering to carry out an intended action at the appropriate time.

Question 22

Event-based prospective memory

Answer 22

A form of prospective memory that involves remembering to perform an intended action (buying groceries) when the circumstances are appropriate.

Question 23

Ongoing task

Answer 23

A task performed at the same time as a prospective-memory task in studies on prospective memory.

Question 24

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

Answer 24

An anxiety disorder in which the symptoms include unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviours (compulsions) in response to those thoughts.

Question 25

Meta-memory

Answer 25

Beliefs and knowledge about one’s own memory including strategies for learning and memory.

Question 26

Focal task

Answer 26

An ongoing task that involves similar processing to that involved in encoding the target in a prospective-memory task performed at the same time.

Question 27

Non-focal task

Answer 27

An ongoing task that involves different processes to those involved in encoding the target on a prospective-memory task performed at the same time.

Question 28

Meta-cognition

Answer 28

Beliefs and knowledge concerning one’s own cognitive processes and likely level of performance.

Question 29

Implementation intentions

Answer 29

Action plans designed consciously to achieve some goal (healthier eating) based on specific information concerning where, when and how the goal will be achieved.