Chapter 8: Remembering Complex Events

Question 1

Schema

Answer 1

Knowledge describing what is typical or frequent in a particular situation. For example, a “kitchen schema” would stipulate that a stove and fridge are likely to be present, whereas a coffeemaker may or may not be present, and a piano is likely not to be present.

Question 2

Misinformation Effect

Answer 2

An effect in which reports about an earlier event are influenced by misinformation that the person received after experiencing the event. In the extreme, misinformation can be used to create false memories concerning an event that actually never occurred.

Question 3

Retention Interval

Answer 3

The amount of time that passes between the initial learning of some material and the subsequent memory retrieval of that material.

Question 4

Decay Theory of Forgetting

Answer 4

The hypothesis that with the passage of time, memories may erode or fade,

Question 5

Interference Theory

Answer 5

The hypothesis that materials are lost from memory because of interference from other materials that are also in memory. Interference caused by materials learned prior to the learning episode is called “proactive interference”; interference caused by materials learned after the learning episode is called “retroactive interference”.

Question 6

Retrieval Failure

Answer 6

A mechanism that probably contributes to a great deal of forgetting. Retrieval failure occurs when a memory is, in fact, in long-term storage but the person is unable to locate that memory when trying to retrieve it.

Question 7

TOT Phenomenon

Answer 7

An often-observed effect in which people are unable to remember a particular word, even though they are certain that the word (typically identified via its definition) is in their vocabulary. People in this state often can remember the starting letter for the word and its number of syllables, and they insist that the word is on the “tip of their tongue”.

Question 8

Autobiographical Memory

Answer 8

The aspect of memory that records the episodes and events in a person’s life.

Question 9

Consolidation

Answer 9

The biological process though which new memories are “cemented in place”, acquiring some degree of permanence through the creation of new (or altered) neural connections.

Question 10

Flashbulb Memories

Answer 10

A memory of extraordinary clarity, typically for some highly emotional event, that is retained over many years. Despite their remarkable vividness, flashbulb memories are sometimes inaccurate.