Cognitive Exam 3 Flashcards
1
Q
Autobiographical Memory
A
- Memory for specific experiences from our lives
- Contains both episodic and semantic memories
- Multidimensional
Spatial, emotional, and sensory components - On a continuum
2
Q
Memory of life span what we remember
A
- Personal milestones
- Highly emotional events
- Events that become significant parts of life
- Transition points
3
Q
Reminiscence Bump
A
- Finding that people 40+ show enhanced memory for events that happened b/w age 10-30
4
Q
Memory and Emotion
A
- Emotion and memory are often intertwined
Especially for special events
5
Q
Amygdala and Emotion
A
- Higher amygdala activation for emotional pics
- Amygdala damage inhibits memory for emotions
6
Q
Memory Consolidation
A
- Stress hormones released after an emotional experience increased consolidation of memory for that experience
7
Q
Attention and emotion
A
- Emotions can focus attention on important objects
- Cost of drawing attention away from other objects causes reduced memory for those objects
8
Q
Weapon Focus Effect
A
- Focus attention on weapon during a crime
- Reduces memory for other aspects of the crime
- High stress impairs memory and consequently decreases rate of correct ID
9
Q
Flashbulb Memory
A
- Person’s memory for the circumstances surrounding shocking, highly charged events
- Remembered for long periods
- Especially vivid and detailed
10
Q
Flashbulb Memory Study Conclusion
A
- Remembered fewer details and made more errors over time
- Little difference between flashbulb memories and everyday memories in terms of accuracy
- However, subjects believed flashbulb memories were more accurate over time
- Flashbulb memories also stayed more vivid and re-livable
11
Q
Overall memory and emotions
A
Emotions enhance ability to remember an event occurred and some general characteristics, but do not enhance memory for details
12
Q
Factors that affect flashbulb memory
A
- Emotion
- Rehearsal
- Media coverage
Narrative Rehearsal Hypothesis
13
Q
Narrative Rehearsal Hypothesis
A
- May remember FB events not because of special mechanism, but because we rehearse them afterward
- Rehearsal through tv replays months afterward
- May focus more on tv coverage than how you heard
14
Q
Constructed nature of memory
A
- Reported memories are based on what actually happened and additional factors such as person’s knowledge, experiences, and expectations
- Mind constructs memory based on multiple sources of info
15
Q
Memory Construction (4)
A
- People shorten and reorganize memories to make more sense
- Relate new experiences to past beliefs and cultural experience
- Inconsistent ideas tend to be forgotten or altered
- Memory is constructed from the actual experience/event and other sources
16
Q
Source Monitoring
A
- Process of determining thr origins of our memories, knowledge, or beliefs
- Shows memory is constructive
1st remember memory
Determine where it came from
17
Q
Source Monitoring Error
A
- Misidentifying the source of a memory
- Source misattribution
18
Q
Importance of Source Monitoring Errors
A
The mechanisms responsible for them are also involved in creating memories in general
19
Q
Memories are made up of
A
- Info from actual event (primary source) AND
Perceptual experience
Emotions
World Knowledge
Things that happened before/after event
20
Q
Schema
A
A person’s knowledge about some aspect of the environment
- Gained through experience
21
Q
Script
A
- Our conception of the sequence of actions that usually occurs during a particular experience
- A type of schema
- Influences memory by setting up expectations
22
Q
Expectations and Memory
A
- What we expect to see influences what we actually see and how we remember it
- Enable us to process efficiently
- We know what to expect, we don’t have to treat each situation as completely new
- If info is lacking or insufficiently encoded, we often rely on schemas and scripts to fill in gaps in out memory
- Schemas and scripts can lead to memory errors
23
Q
Prior Knowledge and Memory
A
- Prior knowledge and beliefs intrude on and get mixed in with memories of observed events
- Memories are made up of (1) what actually happened and (2) top-down processes
- Memory is constructive
24
Q
Misinformation Effect
A
- Misleading information represented after a person witnesses an event becomes incorporated into the reconstruction of an event memory
- The effect increases
As time passes
When the ruse is more subtle
When people are emotional
When questioning children or the elderly - Enhanced by repeated questioning/remembering
25
Reconsolidation Effect
Remembering causes reactivation of memory and once reactivated, becomes fragile and subject to change until reconsolidation
26
False Childhood memories
Can be created by suggestion
27
Malleability of Memory
- Using strong suggestion you can get someone to incorrectly believe something
28
Gary Roma Case Study
- Daughter in therapy
- Suggestion by therapist led daughter to believe that she had been raped by her dad
- In therapy for depression and bulimia
- Therapist said that those with eating disorders usually had been sexually abused as kids
- Placed into group therapy with people that had been sexually abused
- Dad lost job, reputation, friends, and his 3 kids
- Dad sued the therapist for creating false memories and won
Conclusion: Memory is influenced by suggestion, # of criminal convictions based on recovered memories have been reversed
29
Repressed and Recovered Memories
- One reason people may believe that memories are repressed is due to mis-attribution of source
- Some believe that recovered memories are often false memories
- Source memory error is when familiar information is linked to the wrong source
30
PTSD and Memory
- Majority of traumatic memories aren’t forgotten
- May even manifest as flashbacks (PTSD)
31
Freud and Memory
Defense mechanism repression proposed by Freud has no research support
32
Problematic therapy techniques
- Hynposis
- Sodium amytal
- Suggestion
- Imagery-based techniques
33
Mandela Effect
- Widespread false memories many people share
- Coined by Fiona Broome
- Generally harmless
- Some believe some of these are connected with conspiracy theories and/or political agendas
34
Why mandela effect happens
- Not sure why it happens, but some clues:
- Lack of attention to common everyday objects
- Filling in the gaps with previous knowledge, schemas, etc
- Many memory errors are reliable
- Source monitoring errors
35
Variables that affect eyewitness accuracy
- Estimator
- System
36
Estimator Variables
- Factors outside the control of the legal system
- Ex. Characteristics of the witness, lighting, distance, duration of crime
- Help to estimate accuracy of an ID
37
System Variables
- Factors that are under control of justice system
- Ex. Type and order of questioning, lineup procedure, instructions
38
Face identification
People are not as good at remembering faces as we think
39
Stress and Memory
- Arousing events may lead to vivid memories, but details may be no more accurate than mundane events
- ID more likely to be correct in low stress
- Memory for persons that are personally relevant, highly stressful, and realistic may be subject to MUCH ERROR
- Stress exposure can impair working memory and visuospatial processing
- High stress impairs memory and consquently decreases rate of correct ID
40
Alcohol and Memory
- Moderate doses of alcohol can cause a less complete recollection
- No less accurate
- No more prone to reporting false information
41
Alcohol Myopia
- Cognitive theory that describes how alcohol consumption affects perception, attention, and decision making
- Alcohol narrows a person’s cognitive focus
- Ignore broader context and social cures
- Less likely to consider long-term consequences or social norms
- May overestimate their abilities and underestimate consquences
42
Alcohol and Memory Recall
- Level of alcohol consumption significantly affects memory recall
- Higher levels of intoxication lead to greater memory impairment
- Intoxication can lead to decreased confidence in one’s memory, even if the information recalled is accurate
43
Post-identification feedback
- Increase in confidence due to confirming feedback after suspect ID
44
Best way to present a lineup
- Use sequential vs simultaneous presentation
Simultaneous: who is the most like the person I saw
Sequential: Compare each pic to person you saw
- Blind lineup administrator
Eliminates possibility that post-event feedback could increase confidence
45
Cognitive Interview
- Original used techniques to put witness back in the scene
- Recreate emotions
- Where they were looking
- Main goal
Encourages witness to talk with no interruption
Reduces suggestive input by interviewer
46
EAR Witness Memory
- Person’s ability to identify perpetrator’s voice
- Used in situations where perp’s face could not be seen
- Or if the perp said the same thing to multiple victims
47
CSI effect
- Idea that crime TV shows have influenced the public’s perception of forensic science and the criminal justice system
- May give jurors unrealistic expectations about the availability and reliability of forensic evidence
- May give jurors unrealistic expectations about timeline
48
Mozart Effect
- Listen to Mozart music for 10 minutes they did better on spatial intelligence test
- No effect on general intelligrance, effect short-lived
- Classical music at a young age will do better on SAT and intelligence tests
49
Intelligence
- Does not have a universal meaning
- People define intelligence in terms of the qualities that enable success in their time and culture
- Intelligence is a socially constructed idea
- Ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations
50
General Intelligence
- Charles Spearman believed in 1 general intelligence that is at the heart of intelligent behavior
- General Intelligence
Underlies all mental abilities and is measured by every task on an intelligence test
51
Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CAC) Theory
- Includes general intelligence factor, but identified more specific abilities:
Reading and writing ability
Memory capacity
Processing speed
52
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences (8)
- 8 relatively independent intelligences
Linguistic
Logical-math
Musical
Spatial
Naturalist
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
Bodily-kinesthetic
53
Savant Syndrome
- People have an extraordinary specific skill but often score low on intelligence tests and may have limited or no language ability
54
Sternberg’s 3 Intelligences
Analytic (academic problem solving)
- Well-defined problems with 1 answer
Creative
- Ability to adapt to new situations and generate novel ideas
Practical
- For everyday tasks that are poorly defined and have multiple answers
55
Social Intelligence
- The ability to understand social situations and manage yourself successfully
- Proposed by Edward Throndike
- Critical part is emotional intelligence
56
Emotional Intelligence
- Perceiving emotions: recognizing them in faces, music, stories
- Understanding emotions: Predicting them and how they may blend and change
- Managing emotions: Knowing how to express them in different situations
- Using emotions: To enable adaptive or creative thinking
57
Crystallized Intelligence
- Our accumulated knowledge as reflected in vocabulary and analogies tests
- Increases with age
58
Fluid Intelligence
- Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly, as when solving logic problems
- Decreases beginning in 20s/30s slowly up to 75
- More rapid decrease after 85
59
Criticisms of Multiple Intelligences
- There is a general intelligence factor
Good predictor of tasks, jobs, education
- If split too much, concept of intelligence kind of loses meaning
- Stretches concept of intelligence too far
- Other intelligence or other aptitudes?
60
Intelligence Tests
- Assess people’s mental aptitudes and compares them with those of others, using numerical scores
- Two types
Achievement and Aptitude
61
Achievement Tests
- Intended to reflect what you’ve learned
- Final exam
62
Aptitude tests
- Intended to predict your ability to learn some new skill
- Predicts future performance, capacity to learn
- Ex. College entrance exams
63
Mental Age
- Level of performance typically associated with kids of a certain age
- Assumes kids follow same course of intelligence development, but some develop more/less rapidly
