Everyday Memories and Memory Errors Flashcards
Which memory system is associated with declarative memory?
Which memory system is associated with non-declarative memory?
Hippocampus or the Medial Temporal Lobe -declarative
Caudate Nucleus in the Basal Ganglia - non-declarative
How does moderate stress affect physiological activities of memory formation?
key word: moderate
The moderate stress activates the amygdala, increasing the resources available to both the hippo and caudate, for encoding the current experience.
You are training a rat to go to the South arm of a plus maze. During training you start the rat in the East arm. Prior to training you inject the hippocampus with a drug that impairs the functioning of the hippocampus.
Pick the maze arm you expect the rat to go into on a test starting in the West arm after 10 training trials.
It would go the opposite direction to North because the injection impaired it’s explicit memory.
Imagine you could do brain imaging (fMRI) of a human while he or she performed a video game version of the Morris water maze task.
For your shocked participants, what would you expect to see with hippocampal activation and latency… compared to your non-shocked participants in scans taken during training and behaviorally at a later test?
Little hippocampal activation and long latencies to find the platform
Imagine you could do brain imaging (fMRI) of a human while he or she performed a video game version of the Morris water maze task.
In addition you have been given approval to chemically deactivate the amygdala of some of your participants.
For your shocked participants, what would you expect to see in regards to hippocampal activity and latency… in the amygdala deactivated group compared to your amygdala intact group in scans taken during training and behaviorally at a later test?
Extensive hippocampal activity during training and short latencies to find the platform at test…
*Gerken’s example of glutamate injection gives rats extra energy to use their hippocampus. Rats who had hippocampal lesions went around in circles…
How can we explain Autobiography (AM)?
Semantic Episodic Mental Time Travel Spacial Emotional Self-identity
What did Cabeza’s experiment with Duke university students reveal about brain activation when viewing lab photos vs. their own photos?
There was more brain activation for their own photos- perhaps because there’s meaning and they can remember where and when they took the picture.
There is more pre-frontal and hippocampal (always episodic) activity.
What does Reminiscence bump refer to? What are the 3 hypothesis as to why this may happen?
40-55 year olds show enhanced memory for adolescence and young adulthood.
3 Hypothesis:
1) Self-image: self identity during this time
2) Cognitive- encoding better during periods of rapid change and strong stability
3) Cultural life script - culturally shared expectations structure recall - get educated, careers, marriage, etc
How does the reminiscence bump differ for immigrants?
Those who immigrated between 20-24 had similar bumps, whereas those who immigrated later at about 34 experienced a different bump.
How is cortisol connected to memory?
Stress, in addition to emotionally arousing images or situations increases consolidation of memory.
Brain structures:
Which structures of the brain is involved in explicit memories and implicit memories?
Explicit (conscious or declarative) = Hippocampus; Medial temporal lobe
Implicit (non-conscious or non-declarative) = Caudate Nucleus; Basal Ganglia
Explain how the amygdala is involved in encoding memories.
Amount of cognitive resources going to encoding of information for each memory systems… include: above plus amygdala… amygdala is not yet activated.
Explicit memories overpowers implicit memories… BUT in the event of LITTLE stress, the amygdala is activated and enhances BOTH explicit and implicit memory of stimulus.
BUT…
if we add A LOT of stress (trauma-level), almost completely shut down hippocampal and we entirely process information implicitly.
This is beneficial for our survival, such as fight or flight… it’s better to not think but respond immediately.
What are flashbulb memories referring to?
Flashbulb memory refers to not the memory itself, our egocentric tendency to remember we were and what we were doing during a shocking event.
I remember exactly about where I was when I heard about 9/11.
How would Repeated Recall help accuracy about recalling memory?
Asking people right after an event and some time after… then the reports are based on the baseline (first recall).
What is the confidence rating for flashbulb memories?
Very high even when accuracy drops.
What are the hypotheses for why there are different results for flashbulb memories?
1) Cue generation: “tommy’s bday party”- maybe they don’t talk to tommy anymore..
2) Narrative rehearsal: when something like 911 happens, you talk about it to everyone… Stronger memory from talking about it doesn’t indicate that they’re actually correct… Story needs to set before it becomes consistent when tested later… flashbulb memories are different because we rehearse it.
2) Event type: Emotionally charged events…
What are the 7 Sins of memory? Categorize them and explain them.
Omission, Comission, and Persistence:
Transience, Absent-mindedness, & Blocking =errors of omission, lost information…
+
Misattribution, Suggestibility, & Bias = errors of comission… adding new stuff to things that weren’t part of the event
Persistence = primary symptom of PTSD is intrusive
What does pragmatic inference refer to? What are some examples?
Reading a sentence leads someone to expect something that is not explicitly stated or implied.
Ex) I was tested in the book: The new baby stayed awake all night
Without looking, I read it back as: The new baby cried all night.
Why would schemas and affect our memory?
Our prior knowledge of the world influences the way we report our memory (schema).
Prior knowledge of sequences of actions, like going to the dentist, also affect memory…
We automatically imply things about situations and images when recalling because we just expect an office to have office supplies; etc.
What does false memories and recall have to do with constructive process of memory?
False memories occur from the same constructive process that produces true memories.
Where does false memories occur from?
False memories occur from the same constructive process that produces true memories.
What does misleading postevent information do to people’s memory? What is is connected to?
Suggestibility or addition of information while asking a question to someone changes the way people describe an event later… so earlier example of a detective suggesting to someone that the criminal MUST be in the line-up might encourage false testimony.
What are the 2 reasons researchers believe misinformation effect occurs?
1) MPI causes Interference.
OG information is forgotten due to retroactive interference, which occurs when the new misinformation interferes with the past recall.
2) MPI causes Source Monitoring Errors.
A person concludes incorrectly that the source of their memory for the incorrect event was the slideshow, even though the actual source was the experimenter’s statement after the slideshow.
The book describes false memories- what kind of example was it?
Implanting memories is very real.
The first time the researchers asked about a wedding, also suggesting some things may have occurred… but the subject didn’t remember any of it.
The 2nd time when asked after a delay, the subject recalled some of the details that were suggested in the 1st experiment.
Scary.
According to Kim et al., high levels of stress cause the amygdala to shift resources where?
Toward the caudate memory system and away from the hippocampal system.
Why does Reminiscence bump occur? * self-image, cognitive, culture
self-image: self identity during this time
cognitive- encoding better during periods of rapid change and strong stability
cultural life script - culturally shared expectations structure recall - get educated, careers, marriage, etc
