Everyday memory

Question 1

What is autobiographical memory?

Answer 1

Memory for personal life events (related to strong emotions!)

Most AM from 15-25 (reminiscence bump)
Infantile amnesia: hardly any memories from 0-3 years

Question 2

Explanations for infantile amnesia

Answer 2

Cognitive: no cognitive self until end of 2nd year

Social interaction: aim of AM is to share with others. Ability of early AM –> high elaborate reminiscence style + self recognition

Question 3

Explanations of reminiscence bump?

Answer 3

• Stability (adult identity developed)
• Novelty –> distinctive memories

Support: Mixed (only 20% of AM relates to first-time experiences)

• 10-20 - external public events (development of social identity)
• 20-30 - intimacy in personal relations (goal of achieving intimacy with others)

–> ie SELF and GOALS (can be seen in other bumps when self is changed)

Question 4

What is the self-memory system?

Conway & Pleydell-Pearce model

Answer 4

Working self - current set of active goals concerning self

Autobiographical knowledge - knowledge about details of events (3 levels: 1) lifetime periods, 2) general events 3) event-specific)

Question 5

How does AK work?

Answer 5

Goals of SW determine which AMs we retrieve - 2 ways information can be retrieved:

1) generative retrieval: AMs retrieved through interaction between WS and AK
2) Direct retrieval: AMs retrieved spontaneously

Supported by work with patients

Question 6

What is confirmation bias?

Answer 6

Memory that is distorted by being influenced by expectations rather than what actually happened (eye witnesses)

Question 7

What is misinformation effect?

Answer 7

Implicit info (Words) used to ask question can effect memory recall (eg how fast were cars going when they hit vs smashed into each other? or did you see the vs a broken headlight)

Question 8

What are the causes of ME?

Answer 8

Loftus: ME caused by original message being overwritten (participants unable to recover original memories after misleading post-event info)

Zaragoza: Original message is retained but inaccessible (misleading info more recent –> memory bias)

Question 9

What are the factors affecting accuracy of eyewitness identification?

Answer 9

System variables:
- Instructions given to eyewitnesses
- Nature of line-up (simultaneous vs sequential)
Estimator variables:
- Ethnicity: own race-bias
- Identification speed (under 12 sec correct 90%)

Question 10

What is asked in a cognitive interview?

Answer 10

Reinstate context
Report everything
Recall in different orders
Change perspectives