Everyday Memory and Memory Errors Flashcards
What is hyperthymesia (H-SAM)
Highly superior autobiographical memory
Are our memories products of reconstruction?
Yes
Do our memories work as video recorders?
No
Is memory stored as a unit?
No
Are memories stored in pieces?
Yes
What is the process of reconstruction?
Bringing the pieces together in retrieval that you rebuild and fill in the blanks and then when you restore it the memory is not the same as it originally was
Who proposed the sins of memory?
Daniel Shackner?
What are the seven sins of memory?
1.) Transience
2.) Absentmindedness
3.) Blocking
4.) Persistence
5.) Misattribution
6.) Suggestibility
7.) Bias
What are the sins of omission?
1.) Transience
2.) Absentmindedness
3.) Blocking
What is the definition of sins of omission?
Failures to bring something to mind
What is the definition of sins of commission?
The presence of unwanted or inaccurate memories
What are the sins of commission?
1.) Persistence
2.) Misattribution
3.) Suggestibility
4.) Bias
What is transience?
loss of information from memory with the passage of time
What is absentmindedness?
Problems with the interface between attention and long term memory
What is blocking?
Failure to retrieve information stored in long-term memory
What is persistence?
Continued (unwanted) automatic retrieval of memories
What is misattribution?
Memory is ascribed to the wrong source
What is suggestibility?
False recollection perhaps due to leading questions or others’ suggestions
What is bias?
Influence of who we are on what we remember
What is Yerkes-Dodson law?
the inverted u-shape function that shows that memory is best at moderate levels of emotional arousal but poorer at low and high levels of arousal
What is the weapon focus effect?
The finding that memory for peripheral details of an event are poorer when there is a salient, emotionally charged object (e.g. weapon) that is drawing attention and processing
What is memory narrowing (tunnel memory) ?
At high levels of emotional arousal, people tend to have better memories central and poorer memories for peripheral details
What is the other race effect?
Finding that people are better at recognizing faces of their own race relative to faces of other races
What is the relation of physical exertion?
Seems to be linked with detrimental effects on memory
What is the misinformation effect?
Incorrectly claiming to remember information that was not part of some original experience
What is unconscious transference
failure to distinguish between a target person and another person encountered at a different time
