False Memories Flashcards
What is intrusion error? what is the relationship between temporal and false memories?
intrusion error
recalling the wrong item that share the same cue with other items
temporal and false memories
things that are recently learnt = easier to experience intrusion error (align with the decay theory that newly learnt items are easier forgotten)
also, the longer the space there is between learning = less likely to false memory (align with the consolidation theory)
how do similar items lead to false memories, and explain the relative framework
Underwood (1965) showed that people are likely to false recognise novel items that associated with learnt words
Implicit Associative Response
if the word boy is learnt > we tend to also associate the word with girl > therefore the word girl can be falsely recalled
What is the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, and other related experiments
Participants learn words that all associate with the non-presented word
demonstrated the presence of false recognition of the non-presented word
participants tend to be very confident about the presence of the word, and also happens to both recalling and recognising
Sommers and Lewis
demonstrated the same false recognition with non-semantically associated words, but with phonologically associated words
Gallo, Roberts, and Seamon
demonstrated even participants know about the false recognition, it can only be alleviated but not eliminated
Robinson and Roediger
showed that the number of words learnt = huge predictor of the strength of the false recognition
fewer words learnt = milder false recogntion
What are the first two reasons that lead to false memory?
Generating the critical lure during learning
when learning words, the non-presented critical lure also appears in the mind
then when it comes to recognition task > there is a source monitoring error (not sure whether the word is presented or just appeared imaginerily)
using overt rehearsal practice (having participants to say out loud when they are rehearsing)
showed that the critical lure appeared during rehearsal
however, false recognition also appeared when the critical lure does not appear (higher false recognition in unrehearsed condition)
Fuzzy trace theory
when we are learning the words > we form a gist of the what the list of words mean
verbatim = words that are incomplete or failed to retrieve in the brain
gist = the gist of the words that is learnt
the critical lure is the gist of the learnt words > during recognition task > we take the word from the gist
since the evidence from the verbatim lists does not suggest we should exclude the critical lure > produce
What are the other two explanations to false memory
spread activation theory
basis of the activation monitoring theory
when we learn the words, the words are activated in the brain for later retrieval
however, the words that are associated also get activated
therefore, the critical lure is produced since there is high activation
global similar theory
similarity score is calculated in our brain
then we add up the similarity scores for an item
the higher the similarity score is = the more likely it is produced
How does reconstructing memories look like? and the experiment supporting the analogy
like replaying a play
everytime the details may be different
supported by the war of ghost experiment (Bartlett)
and
Kintsch et al. (1990)
showing that the gist of the story is remembered over time
however, the memory of the text and the surface drops
What is the misinformation effect, and the relevant experiments (also how the misinformation effect and be implied in real life)
misinformation effect
people recalling wrong/made-up memories due to misleading questions
car crash experiment (Loftus & Palmer)
hit (slower estimated car speed) vs smashed (faster estimated car speed and false information such as the broken windows)
the time when the false information is given affects whether the false information is encoded (Lindsay)
If the false information is given right after the witness = encoded and produced in the future vs if given two days after = not produced, and not even sure if encoded
false childhood memories
the “lost in the mall” experiment (Loftus and Pickerell
Hot air Balloon Experiment Wade et al. (2002)
Made sure the participants had never had been in a hot air balloon
photoshopped them in a hot air balloon, and asked for their experience
at first didn’t recall, but after repeated interviews, around 50% of the participants can describe the experience
implication in the legal field
positive feedback = reinforcing the false information
what is the flashbulb effect, and what are the relevant experiments?
flashbulb effect
memories are described to be more confident and vivid during important events (can be personal, but mostly public events)
Brown and Kulik = preserved because of high emotional content
Neisser and Harsch = not quite
longitudinal showed that memory reports for flashbulb events are inaccurate
replicated: high confidence and vividness but not much more accurate
Hard to tell why
maybe due to reshaping of memories whenever we retrieve the memory
or maybe due to integrating others’ experience into our own context
Explain the memory war
repression of traumatic memory = proposed by sigmund freud
debated
unlocking them can cause false memories (lost in the mall study)
overreaction from the victim
(otgaar et al. DRM paradigm showed false memory with negative terms higher for PTSD and depression victims)
some victims did not forget
instead, maybe the right cue can cue the traumatic memories
some children did not associate experience with abuse, until grow up > tie the connections
tulving and pearlstone = showed right cue of the category > boost recall
in this case, cues (e.g., movie plots) can cue the traumatic experiences
Should memories be trusted
in fact, shows that people with high confident level > produce accurate memories
- Mickes et al: people who are certain the non-presence of the object (.7-.8 accurate); certain the presence of the object = almost 1
- Wixted and Wells: similar result on eyewitnessing
- Diamond et al: longitudinal study. Although there was forgetting, the produced memories were highly accurate
reason
flashbulb memories = often repeated in a group > highly subjected to influence from others
ordinary memories = subject less to influence > therefore more accurate
wixted’s take on eyewitnessing
- has to be done before receiving any feedback
- has to be done before receiving any descriptions
- confidence level has to be taken before feedback
