False Memories Flashcards
what is everyday memory designed to do?
fulfil specific goals
what influences the specific goals that memory is designed to fulfil?
past experiences, history and culture; current motives and emotions; intelligence and personality traits; future goals and plans
how does memory serve interpersonal communication?
it is shared, exchanged, constructed, revised and elaborated
what is episodic memory?
memories for pronely experienced events. context specific (time and place). personal and subjective.
describe the recall of episodic memory
generative (instead of calling up stored data this can be modified)
what influences episode retrieval?
depth of original processing; cognitive state of the individual (ideally relaxed); context of retrieval/cues available
describe a study showing the effect of context on memory retrieval
Godden & Baddeley (1975). divers learn words on the ground or underwater. memory retrieval was improved when this was in the same environment as encoding
what is autobiographical memory?
hybrid between semantic and episode memory. facts and contextual memories about our lives.
describe a study showing the accuracy of autobiographical memory
Barclay, 1988. asked to keep diaries and to recognise which was the diary entry. high distractor item events derived from other incidents by the same subject. frequent errors in remembering details
what did Neisser (1988) say about autobiographical memory?
much of it is error free. reconstructions of past events incorporate info about the meaning of events to the person. self-schemata may mediate.
what are flashbulb memories?
type of autobiographical memory. very detailed and vivid. for events which are surprising and consequential.
describe Brown and Kulik (1997)’s study on false memories
ps asked what they remembered about major events eg. JFK assassination. 79/80 had clear memories of this. depends on personal relevance - 30/40 African Americans had FMs for assignation of martin luther king, compared to 13/40 white Americans
what is meant by ‘Phantom’ flashbulbs?
impact of time on forgetting details of flashbulb memories.
describe Neisser & Harsch’s 1992 study on ‘phantom’ flashbulbs
ps did questionnaire. day after challenge space shuttle exploded and 32 months later. accuracy of recall was 2.97/7. confidence in accuracy was 4.17
describe the nature of errors seen in McCloskey et al’s 1988 study on ‘phantom’ flashbulbs
45 ps did questionnaire within a week of challenger disaster. 27 did follow up. after 9 months, 4/27 did not remember. 7/27 gave 9 inconsistent responses
describe Winningham et al’s 2000 study on the effects of questioning
ps asked into about when they learnt of OJ Simpson’s acquittal, either 5 hours or 1 week after. then again 8 weeks after. consistency of memory high for delayed vs immediate group. indicate effect of consolidation time - reduces memory alteration
when does most forgetting occur?
in the first few days after an event. after this memory traces consolidate into a relatively permanent narrative account
describe THE SET UP of Talarico and Rubin’s 2003 study on whether flashbulb memories are special
ps tested on their mems of 9/11 the day after the attack. asked their mems of an ordinary event that happened around the same time. re-tested memories after either 1, 6 or 32 weeks.
describe the CONSISTENCY RESULTS of Talarico and Rubin’s 2003 study on whether flashbulb memories are special
higher for everyday vs flashbulb memories; both showed evidence of forgetting; no differences between types of memories in rate of forgetting
describe the BELIEF OF ACCURACY RESULTS of Talarico and Rubin’s 2003 study on whether flashbulb memories are special
high for both flashbulb and everyday memories, was higher for flashbulb memories, decreased more for everyday memories over time
describe the VIVIDNESS RESLULTS of Talarico and Rubin’s 2003 study on whether flashbulb memories are special
higher for flashbulb vs everyday memories; decreased more for everyday memories over time
describe Bonhannon et al’s 1988 study on flashbulb memories
ps who re-told challenger shuttle disaster more often had more detailed memory
describe Pezdek’s 2003 study on flashbulb memories
73% of respondents say they saw video of first plane hitting world trade centre on 9/11 - however this doesn’t exist
what is a false memory?
inaccurate recollections of events that did not occur, or distortions of events ht did occur
how do inaccuracies in memories occur?
imagination inflation or demand characteristics
describe imagination inflation
strengthening false memories through repeated retrieval
describe demand characteristics’ effect on memories
we ‘create’ memories based prompting questions from the examiner
describe Loftus and Pickrell’s 1995 study on falsely recalled memories
lost in the mall. read short narratives of childhood events (3 true, 1 false - mall). 25% ‘remembered’ false memory, however they had less detail/fewer words
describe Wade et al’s 2002 study on falsely recalled memories from picture
ps shown pics of childhood events (3 real, 1 false - balloon ride). 50% created false memory
what were the different strategies used in Shaw & Porter’s 2015 study on ‘did you commit this crime?”?
incontrovertible false evidence; social pressure; suggested retrieval techniques; building rapport
describe Loftus & Palmer’s 1974 study on language during questioning
ps shown vids of car accidents. then asked q’s with different word. changed how they estimate speed, and whether they remember seeing broken glass a week later.
describe Loftus et al’s 1978 study on the misinformation effect
30 slides of car accident - half say stop, half say yield. forced choice recognition of pairs of slides. 41% given misleading q
what is retroactive interference?
info presented later interferes with ability to retain previously encoded info
describe SET UP of Baym & Gonsalves’ 2010 study on false memories in the brain
photographic vignettes of common activities. later shown sentences describing photos. then surprise item memory recognition test for photographs
describe RESULTS of Baym & Gonsalves’ 2010 study on false memories in the brain
greater activity in visual processing areas for true > false memories. forgetting in right frontal and bilateral medial temporal lobe
describe the representativeness of participants in flashbulb and false memory studies
some ps in Brown & Kulik were 11/12 when JFK was assassinated - did they understand the impact? Loftus - students : driving experience?
describe the ecological validity of lab studies?
ethical considerations for false memory studies. is viewing video/slides equivalent to ‘real world’ situations?
describe critique of flashbulb memories (all recollections have a delay)
how do we know how accurate recollect is. ps vary in how much they discuss events. cannot be generated in the lab/not controlled
what is eyewitness testimony?
legal term referring to an account given by people relating to a crime they have witnessed
describe Bruce et al’s 1999 study on face recognition of CCTV images
shown target face from CCTV and asked to match it. when target face was present deleted 65% of time. when not present, another face selected 35% of time. 5 second clip as well did not improve recognition
describe Jenkins et al’s 2011 study on variability in photos of the same face
20 images of 2 Dutch celebrities. ps asked to sort by identity. English: 7.5 mean identities. Dutch: 2 mean identities
describe Simon and Chabris’s 2011 study on whether people think eyewitness testimony is reliable
75% of prosecutors think more confident eyewitnesses are more accurate. 37% of Americans believe the testimony of a single confident eyewitness should be enough to convict
what is the leading cause of wrongful conviction in the USA?
eyewitness misidentification
between 1989 and Jan 2019, DNA evidence has exonerated how many wrongly convicted individuals?
362 - more than 75% convicted based on evidence from mistaken eyewitness identifications
what is the ‘weapon focus’?
when a gun is present during a crime, witness recall fo offender significantly reduced. can often describe the weapon in more detail than the person holding it - attentional narrowing.
what is the effect of expectation on witness description of perpetrator?
described less accurately if they held an object consistent with the opposite gender rather than same gender stereotype (Pickel et al., 2009)
describer Clifford and Scott’s 1978 study on the effect of anxiety/stress on memories
videos of violent/nonviolent incidents. witness of violent incidents recall less, regardless of whether a weapon was used
what are two possible explanations for why witness of violent incidents recall less, regardless of whether a weapon was used
draw the focus of witnesses’ attention, reducing processing of peripheral info. increase anxiety and autonomic arousal, reducing memory encoding
what is Yerkes-Dodson law?
increased arousal improves performance up to a point, after which performance declines
describe Yuille & Cutshall’s 1986 study which shows discrepancy with the effect of stress on memories
gun shooting incident. analysed statement to police and research interview 4-5 months after. accuracy 80+% for both, highest for those with highest stress
describe Payne et al’s 2006 study on the impact of stress on memory
induced into stressed/relaxed state. vowed slides of story (neutral/emotional). stress did not affect recall for emotional memories but decreased recall for neutral memories
when retrieving eyewitness memories, recall is increased if the witness…
goes back over the scene to reinstate additional cues (context); is exposed to person’s face for long time (increased encoding); gives testimony soon after crime; habitually attends to their surrounding and generally forms vivid mental images (indiv diff); does not see the person’s face being altered by a disguise; thinks the person looks dishonest (schemas)
what are leading questions?
questions which can provide info after the event that can be stored and affect the original memory
when can witness testimony be affected by leading questions?
if the witness believes questioner knows what happened; if witness is unaware they my be misled; missing info relates to peripheral rather can central details of the events; misleading info is not obviously incorrect
what is the familiarity effect?
eyewitnesses 3 times more likely to pick a bystander from a line-up than someone not seen before (Ross et al., 1994)
what is the effect of age on eyewitnesses?
older adults much more likely to produce false memories after being given misleading info vs younger adults (43% vs 4%, Jacoby et al., 2005)
what is the effect of gesturers on eyewitnesses?
ps saw video, then researchers asked them qs about it. if researcher stroked their chin, ps 3 times more likely to remember they had a bird (Gurney et al., 2013)
describe the cognitive interview
used by police to try and elicit more accurate recall, based on psychological research into memory.
what are the 4 strategies used in the cognitive interview to maximise recall/
mentally reinstating environment and personal context; reporting everything regardless of perceived importance; recounting events in different orders; reporting events from variety of perspectives to reduce bias
