HLM Exam #3 Flashcards
How does semantic memory change with old age?
Semantic memory is preserved over aging
Performance declines with age for…
1) speed of processing
2) working memory
3) long term memory
When does age-related memory decline start?
your 20s
considerations with timed studies
Older adults take 1.5x as long to do all tasks as younger adults so timed studies may need to be adjusted to compensate for this
- problem: this may cancel out the effect so this is hard
Designs for aging studies
1) cross sectional: compare compare 20yrs to 60 yrs
2) longitudinal: follow people across lifespan
Problems with cross-sectional designs
1) individual differences (variability across people)
2) cohort effects: major life events can influence results
3) correlational: you can not manipulate age so can not say cause and effect
4) confounding variables: can not be sure age is causing the effects you see (may be education or economic status)
5) physical health: older adults are overall less healthy and may be on medications that confound effects or have visual or auditory problems
Problems with longitudinal designs
1) practice effects: you may get better at a task as you practice over the years
2) drop-out effects: lose power
3) very expensive and requires commitment
STM and aging (+ how it is tested)
- STM generally declines with age
- tested with the Brown-peterson distractor paradigm
Episodic Memory and Aging (+ how it is tested)
study: recall 2 lists of unrelated words
- number of items recalled decreased with age
- however there is quite a bit of variability so it may not just be age
Individual variation in age and memory
- there is a strong decline in cognitive performance right before death (changes depending on lifespan for individuals)
- major life events: can cause a dip in memory but some people can recover (cognitive resilience)
Types of test and age
- free recall: age-related decline
- recognition: little to no age-related decline
Remembering vs. knowing and age
- remembering decreases with age
False Recall and age
worse memory for real events, more false recall
- hard to remember where they got information from
Presentation time and aging
- older adults: make many errors for quickly presented words
- if you slow presentation down, older adults have the biggest benefit
Self-pacing and aging
- older adults are aware that they need more time to complete cognitive tasks so if it is self paced, they will take this time (metacognition)
- different from children who recognize a task is harder but do not allot more time
Aging and Prospective Memory
- event based memory is in tact
- time based memory: challenging for older adults
Aging and Implicit Memory
no decline in implicit memory
Perspectives for why age-related memory decline occurs
1) speed of processing: we know this declines with age and we know speed of processing affects memory
2) reduced processing resources: deficits in attention - hard to engage in demanding tasks
3) automatic vs. controlled processing: related to attention / focus (recall requires control and this declines with age whereas recognition is automatic and does not decline)
4) contextual / environmental support: recognition vs. recall (what cues are you given?)
5) inhibition: hard time ignoring distracting information
- all of these are related to the frontal lobe
Neurology of aging
- frontal cortex most involved
- orbital frontal cortex: most involved with age
- overall cortical volume declines with age (drives attention, focus, general processing and resources)
How do we prevent age-related effects from happening?
- this is a cumulative effect: older = more time for habits
- behavioral, environmental and genetic factors
- behavioral factors: diet, exercise, social engagement
Functional threshold
when you can no longer live along
exercise and cognition
cardiovascular exercise improves cognition (most in executive, controlled, and spatial processing + speed of processing)
Collective Memory
a representation of the past that is shared by members of a group
- membership often forms a part of the individual’s identity
Individual memory
based on personal experience
- it can be shaped by the social group you are in but is specific to you
Flashbulb memory
very vivid memory of a moment in the past
- common ones: 9/11, Trump’s election, 1st covid lockdown
individual mixed with collective memory
a national event mixed with your personal experience of that event
Viewing collective memory as fixed
- looking at it as facts about our collective past (i.e. George Washington was the first president, Trump was elected in 2016 etc)
Collective Remembering
the active process of retrieving the past and using it in the present
- can change over generations (whether you remember the Vietnam war as justified or not)
Example of collective remembering: Invasion of Iraq
- some will say it was good: often those with WWII in their past because involvement in that war stopped Hitler
- some will say bad because it reminds them of the Vietnam war which did not end well
Ukraine and russia
due to conflicting memories of Ukraine’s past
Russian history and collective memory
often contested and changed - textbooks change under putin
History parameters
- aspires to be an objective account of the past
- recognizes complexity and ambiguity
- revises narrative based on new evidence
- is constrained by archival materials
Collective Memory of History
- involves identity and often favors an uplifting narrative
- not much space for ambiguity: relies on schemas that simplify the past and ignore counter evidence
- resistant to change
National Memory
- every nation promotes a different version of history
- very self-centered: how did events in the past affect US?
New Nationalism
- was a surge of neoliberalism: globalization with internet
- reemergence of nationalism now
constructivism
nations are socially constructed
- they are imagined but they have real world consequences
What is a nation defined by?
- history of collective memories
Self-centered national memory
- ethnocentrism: we overestimate our home country’s contributions to the world
- American exceptionalism: the idea that we are the example for other nations
Measuring Narcissism
- look at over-claiming of responsibility for nations and states –> always over 100% when added up (true for winning and losing too)
Can you reduce narcissistic bias?
- took a history quiz before and results the same - it doesn’t seem so
Why does nationalistic memory occur?
1) Possibly the availability heuristic (your country comes to mind most frequently making it seem larger)
2) ego-protection or ingroup bias: people believe groups they are a part of are above average
3) poor statistical reasoning: neglecting logic skills
Overview on techniques for studying Prospective Memory (PM)
1) present participants with an ongoing task (ex: words and rank their pleasantness)
2) Present PM instructions: if you see a key, press a different button
3) provide a delay + distraction
4) reintroduce ongoing task without PM instructions - do participants still do it?
Event based PM
an event provides a cue (put gas in car after school)
Time-based PM
time is the cue (put gas in car at 2:00pm)
Is event-based or time based easier?
event based is easier
experiment to discover event vs time based PM
Sellen (1997)
- people wear an active badge for 3 months
- event: click when you enter ___ room
- time: click at a specific hour of the day
- also indicate when thinking of tasks
- findings: better at event-based, thought about time more
Why is time-based harder?
there is no retrieval cue for time based memory
Can we turn time-based into event-based memory?
YES - with extra motivation people do this naturally
Aging and PM Study
Study: Maylor (2002)
- older + Alzheimer’s + younger adults watched a movie: time based (if a clock hits 3 minutes press a button), event-based (if you see an animal press a button)
- findings: younger adults could do both perfectly
- older adults medium and Alzheimer’s worse overall but biggest gap in time-based (younger adults turned around for clock right before 3 minute mark, older adults had to keep turning around)
all participants could remember instructions when asked after the task
Theories for PM
1) monitoring theory: we have to keep thinking of our intention in order to complete it (heavy cognitive load)
2) multiprocess theory: monitoring can accomplish PM but not necessary (spontaneous retrieval is possible) - can focus on other things and still remember
Evidence for monitoring
study premise: lexical decision task (is ___ a real word) + PM task (press F1 if you see any target words)
- embedded condition: press F1 immediately when it comes up
- delayed condition: press F1 if you saw target word at anytime during the task after the final task
- findings: embedded slowed people down (longer reaction time) –> monitoring for the target slowed people down
Evidence for Multiprocess theory
study premise: does the word fit the sentence yes/no
- press if you see 1 or 6 target words
findings:
- the number of target word matters: 6 targets, shows cognitive load, 1target no difference from control (shows spontaneous retrieval)
Focal vs. nonfocal targets
- Focal: press enter when you see tornado (word/tangible) - spontaneous retrieval
- nonfocal: press enter when you see “tor” (syllable with no meaning) - doesn’t jump out so monitoring required
PM of secondary interest
if you are told the PM task is of secondary interest, the is only a slight cost - suggests some people may to monitor and others may be able to spontaneously retreieve
Suspended intention in PM
- give an ongoing and PM task, complete disruptor task with no PM but the original PM target still appeared
- told to stop the PM task (stop monitoring)
findings: target word had much slower reaction time - shows spontaneous retrieval because you are still taking the PM task into account even though not monitoring
background for HSAM
more recent topic (2006)
- called hyperthymnesia
- first major paper about AJ (jill price)
AJ and HSAM
- able to remember specific events about her life since puberty (not sure if this is when they started or when she noticed it)
- kept a detailed diary but did not consult it
- collected / categorized things (OCD tendencies but studied by cognitive not clinical psychologists so no diagnosis)
Self-reference effect
thinking about something in relation to yourself is always the best way to remember
Stages to findings people with HSAM
stage 1: public events quiz
stage 2: dates test
stage 3: cognitive test
Stage 1: public events
- over the phone
- asked dates about major public events
- easy to cheat
- eliminated those who got below 50%
Stage 2: Dates Test
- identify the day of the week for a specific date, come up with public and personal events given a date
- control group (chance): 1/7 correct
- of scored above 70% came into lab for testing
Stage 3: cognitive testing results
1) no difference in HSAM and controls for STM
2) HSAM: better at linking names to faces and usual memory recall ON AVERAGE but the distributions overlapped
HSAM and false memory
HSAM have better accurate memory and the same likelihood to recall a false memory (studied using a DRM paradigm)
Are HSAM and mnemonicists the same?
NO - HSAM do not have to work for this effect and excel only at things related to themselves and dates
Are there deficits for HSAM?
we are unsure
Why does HSAM emerge?
not well understood
Ways to go about studying episodic memory
1) Lab-based
2) autobiographical memory
Lab-based episodic memory tests
- in the tradition of Ebbinghaus
- recognition tests
- good for experimenter control (can know if it is a false memory /false alarm)
- use memory lists; may not be accurate for episodic memory - scans found different brain regions activated
Autobiographical episodic memory tests
- in the tradition of Bartlett
- given a word and asked for an event either in the past or future that would relate to the word
- primarily used now
- more ecological validity
Amnesia and Episodic future thought
deficits in one result in deficits in another (ex: patient KC has amnesia and could not imagine what he would be doing tomorrow)
Episodic future thought definition
- mental time travel (“simulation of specific personal events that may occur in the future”)
- note: differes from planning
Autonoetic (self-knowing) consciousness
Name given to the core cognitive capacity that controls past and future thought
EFT in children
are able to do this mental time travel around age 4 (when past memories start)
EFT and schizophrenia
- patients often have deficits in autobiographical memory (remembering the past): also show more pronounced deficits in EFT
- more severe the positive symptoms (delusions, hallucinations) more severity of EFT deficiency
EFT and older adults
- more problems with memory in general, also show deficits in EFT
- they generate fewer internal details when asked about a past or future event
- generate more external details (going on tangents)
Relationship between internal details in past and EFT
if you give more internal details for the past, you will give more when imagining the future (strong relationship)
Zimbardo time-perspective inventory
- given 56 general statements and asked to which extent does it describe you - given if you have a…
1) future orientation: behavior based on ideas of the future
2) present-hedonistic orientation: risk taking /present indulgent
3) past-negative orientation: think about missed opportunities
4) present-fatalistic: life controlled by fate
5) past-positive: nostalgia
relationship with future time perspective and EFT
study: have people talk for 3 minute about past or future and then rate clarity of memory / feeling
finding: one’s time perspective affects feeling of mentally time traveling back/forward, feeling of re-experiencing or pre-experiencing an event (subjective experience)
- high in future orientation: more vivid
- do not know the direction of this correlation (what comes first)
fMRI studies conditions for EFT
- ask people to remember an event for 10 sec
- ask people to think about a well-known person doing something for 10 sec (control as no mental time travel)
- ask people to think about a future episode for 10 sec
Neurology of EFT
similar brain regions are activated for past remembering and EFT
- however, more active in EFT
Constructive episodic simulation hypothesis
memory is inherently reconstructive so in EFT, elements of past memories recombine
- con: this does not explain the feeling: you know this hasn’t really happened and you are creating it (not the same feeling for remembering)
Differences in past memory and EFT
- more contextual associations / clarity for past remembering
- more effortful to imagine
contextualized objects and processing
- strongly and weakly contextualized objects are processed differently
contextual associations
- things that co-occur
- ex: roulette wheel: think of casino, lights, smoke (high CA)
- ex: cherry: think of just a cherry and maybe a tree (low CA)
Brain regions in the contextual association network
1) retrosplenial cortex
2) parahippocampal cortex
- overlap in regions with remembering (they both bring to mind many contextual associations)
Functional importance for EFT
- EFT prepares us to deal with the future
- implements intentions
simulate process
using EFT to imagine working through a problem
- this is helpful in setting yourself up for success as it often leads to better planning
- could also be an imaginary plan you don’t have to follow through with
simulate outcome
using EFT to imagine successfully resolving a problem
Does simulate process or outcome lead to more positive affect?
thinking about solving the problem (simulate process) led to more positive affect and better coping strategies - can be similar to planning
Autobiographical memory definitions
a record of discrete experiences localized in time and place
- information related to the self
Forms of AB memory
1) personal memories: episodic memories specific to you
2) autobiographical facts: information about you (where you grew up, where you were born etc) - semantic
Functions of AB memory
1) directive: memories of past events guide current / future behavior
2) social: used to bond with others
3) integral to identity
Methods of Study for ABM
1) diary studies
2) memory-probe tests `
Marigold Linton and AB memory
- recorded 2 events per day on index cards for 5+ years and then tested herself every month on two random index cards with replacement (could get same event multiple times)
Findings from Marigold Linton
1) repeated memories became generalized and blended BUT not the first events
2) 30% of events completely forgotten after 6 years
3) benefit of retrieval practice: more a card came up and she tried to remember, the less she forgot over time
What was on Marigold Linton’s index cards?
1) description of events
2) date
3) importance / salience
4) emotionality
What did Marigold Linton test herself on?
- the date and relative positions of the events
Willem Wagenaar and AB memory
- recorded 2400 events over 6 years
- recorded salient events of each day and with a various amount of cues, tried to remember the rest of the info on the card (without replacement)
What did Willem Wagenaar record?
1) who
2) what
3) where
4) when
5) event ratings (pleasantness, emotionality, salience)
Willem Wagenaar findings of ABM
1) the more cues given, the more the card was remembered over time
2) most effective cue: what — suggests theme of event is how we categorize
3) least effective cue: when (date)
4) more salient, emotional and pleasant memories were better retained
Conclusions from diary studies
autobiographical retrieval is influenced by….
1) salience/ distinctiveness
2) number of retrieval cues given
3) emotional involvement
4) specific dates are not good cues unless you have HSAM
Limitations of Diary Studies
1) requires dedication from participants
2) small sample sizes (usually one person)
3) item selection bias: you are picking the most salient memories from a day
4) recording memories induces rehearsal and retrieval
5) participants know memories will be tested / have hypothesis of study and may influence data
Avoiding selection bias for memories
- people wear pagers that go off at random times; record time, action, thoughts
- cued with these random events 0-46 days later
- findings: recall is lower for randomly sampled memories than for salient memories
Technology study with ABM
- fisheye camera records moments throughout the day (unknown to participants)
- shown 300 images (180 their own, 120 stranger’s) and asked if they remember them
- we know what memories are not ours, but harder to remember some that are ours (we are moderately good at own memories)
What is a memory probe study?
Galton word-cuing technique: 1879
- give people a word and ask them to retrieve a memory associated with that word (recalls details and try to date it)
Memory across lifespan with memory probe study
- very few memories from 0-5 (infantile amnesia) - different from Ebbinhgaus forgetting curve as it drops off instead of plateaus)
- reminiscence bump: elevated recall between 15-30
- lifetime recency: we recall more memories from the last 5-10 years
- studied by Galton word-cuing technique
Why does a reminiscence bump occur?
- many major life events occur from 15-30 (kids, graduation, house, job)
- many emotional firsts
- events documented and talked about with family and friends
Types of cues (instead of Galton-word cuing technique)
1) time: childhood, middle school
2) event: first day of college, birthday
3) perceptual: images, sounds, smells
Organization of ABM
- older memories shift from chronological order (temporal) to being ordered by themes (thematic)
temporal organization
organization by time stages (childhood, middle school, high school etc)
thematic organization
organization by theme (events with neighbors, thanksgivings, movies downtown etc.)
Self-serving ABM
- memories can boost ego: asked students before a test how many hours studied, importance of test and predicted grade
- if got lower grade than expected: said test was not as important
- if got higher grade than expected: said test was more important
Emotions as retrieval cues (ex: “happy”)
- harder to come up with a specific memory when given this cue (longer reaction time)– tells us emotions are probably not how we organize memory since this takes effort
manipulating emotions as cue
listening to happier songs will make you think of more positive memories
False ABM
study: students record 240 episodes on index cards - later asked yes/no recognition for
1) original description
2) altered versions of their description
3) descriptions generated by other people
- results: false alarms occurred more frequently for altered descriptions semantically similar to the original (+ more false alarms generally as time goes on)
False ABM for twins
- twin memories often disputed: which twin was in this memory? - often both claim it happened to them when it happened to one
- there are false alarms in autobiographical memories
Misinformation and ABM
study: Denmark plane hitting building - 55% of people said they saw TV footage of attack even though it didn’t exist
- imagining and saying there was footage can change memory
Involuntary ABM
when a stimuli cues a memory of something without you trying (often smell or taste)
Similarities of involuntary memory and voluntary memory
1) universal experience
2) happen frequently
3) exhibits normal forgetting
4) reminiscence and infantile amnesia
5) enhanced by emotional engagement at encoding
differences in involuntary memory and voluntary memory
Involuntary memories…
1) have spontaneous retrieval
2) are elicited by match to current situation
3) are often more specific
