Human Memory Final

Question 1

Harris (1980) Study Results?

Survey to find out what sort of mnemonic aids people use most often
Subjects:
- 30 college students (avg 21 yrs old)
- 30 female housewives (avg 46 yrs old)

Subjects asked to rate frequency of which they used memory aids

• External memory aids - something external to ourselves we use as a reminder
• Internal memory aids - strategies we use in encoding or retrieving information

Answer 1

Tended to use external memory aids

External Memory Aids: Shopping lists, Diaries, Writing on hand or clothing, Alarm clock, Cooking timer, Memos, Calendar / year planner, Asking someone else to remind you, Leave something in a special place

Question 2

Simonides (Greek poet) - the legend of the first visual imagery mnemonics

Answer 2

Used method of loci and visualized where most of the guests had been standing, so he could identify the bodies.

Question 3

Method of Loci

Answer 3

Visualize each item that you want to remember in a different spatial location or “locus”

Question 4

Peg-word system

Answer 4

Involves both visual and auditory cues Memorize a certain jingle: “One is a bun, Two is a shoe, etc.”

Question 5

Verbal Mnmonics

Answer 5

Use verbal types of information cue recall. Ex: acronyms, rhyming, systems based on association between letters and numbers

Question 6

Reverend Brayshaw’s Mnemonic Coding System

Answer 6

Substitute consonants for numbers and use consonants to create words.

Question 7

Reverend Brayshaw’s Rhymes

Answer 7

Brayshaw made up rhymes included “coded”words for the year, plus information to be remembered.

Question 8

Learning approach: surface

Answer 8

Focus on rote learning (memorization). Little motivation/interest in learning content. A “pass-only” mentality.

Question 9

Learning approach: deep

Answer 9

Focuses on meaning of material. Integrates new material with previous knowledge. Interested in subject, seek to truly understand material.

Question 10

Learning approach: achievement (strategic)

Answer 10

Goal: getting best grade possible, regardless of interest in topic. Study fewest topics necessary to do well. “Model student” - schedule study time, read suggested readings.

Question 11

Testing effect

Answer 11

Long term retention of material is better when you test yourself while learning the material, versus simply studying the material.

Question 12

The Sawyers

Answer 12

Sawyers were mistakenly identified. Another man later confessed to being one of the kidnappers. Conclusion: Eyewitness testimony holds a lot of weight in court!

Question 13

The Gentlemen Bandit

Answer 13

Father Bernard Pagano mistakenly identified by seven eyewitnesses. The charges got dropped after Ronald Clouser confessed to the crimes. Conclusion: Eyewitness accounts are very powerful in court, yet they’ve been shown to be unreliable.

Question 14

Change Blindness

Answer 14

Failure to detect seemingly obvious visual changes.

Question 15

Simons and Levin (1998).

Subjects asked for directions by stranger. While giving directions, movers carrying door pass between stranger and subject. Stranger switched with different person!

Answer 15

50% of subjects don’t notice the switch.

Question 16

Levin, Drivdahl, Momen, Beck (2002).

Described changes occurring in videos (disappearing scarf, plates changing color, changing man). Ask subjects if they believe they would notice these changes. Predictions that they would notice change: scarf (78%), man (59%), plates (46%).

Answer 16

In actuality, videos had been used in research before and 0% actually noticed changes.

Question 17

Schemas: Tuckey and Brewer (2003). Typical bank robbery - remember?

Answer 17

Remembered items consistent with general schema for bank robbery, even if the event had ambiguous elements.

Question 18

Leading Question: Loftus and Palmer (1974).

Answer 18

Subjects speed estimates greatest when “smashed” was used. Form of question can greatly affect the witness’s answer.

Question 19

Loftus and Palmer experiment #2. Any broken glass?

Answer 19

“Smashed” group reported broken glass 34% of the time. “Hit” group reported broken glass 14% of the time. The word “smashed” did affect subjects’ memory of the scene.

Question 20

Loftus (1979). Questions included bias info.

Answer 20

Most subjects still responded according to the misleading information. Rewards didn’t lead to any greater accuracy.

Question 21

Are memories actually changed? What did Loftus conclude?

Answer 21

Concluded that the original memory trace is destroyed by misleading information

Question 22

Bekerian and Bowers (1983). Presented recognition slides in sequential, chronological order.

Answer 22

Subjects in “sequential” condition could disregard the misinformation and recognize original sign. Therefore, the original trace must have still existed. Showing slides in sequential order brings back context of original presentation.

Question 23

Eyewitness Testimony and Age. Dodson & Krueger (2006). Police chase example.

Answer 23

Older adults much more likely to report false memories triggered by misleading info. Older adults also much more confident that their false memories were true.

Question 24

Influence of Violence. Do high levels of emotion people experience exposed to a crime impair or increase their memory for details of a scene.

Answer 24

Overall memory for a violent event is stronger than for a neutral event, but memory for the peripheral details of the event is weaker. What is remembered depends on what the eyewitness judges to be central.

Question 25

Johnson & Scott (1976). Subjects outside lab waiting to take place in an experiment. Weapon/no weapon conditions.

Answer 25

Subjects in “no weapon” condition made correct identification 49% of time. Subjects in “weapon” condition made correct identification 33% of the time.

Question 26

Weapon Focus

Answer 26

The concentration of a crime witness’s attention on a weapon, and the resulting reduction in their ability to remember other detail of the crime.

Unarmed: focus on expressions.

Weapon: defensive rather than sympathetic or uninvolved.

Question 27

Remembering Faces: Patterson & Baddeley (1977).

Answer 27

People encoding according to the higher level personality dimensions showed better recognition performance than those judging by individual features. Changes in poses and expression made no difference.