L8 Autobiographical Memory Flashcards
What is the cue word safety technique ?
Recall one memory associated with each word, describe and date memories
What are the accuracy concerns in autobiographical memory ?
If people come up with false memories
Asking people to date memories adds bias
What is Wagenaar’s research into autobiographical memory ?
Samples one event per day over 4 years
Each event contains 4 cues and one critical detail
Standard forgetting but items were still always recognised
Takes a very long time
What was the most remembered memory for autobiographical memory ?
Best for recent, salient, emotional and pleasant events
Good memory for unpleasant self-critical events
Being emotionally involved makes it easier to remember
What is false recognition in autobiographical memory ?
Barclay and Wellman
Over time they become more likely to falsely accept altered foiled events as their own
What did Misra find out about everyday memories ?
Everyday memories can be much worse
Choosing two random events from a vide of someone walking down the road
Almost unable to distinguish videos from their own walk
Do we have early autobiographical memories ?
Studies using the cue word technique reveal few memories from the first few years of life
Waldfogel 1948
What is childhood amnesia ?
No way of probing early memories and no way to tell if the reports are correct
Usher and Neisser used parents to verify specific events in childhood
Negative events well remembered but only after the age of 3
What were the problems with Usher and Neisser early memory research ?
61% of results was confirmed by parents
22% parents memory clashed with child’s memories
Are they real or just informed narrative
Recall is not the most accurate
How does autobiographical memories hold up over a lifespan ?
Memories from 70 year olds show childhood amnesia and reminiscence peak
What is Burt, Kemp, Conway research into memories over a lifespan ?
Tested AM with diary entries and photographs
Can involve multiple specific episodes spanning multiple days
What features of AM did Conway and Pleydell-pearce find ?
AM are transitory mental constructions within self memory systems
