Lecture 15: Episodic Memory 2 Flashcards
Logical Inference
When hearing information, we quickly make inferences
○ Chair on top of box, box to the right of tree, we infer chair is to the right of tree
○ The passage didn’t say that, but because it is inferred it is harder to tell if that was in the original sentence or the chair being the top of the box was (it actually was)
Pragmatic inferences + pound/hammer Experiment
Inferences that do not necessarily have to be true
○ “John was trying to fix the bird house. He was pounding the nail when his father came out to watch him and to help him to the work.”
○ “John was trying to fix the birds house. He was looking for the nail when his father came out to watch him and help him to the work”
○ People who saw the first sentence claimed that they had see the test sentence more often
○ Test sentence: John was using the hammer to fix the bird house when his father came out to watch him and to help him do the work”
○ People were more confident that they saw the test sentence than the original
Assertion Commercial
§ Taking these pills will get you through the whole winter without colds
- Sounds unrealistic
Hedges (advertising)
§ “May”- they may not
§ “Fights”- might lose
- “Virtually” but not entirely
Implication Commercial
§ Get through a whole winter without colds. Take Pills as directed
□ Does not make the claim, says a thing and allows the reader to produce the claim themselves
- Subjects accepted half the implications as true, even if being told to watch out for implied claims as opposed to assertions
Unclear comparisons (advertising)
§ “makes you healthier” than what?
- “700% quieter” than what?
Inferences during Encoding
Giving context affects what is encoded and later recalled (washing clothes and balloon story from last lecture)
Inferences due to storage
○ Test recall for “War of the Ghosts” story
- Details get more distorted as more time passes to fit schemas better
Inferences during Retrieval
○ Subjects read a story, and half are later told that it is about Helen Keller right before being asked the following questions
○ Test: Did you read that she was “deaf, blind, and cannot speak?”
- 50% of Helen Keller group said yes, and 5% of other group said yes
Misinformation Experiments (Loftus)
First people see and event, then misinformation may or may not be given to them, then there is a memory test for both groups
Hit vs. Smashed Experiment (Loftus and Palmer)
○ Everyone in the experiment witness a car accident, one group is mislead, and one isn’t.
§ Group that is not mislead is asked “how fast were they going when they hit each other?”
§ Mislead group is asked “How fast were they going when they smashed into each other?”
§ Groups are then both asked if they saw broken glass (there was no broken glass)
- More than twice as many of the mislead group say the remember seeing broken glass
Yield vs Stop sign Experiment (Loftus)
○ Not mislead group is asked “did the car pass the Datsun when it was stopped at a stop sign?”
○ Misled group is asked “did the car pass the Datsun when it was stopped at a yield sign?”
- More than half of the mislead group remember a yield sign rather than stop sign, but it was actually a stop sign
Hammer Experiment
○ Sees a video of a man carrying a hammer stealing $20
○ Groups then read descriptions:
○ Group 1: man was carrying tool
○ Group 2: Man was carrying a screwdriver
○ Group 3: Man was carrying a screwdriver
○ The group are then tested, being asked:
○ Group 1: Hammer or screwdriver? 72% said hammer
○ Group 2: Hammer or screwdriver? 63% said hammer
- Group 3: Hammer or wrench? 75% said hammer
Misinformation Acceptance
Accepting new information as if it were true of the original event
○ Both stay in memory
Interviewing Techniques
Cognitive interview, line-ups, sequential questioning, and hypnosis (does not work)
