Lecture 4 - False Memories Flashcards
do we trust the feeling of familiarity
interpretation of something relies on the context around it.
what we remember depends on this interpretation
what happens when a retrieval cue matches a memory?
recent encounters feel like they are indicating something in memory
cue is easier to process due to activation feedback
what is processing fluency?
knowledge makes perception quicker
acts as cue that you’ve seen it before
can lead to false memories - inference rather than familiarity
simple theory of familiarity
explains many memory phenomena
study repetition - strong, accessible memory
recency effect
Limitations of the Simple model
perceptual fluency - features
conceptual fluency - meaning
study/test perceptual matching
when the processing pathways are activated in the study phase
if the thing you are trying to recognise changes (picture to word) the pathways are not active so recognition is slower
what is perceptual priming?
Jacoby & Whitehouse (1989)
brief flash of a word before the recognition memory probe
flash activates the perceptual systems
leads to false memories of unseen words due to processing the flashed ones
what is perceptual ease?
increase of false recognition for orthographically similar words
false memories for ease of processing
what is conceptual priming?
Sentence context surrounding test word can influence fluency
pause between sentence and word so that they can think of the contextually correct word that is different to the test word
when gap is removed effect goes away
less simple theory of perceptual fluency
Activation of memory representations produces feeling of familiarity
Fluency of perception or production produces feeling of familiarity
Still problems with this model:
Fluency can be unrelated to the memory probe
Complex theory of what produces the sense of familiarity
Activation of memory representations
Ease of perception or production
(Misattribution of) unrelated feelings
what is meta cognition?
conscious awareness and understanding of how cognitive processes work
naive awareness
help reduce cognitive illusions
what is recollection?
retrieval of specific episodic memories or associations
how do false memories occur in recognition?
as source monitoring errors
remember something but misremember the context in which it happened in
what is source monitoring?
retrieval + interpretation
what are the errors of source monitoring?
inferences used to judge source when the memory is degraded or there is a lack of time or attention
why can retrieval be difficult?
Memory is fragmented
we have many memories that ere similar to each other
what makes sources similar or dissimilar?
Perceptual - Levy-Gigi & Vakil (2014)
Semantic/conceptual - Lindsay, Allen, Chan, Dahl (2004)
Temporal - Misleading post-event narrative
Cognitive processing - Lindsay & Johnson (1991)
the effects of similar or dissimilar sources
Similar source = source discrimination hard
Distinct source = source discrimination easy
studies about reconstructing details and making inferences
Allport & Postman (1947) - reconstruct events to fit stereotypes
Sherman & Bessenoff (1999) - items consistent with stereotypes remembered better
Wade, Garry, Read, Lindsay (2002) - false recollection increases over time
How are false memories created?
imagined or suggested events take on realistic qualities through elaboration and repetition
include spontaneously produced details
What is the false memory hypothesis?
Anomalous experience
Suggestion / Interpretation
Source monitoring errors
Sleep Paralysis
Error in synchronization of systems responsible for sleeping & waking states results in consciousness during paralysis, hallucinations of REM sleep.
