Memory 3 - 7 Sins of Memory

Question 1

What are the 7 sins of memory?

Answer 1

Forgetting:
1. Transience
2. Absentmindedness
3. Blocking
Distortion:
4. Misattribution
5. Suggestibility
6. Bias
Intrusion:
7. Persistence

Question 2

What is transience?

Answer 2

• forgetting over time (death of neural pathways)
• rapid for sensory and short-term

Question 3

What are the different types of transience?

Answer 3

retroactive interference: can’t remember old info because of new info
proactive interference: can’t remember new info because of old info

Question 4

What is absentmindedness?

Answer 4

• a lapse in attention that results in memory failure

Question 5

What is blocking? What makes a memory more likely to be blocked?

Answer 5

• failure to retrieve info that is available in memory
• not semantically encoded = more likely to be blocked

Question 6

What is misattribution? When this occurs, there is a failure in _____.

Answer 6

• assigning a recollection to the wrong source
• attributing due to a feeling of familiarity
• failure in temporal lobe

Question 7

What is suggestibility?

Answer 7

• incorporate misleading info from external sources into personal recollections
• can affect misattribution and alter memory

Question 8

What is bias?

Answer 8

• influence of present knowledge, beliefs, and feelings on recollection

Question 9

What are the different types of biases?

Answer 9

stereotype: racial/gender biases that affect recall in stereotype-consistent ways
egocentric: recall info in ways that make yourself look better
hindsight: seeing something as predictable despite little basis for prediction

Question 10

What is persistence? What part of the brain plays a role?

Answer 10

• intrusive recollection of events that we wish we could forget
• symptom of PTSD
• amygdala plays a huge role