Memory

Question 1

How is memory a tool in therapy?

Answer 1

It is the therapist’s tool and the basis for therapy itself

Question 2

What exactly is memory?

Answer 2

It is an information processing model

- it does not work in a vacuum but is influenced by many factors (i.e. beliefs and expectations)

Question 3

What is a sensory register?

Answer 3

It holds the image/experience until it is processed

Question 4

What is decay theory?

Answer 4

The loss of memory over time due to disuse

Question 5

What are the three categories of long term memory?

Answer 5

1. procedural - memories for skills
2. episodic - memories of experiences
3. semantic - memories of information

Question 6

What are three ways to test retrieval of memories?

Answer 6

1. recall method: free, cued or hints
2. recognition method: select correct info from alternative info
3. relearning method: relearn previous info and measure the time it takes to re-learn it (we re-learn more quickly if the information is not novel)
   
   • Ebbinghaus and the forgetting function (memory of learned information decreases without rehearsal)

Question 7

What is interference theory?

Answer 7

Blocking of a recollection due to high stress/anxiety

Question 8

What types of interference can happen to memory (exam question)?

Answer 8

1. proactive interference: something learned before influences something learned after
2. retroactive interference: new memories influence old memories

Question 9

What are inhibitory mechanisms?

Answer 9

Suppressed or repressed memories

Question 10

What is the misinformation effect?

Answer 10

Memory for an event can be influenced by information given after the event (and wording is important in influencing memory - ex. car “contacted” vs. car “smashed”)

Question 11

Describe how memory is malleable.

Answer 11

• encoding memory retains the gist of the event
• recalling memory reconstructs it (fills in the gaps through beliefs and expectations)
• retrieval goes as far back as the last attempt (never to the original memory)

Question 12

How can we explain the misinformation effect?

Answer 12

1. overwriting old information with new
2. source confusion
3. misinformation acceptance

Question 13

What is the percentage of people who can create a false memory?

Answer 13

25%

Question 14

Is there a good relationship between accuracy of information, and confidence in delivering information?

Answer 14

No

• high accuracy can sometimes be accompanied by low confidence
• low accuracy is associated with high levels of confidence

Question 15

What is imagination inflation?

Answer 15

the more you think about a memory, the more you change it

Question 16

What is red-out phenomenon?

Answer 16

When you lack the memories of committing violent acts

Question 17

What are the two types of amnesia (exam question)?

Answer 17

1. retrograde amnesia - the loss of memories before an event

2. anterograde amnesia - the loss of memories after an event

Question 18

What type of amnesia do people who have physiological problems experience (exam question)?

Answer 18

retrograde and anterograde amnesia

Question 19

What are examples of physiological triggers that would cause amnesia (exam question)?

Answer 19

• brain lesions
• drugs
• alcohol

Question 20

What is psychogenic (aka dissociative, aka psychological) amnesia (exam question)?

Answer 20

This is a psychologically triggered amnesia

Question 21

What kind of amnesia do people who suffer from psychogenic amnesia experience (exam question)?

Answer 21

Only retrograde amnesia

Question 22

What is hypermnesia?

Answer 22

Super memory; extra or abundant memory

Question 23

What is the difference between normal and hypnotic hypermnesia (exam question)?

Answer 23

• everyone experiences normal hypermnesia (when you can’t possibly remember any more details after several repetitions)
• hypnotic hypermnesia surpasses the capabilities of even normal hypermnesia

Question 24

What are the two types of memory techniques?

Answer 24

1. age regression

2. hypnotic hypermnesia

Question 25

When is age regression used?

Answer 25

It is most used in forensic and clinical suggestions

Question 26

What is the definition of hypnotic hypermnesia?

Answer 26

improved or more detailed memory as a result of hypnosis

- can improve recall once normal recall has plateaued

Question 27

Does hypnotic hypermnesia control the amount of errors in memory?

Answer 27

No, but it increases confidence in the amount of information recalled

Question 28

In the Dywan and Bowers study (1983), what was the ratio of correct to incorrect information?

Answer 28

1 correct answer for every 4.5 incorrect answers

Question 29

What is the Babinski reflex?

Answer 29

Reflex in babies where toes fan out at stimulation of foot

Question 30

What is age regression?

Answer 30

It is a suggestion to travel back in time, to an earlier period in life, to the womb or even a past life

Question 31

What are soft measure indicators that a subject has regressed?

Answer 31

1. change in handwriting

2. vividness of childhood experiences

Question 32

What are hard measure indicators that a subject has regressed?

Answer 32

1. physiological changes
2. cognitive changes
3. changes in affective processes

Question 33

What is the ablation hypothesis?

Answer 33

A subjective change in experience due to age regression (i.e. a 23 year old suggested to regress to 2 years old would forget their next 21 years of life)
- no evidence for this hypothesis

Question 34

Do participants actually regress to childhood?

Answer 34

No, they only behave in the manner they think a child might act in

• their behaviour is influenced by demand characteristics and not actual child behaviour
• the subject simply imagines being a child through a reconstruction of childhood memories
• current emotions guide retrieval coherence (represents the situation now but not how it was originally felt)

Question 35

How is hypnotizability related to the quality of memories?

Answer 35

High hypnotizable and high absorption have more detailed memories
- high hypnotizables are more vulnerable to memory distortions

Question 36

What is spontaneous mirror writing?

Answer 36

Seen in children before the age of 5; hypnotized subjects will demonstrate this in age regression (this is a demand characteristic)