Memory Errors- Lecture 6

Question 1

Schacter (1999)

Classification of memory errors

Answer 1

> B locking: Inability to retrieve info although it
has been encoded deeply (tip of the
tongue feeling)
A bsent-mindedness: Memory errors due to
attentional failures at encoding or retrieval
M isattribution: Accurate memories assigned
to wrong source
B ias: distortion of previous experiences due
to present knowledge beliefs & feelings
P ersistence: Due to a negative experience
T ransience: forgetting of memories
S uggestibility : Memories which
incorporates inaccurate info from external source

Question 2

Forgetting- LTM

DECAY

Answer 2

mnemonic traces simply fade away with time

Question 3

Forgetting LTM

Interference

Answer 3

Proactive- previous info interferes

Retroactive- new info interferes with old memories

Question 4

Forgetting LTM

Retrieval failure

Answer 4

Context dependency- cues in the environment that were present at encoding are no longer present- so fail to retrieve memory from storage
Directed forgetting- told that they can forget some of the information being presented to them

Question 5

Rate of forgetting

Answer 5

• The rate we forget information is not linear
• Maximum loss of memory shortly after learning
• Memory loss is slower from there

Question 6

Encoding leading to forgetting

Answer 6

Deficient encoding>forgetting

activity at encoding that predicts subsequent forgetting

Question 7

Paller et al. (1988)

Answer 7

SUBSEQUENT MEMORY PARADIGM

Subsequently forgotten items produced more brain activity during encoding (when look back after recall test)

Question 8

Kim (2011)

Answer 8

Meta analysis
Following areas showed subsequent forgetting effects across studies:
Temporoparietal junction
Posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus (
Ventromedial prefrontal cortex

-Default-mode network: network of areas that are active during resting state- like when mind wanders, or being focused on doing something else

Question 9

Cabeza (2004)

Answer 9

Activation decreases are also critical for successful learning of new information- decrease means efficient reallocation of neurocognitive resources

Question 10

Default-mode network

Answer 10

endogenous tasks - self referential task- default network is activated
exogenous tasks- external activities- Activity in the default-mode network may signal lack of attention or mind-wandering

Question 11

Memory suppression
Directed forgetting
The item method

Answer 11

Interfering with encoding processes:
>After each item is presented at encoding, participants are asked to either remember or forget the preceding item
>At tests they are asked to retrieve all items and participants retrieve more remember than forget items
>effect found for pictures & words and in both recall and recognition tests suggesting&raquo_space;deficits at encoding rather than difficulties at retrieval

Question 12

Selective rehearsal hypothesis

Answer 12

People restrict elaborative processing of the Forget items

Question 13

The encoding suppression hypothesis

Answer 13

Forgetting is an active process

There is more cognitive effort in Forget than Remember trials

Question 14

Fawcett & Taylor (2008)

Answer 14

Evidence that reaction times to a secondary task is slower after Forget than Remember items (fewer resources available in forget trials because to forget uses additional processing)

Question 15

Memory suppression
Directed forgetting
The list method

Answer 15

Interfering with retrieval processes
>2 lists are presented. At the end of the list and without expecting it, participants are asked to forget the preceding items
>At test, they are asked to retrieve all items
»»Retrieve more from the remember than the forget list
Effect is found only in recall (not recognition)&raquo_space;»> the deficit affects locating the memory (i.e. retrieval).

Question 16

Anderson et al (2004)

Think- No think

Answer 16

Not thinking about something remove it from memory? Potentially, as this affects the ability to remember it in the future:
>Forgetting increases (recall drops) with successive suppression attempts

Active inhibition of retrieval

Question 17

Think No think contrast

Answer 17

Bilateral anterior hippocampi showed reduced activity during suppression trials

Showing increased activity during suppression:

• VLPFC\ both of these are required when subjects
• DLPFC/ need to override strong responses
• ACC
• IPS

Question 18

Stress, memory and forgetting

Answer 18

Psychogenic amnesia
>emotional stressful events can cause amnesia affecting autobiographical memories
>no evident neurological cause
>can last a few hours- then usually memories are restored- but can still show amnesia from the time

Question 19

Bias in remembering and forgetting

Answer 19

Pleasantness of a memory may affect how well we remember it

Question 20

Bernsten (1996)

Answer 20

In a study of memory, 49% were pleasant and only 19% unpleasant

Question 21

Sedikides & Green (2000)

Answer 21

Remember positive more than negative feedback

Does not extend to negative information/feedback directed towards others especially those we do not personally know

Question 22

Sedikides & Green (2000)

Answer 22

Inconsistency-Negativity Neglect model
>we are motivated to neglect processing info that challenges our positive self-conceptions
> enables the stability of self concept

Question 23

Own race face bias

Answer 23

Tend to remember faces of their own race better than faces of other races
>white people will struggle remembering faces of people of other races

Question 24

False memory

Deese, Roediger & McDermott (1995)

Answer 24

Lured into thinking they remember something, with a series of words which are all highly associated with a lure word that is NOT studied.
»these memories were also judged to be as vivid and rich in contextual detail as any true memory
–These false memories can be more robust than true memory>increasing no. of related words

Question 25

Roediger & McDermott (1995)

Answer 25

During encoding, the processing words which are semantically linked to a target word will also activate by association the target word
>Target word has been activated by a number of different words its overall activation level is high.
>Participants retrieve information on the basis of its activation strength

Question 26

Theories of false memory:

Schacter (1999)

Answer 26

Gist memory & sensory reactivation
Word lists consisting of semantically related items >CREATES A GIST
-ptps rely on knowing the gist rather than individual features> make more semantically related errors

Question 27

Cabeza et al. (2001)

Answer 27

fMRI study- recognise studied, related false and unrelated false words
>high levels of related false alarms
>Brain responses to related false items were almost identical to studied items in prefrontal and hippocampal sites.
>These areas were influenced by semantic similarity.
>Left Parahippocampal cortex activation- only area of difference: True>False memory

Question 28

False memories:

Frontal amnesic patients

Answer 28

> Poor memory for true items but are also less likely to falsely recognise the related lures.
Pattern of results has been explained to result from a deficit in gist memory
also likely that item specific memory is also impaired in these patients

Question 29

Verfaellie et al. (2004)

Answer 29

> frontal lobe damage is not linked to excessive number of false alarms and increased susceptibility to false memory

Question 30

Social influence and memory errors

Answer 30

Our memory can be affected by what others remember- susceptible to misleading information

Question 31

Social influence and CONFORMITY

Sherif

Answer 31

Identify when a spot of light started moving by pressing a button and estimate how far the light has travelled
-when watched a bunch of confederates guessing long and short distances
>ptps tended to provide estimates of movement which matched closely that of the confederate they watched
estimates were long lasting
INFORMATIONAL INFLUENCE- private change

Question 32

Social influence and CONFORMITY

Asch

Answer 32

Normative influence on line task
-Change answers to fit in with rest of the group
>public change but not private

Question 33

Social influence and
Memory conformity
Loftus (1974)

Answer 33

Ptps witness an event and then at retrieval receive incorrect suggestions
>Misinformation is provided in the form of written instructions from the experimenter so there is an indirect social component

Question 34

Roediger et al. (2001)

Answer 34

*Social transmission of false memories *
>Confederates recall a false memory not in the witnessed scenes
>Strong effects of social influence
low and high probability items:
-greater conformity for high probability items

Question 35

Social influence and Memory errors

Answer 35

Memory improvements:

Allan and Gabbert (2008) found little evidence to suggest long-term social influence effects for accurate memories

Question 36

Allan & Gabbert, 2008

Answer 36

house hold scene presented to ptps

• confederate made judgements either confidently or not
• effect larger and long lasting for false info but not true memories

Question 37

Discrepancy detection hypothesis

Answer 37

False memories tend to stand out- when there is a discrepancy in the semantics of something, our attention is focused more-so on this

Question 38

Social factors that effect magnitude of social influence on memory

Answer 38

> Effect greater for face to face or (perceived) face to face interactions
Small effects linked to the confidence displayed by confederate at immediate testing

Question 39

Memory conformity more likely to be due to informational influence

Answer 39

Social influence results in long lasting and private change

Normative influence effects cannot be excluded but more likely to occur at face-to-face and public testing

Question 40

Strong social element. We tend to follow certain people more than others

Answer 40

People we consider more likely to have got the correct answer
People to whom we feel socially closer (minimal group effect)

Question 41

Social influence effects on memory:

Possible mechanisms

Answer 41

> Social influence errors are source memory errors
Item information recalled but source is lost (misattribution)
False memory is greater if similar to the schema of the episode (gist memory)

Question 42

Efforts to reduce source memory errors reduce conformity

Answer 42

Drawing attention to the source of information

Distinctiveness of false memory (dissimilar to episode)

Question 43

Weldon & Bellinger (1997)

Answer 43

Collaborative inhibition (CI)
Remembering in groups-
collaborative memory vs individual score
Nominal group score= individuals totals added up (only counting repeated items once)
Nominal group recall>Collaborative recall>Individual memory
WHY?
>Motivational factors:diminished personal accountability, dispensability of effort etc.
BUT… even when motivational factors diminished by introducing monetary incentives still CI
More likely :Production blocking- more to do with recalling in a group being difficult- interference or forgetting

Question 44

Memory errors-

An adaptive mechanism

Answer 44

We have adapted to retain information that is most likely to be needed in the environment in which it operates (Schacter, 1999),
Memory errors occur when adaptive memory mechanisms fail to identify which info is essential

Question 45

What do you need to know

Answer 45

Diff types of memory errors:
Forgetting due to encoding
Directed and Motivated forgetting
False memories
Bias (+ material from Research Focus lecture)
Social influence on memory
Collaborative inhibition

Question 46

Meissner & Brighams (2001)

Answer 46

Meta analysis: Other race face recognition bias
>People are more likely to correctly recognise a face of their own race
>Shorter exposures and longer retention intervals increase the own race bias (own>other) suggesting link between weak encoding and face bias.
>ORBs an be found across racial groups for members of own group
>Amount of interracial contact is a significant but weak predictor of the ORB

Question 47

Developmental evidence of ORB

Kelly et al (2007)

Answer 47

Study based on the fact that infants show habituation to studied faces.
>faces have become familiar and therefore there is
»>No bias at 3 months but it appears fully developed by 9 months.

Question 48

Developmental evidence of ORB

Sangrigoli et al. (2005)

Answer 48

Adopted Korean adults (between the ages of 3-9 years) raised by white families in Europe showed a memory bias for Caucasian and not Asian faces.
>system responsible is plastic– so theories of the effect should include mechanisms to account for this

Question 49

Face processing:
Role of attention
Zou et al. (2015)

Answer 49

One group studied own and other race faces under full attention conditions. A second group had their attention divided between face processing and another task (tone detection).
»results showed that under full attention there was a clear own race bias (own>other). With divided attention the bias disappeared (own=other).

Question 50

Expertise based theories

Answer 50

Racial segregation > developing greater expertise in processing and remembering own race better than other races
Developmental studies (Kelly et al 2007) show how babies initially dont have bias until they have more contact with own race (more time spent with caregivers).
-BUT the effect can be reversed by spending more time in presence of other races (Sangrigoli et al. 2005)

Question 51

Configural processing theory

Answer 51

Relationships between permanent facial features (e.g. eyes, nose, mouth) and enables the processing of the face as a whole rather than a collection of individual features
-Inversion disturbs the relationship between features (upside down faces)

Question 52

Representation models
The face space model
Valentine (1991)

Answer 52

Regards to memory representations-
So faces are initially processed configurally
-Assumes that each facial feature and inter feature relationships are normally distributed in a population and represented as dimensions of the face’s memory representation.