Memory Retrieval Flashcards
What does memory retrieval refer too?
IHow we obtain our memories
Factors which affects our ability to obtain memory
What are autobiographical memories?
Interconnected, rich memories of our own lives
Brings in memories from lots of sensory modalities, to get a subjective image
What is the reminiscence bump?
Enhanced memories during adolescence and young adulthood
Vidid and details
What are the reasons for the reminiscence bump?
Self-image hypothesis - memories linked to events are important (marriage)
Cognitive hypothesis - memories enhanced for a period of many life changes followed by a stable period (e.g. get married, then have a stable period, so remember important period)
Cultural life script hypothesis - there are expected events to occur within certain events which will occur at a certain age. enhanced memory for these
What are flashbulb memories?
Memories for when we first hear about a highly emotional event e.g. assassination of John F Kennedy or Martin Luther Kind - detailed and vivid and persistent over time
Are flashbulb memories vivid?
NO
Neisser and Harsch - Recalling items, repeated recall showed discrepancies between reports 1 day after challenger disaster and 2.5 to 3 years later
Talarico and Rubin
Using questionnaires, measured everyday and 9/11 memories after 1,7,42,224 days after
Consistent everyday and 9/11 memories decreased at the same rate
Inconsistent (inaccurate) everyday and 9/11 memories increased
People’s beliefs in accurate memories were greater for 9/11 than everyday memories
Are flashbulb memories special?
They aren’t special with respect to accuracy because remembered the same as everyday memories but are special in terms of our perceptual of the memory - subjectively think we are better
What is the explanation for flashbulb memories?
Emotional information enhances the subjective of remembering
Rimmele et al - frame colour
Memory for negative pictures remembered more
but when put pic in frame, and asked what colour the frame was, remembered more of the frame colour in the neutral pictures - less able to remember colour of frame if emotional, emotional stimuli at expense of peripheral info at the time of memory encoded
Why do people remember emotional photos more?
Narrative rehearsal hypothesis - emotional information undergoes extensive rehearsal - repeated on tv etc so people rehearse it
Evidence for the narrative rehearsal hypothesis
Ost et al - over 40% of participants reported seeing non existent video footage of princess Diana’s fatal car crash
Why is memory constructive?
Memory content is constructed from information of the actual event, expectations, knowledge and experiences
Evidence that memory is constructive
War of the ghosts
Source monitoring errors/misattributions
War of the ghosts story
Bartlette - Britain incorporated parts of their own culture when asked about native Canadian folklore story
What are source monitoring errors?
Ideas that we make errors about where and from who we acquire information from
Evidence for source monitoring
Gendered statements misattributed to individual - masculine statement given to female
Becoming famous overnight - asked ppts to identify famous and infamous names from a lift of words. Immediately after recall, judged new names as famous. Longer delay - new faces less likely, increase in errors for faces previously seen - a sense of familiarity led to thinking people were famous
Do we make inferences about our memory?
Fill in the blanks sentence task influenced by real world knowledge
ppts with greater knowledge about baseball incorrectly inferred a sentence had been presented within a paragraph about basketball
schemas and scrips lead to errors
high levels of false recall and false recognition for associate words
How do schemas influence knowledge?
What we expect in situations
Asked ppts to list what items that appeared in office, included items that weren’t there but expected to be there
How do scripts influence knowledge?
Series of events we expect to happen
Given a paragraph about bill going to the dentist, asked if sentence appeared about him going to receptionist desk and ppts thought it had appeared
Types of interference - memories can change in consequence of:
Proactive interference
Retroactive interference
Proactive interference
Memories from before an event interfere with retrieval of memories of that event (knowledge and expectations)
Retroactive interference
New information acquired after an event interfere with retrieval of memories of that event (Suggestion, misleading post event information)
Misinformation effect - Loftus et al
ppts viewed a stimulus, questionnaire on the stimulus with some inaccurate information (a question refers to a yield sign when it was a stop sign)
ppts given error information later report false memories - they said they thought they saw the car stopping at the yield sign
Misinformation effect - Loftus and Palmer
Ppts watched a video of a road traffic accident. questions how fast cars were going when smashed or hit. Thought the car was going faster in smashed condition. After 1 week, 32% reported seeing broken glass in smashed condition compared to 14% in hit condition
How can you implant false memories?
using verbal suggestions
presenting doctored photographs and videos
Why does the misinformation effect occur?
Some people believe it is retroactive interference or source monitoring (misattributing info told to the event itself)
Errors in eyewitness testimony
Perceptual and attentional errors e.g. weapons focus source monitoring post identification feedback remembering events
Weapons focus
Have good memories for the weapon as attention is on it but memory for other factors diminished
Source monitoring eyewitness testimony errors
Ross et al
ppts watched a video of either a male or a female teacher reading to students. ppts viewed a video of the female teacher being robbed. ppts who had viewed the male teacher video often selected him as the robber from a selection of photographs
Post identification feedback
Positive feedback following identification in a line up of a perpetrator from a crime increases confidence in their selection
Remembering events
Participants who had been given cued recall task regarding a video versus plain a computer game were more susceptible to false memories from suggestion - asking ppl to recall events makes their memory vulnerable, memory is vulnerable when being retrieved before it goes into long term memory
Why is remembering events a problem?
Problem for interviewing people because when ask them to retrieve memories, it is vulnerable
