Module 26 (Forgetting) Flashcards
Retrieval from long-term memory
depending on interference, retrieval cues, moods, and motives, some things get retrieved, some don’t
Reasons for forgetting
-Encoding errors
-Storage errors
-Retrieval errors
Encoding errors
-Basic limits (you can’t encode it all -> no encoding)
-Anterograde amnesia (can’t encode new memories)
-Poor attention/distraction leads to poor encoding
Storage errors
Decay or transience of memory over time
Retrieval errors
-Blocking
-Retrograde amnesia (can’t recall old memories)
-Motivated forgetting
-Interference
Anterograde amnesia
a type of memory loss that occurs when you can’t form new memories
Retrograde amnesia
a form of memory loss that causes an inability to remember events from the past
Interference
new/old info disrupts the ability to recall/learn other info
Proactive interference
-when old info interferes with learning new info
-Ex. old website password interferes when trying to recall the new password
Retroactive interference
-when new info interferes with recalling old info
-Ex. new password interferes with memory for old password
-Ex. study french after studying spanish, new french words come to mind when you are trying to recall spanish words
-Sleep can buffer against RI
Memory construction errors
-memories are constructed, we don’t just retrieve memories, we reweave them. Memory is more like wiki page than stable video file
-misinformation
-imagination
-source amnesia
Reality monitoring
the process by which we attempt to distinguish between memories for events that have actually occurred vs. memories for events that were merely imagined
Source monitoring
-the process by which we distinguish/determine the source of a “real event”
-the ability to remember the origin of information, thoughts, or episodes, and to assess the context of that information
-In class? The slides? Netflix documentary?
Source misattribution
memory fault that occurs when a memory for an experienced event is retrieved, but is associated with the wrong time, place, or person
Source amnesia
-a memory exists, but the person can’t recall its origin
-“Who was it that told me that?”, “where did I get this info?”, “when was it that we had that meeting?”
Lotus Post-Event (Misinformation) Paradigm
-how people’s memories can be affected by misleading information
Misinformation paradigm example
-See slideshow of car accident
-Test: stop sign or yield sign?
-Consistent: did another car pass the red Datsun while it was stopped at the yield sign?
-Misleading: did another car pass the red Datsun while it was stopped at the stop sign?
-The erroneous suggestion interfered with subjects’ ability to later correctly select the sign
Memory construction errors
processes of memory distortion that result from deliberate or inadvertent suggestion
Imagination inflation
a memory distortion that occurs when a person becomes more confident that an event happened after imagining it
Problematic memory “recovery” techniques
-Results implicate visual imagery in suggested memories… true recollections of actual events are often characterized by rich and detailed visual imagery. If imagery is a kind of mental signature of true recollections, then embellishing a false memory with vivid mental images should make it look and feel like a true memory
-It may be less important to remember things exactly as they occurred than it is to maintain healthy relationships and a positive outlook; incomplete and positively biased memories serve these purposes
