Module 26 (Forgetting)

Question 1

Retrieval from long-term memory

Answer 1

depending on interference, retrieval cues, moods, and motives, some things get retrieved, some don’t

Question 2

Reasons for forgetting

Answer 2

-Encoding errors
-Storage errors
-Retrieval errors

Question 3

Encoding errors

Answer 3

-Basic limits (you can’t encode it all -> no encoding)
-Anterograde amnesia (can’t encode new memories)
-Poor attention/distraction leads to poor encoding

Question 4

Storage errors

Answer 4

Decay or transience of memory over time

Question 5

Retrieval errors

Answer 5

-Blocking
-Retrograde amnesia (can’t recall old memories)
-Motivated forgetting
-Interference

Question 6

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 6

a type of memory loss that occurs when you can’t form new memories

Question 7

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 7

a form of memory loss that causes an inability to remember events from the past

Question 8

Interference

Answer 8

new/old info disrupts the ability to recall/learn other info

Question 9

Proactive interference

Answer 9

-when old info interferes with learning new info
-Ex. old website password interferes when trying to recall the new password

Question 10

Retroactive interference

Answer 10

-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

Question 11

Memory construction errors

Answer 11

-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

Question 12

Reality monitoring

Answer 12

the process by which we attempt to distinguish between memories for events that have actually occurred vs. memories for events that were merely imagined

Question 13

Source monitoring

Answer 13

-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?

Question 14

Source misattribution

Answer 14

memory fault that occurs when a memory for an experienced event is retrieved, but is associated with the wrong time, place, or person

Question 15

Source amnesia

Answer 15

-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?”

Question 16

Lotus Post-Event (Misinformation) Paradigm

Answer 16

-how people’s memories can be affected by misleading information

Question 17

Misinformation paradigm example

Answer 17

-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

Question 18

Memory construction errors

Answer 18

processes of memory distortion that result from deliberate or inadvertent suggestion

Question 19

Imagination inflation

Answer 19

a memory distortion that occurs when a person becomes more confident that an event happened after imagining it

Question 20

Problematic memory “recovery” techniques

Answer 20

-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