P3 Autobiographical Memory

Question 1

Autobiographical retention function

Answer 1

The distribution of the number of memories from each period of life

Question 2

Childhood amnesia

Answer 2

Very few memories form early childhood, virtually no memories before the age of 3

Question 3

Reminiscence bump

Answer 3

Disproportionate number of memories between the ages 10 and 30

Question 4

Forgetting curve

Answer 4

Standard forgetting curve for information from the last 20 years of life

Question 5

What are the three parts of the autobiographical retention function?

Answer 5

1. Childhood amnesia
2. Reminiscence bump
3. Forgetting curve

Question 6

What two factors influence what is remembered from childhood amnesia?

Answer 6

1. What is frequently told

2.Frightening/extreme

Question 7

What are the four approaches about the emergence of Autobiographical Memory?

Answer 7

1. Brain development
2. Development language
3. Development of a cognitive self
4. Social-cognitive development

Question 8

A possible source of memory deficits in childhood is that the ____ & ____ are not fully developed

Answer 8

A possible source of memory deficits in childhood is that the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex are not fully developed

Question 9

What are the two memory systems for baby memory?

Answer 9

1. Procedural memory (simple memory tasks)
2. Declarative system that develops later (more complex, autobiographical memory)

Question 10

What is the limitation of the Brain Development approach?

Answer 10

It cannot explain the memory loss for events that occur relatively late in infancy OR why children of 3 years remember things form 1-2 years

Question 11

According to the Developmental Language approach _____

Answer 11

According to the Developmental Language approach we begin to remember events once we are able to describe them in language

Question 12

What are the gender difference within the language approach?

Answer 12

When talking to daughter: elaborative long and detailed

When talking to son: pragmatic concise with less details

Could explain why women tend to have better autobiographical memory

Question 13

According to the Development of a Cognitive Self Approach ____

Answer 13

According to the Development of a Cognitive Self Approach you must have a sense of yourself as an independent individual

Question 14

What are the cultural difference within the Development of a Cognitive Self Approach?

Answer 14

Western cultures have more emphasis on self-identity: earlier memories

Eastern cultures have more of an emphasis on group identity: early memories are more focused on group relations

Question 15

Maternal elaboration-repetition ratio

Answer 15

The extent to which the mother talks about events elaborately rather than repeatedly

Question 16

The more the mother talks to her children ____

Answer 16

The more the mother talks to her children, the earlier the memories

Question 17

The Social-Cognitive Development approach for the emergence of autobiographical memories

Answer 17

A complex interaction between the developing brain + language + sense of self

Question 18

Personal preferences from ____ are often preferred more

Answer 18

Personal preferences from early adulthood are often preferred more

Question 19

What are the explanations for the reminiscence bump?

Answer 19

1. Importance and distinctiveness
2. Identity formation
3. Neurological development is at its peak

Question 20

What are the Theoretical Approach to Autobiographical Memory?

Answer 20

1. Self-memory system model
2. Conway’s Knowledge structure

Question 21

What are the two main components of the Self-memory system model?

Answer 21

1. Autobiographical memory knowledge base: contains personal information
2. Working self: current and future goals/plans

Question 22

We want our memories to be ____, so our autobiographical memories are often ____ (Self-memory system model)

Answer 22

We want our memories to be coherent with our current goals/beliefs , so our autobiographical memories are often inaccurate (Self-memory system model)

Question 23

Two different types of retrieval

Answer 23

1. Generative retrieval = effortful, slow retrieval about the self and the goals of an individual
2. Direct retrieval = a spontaneous, quick retrieval which is more specific

Question 24

Which brain area is involved in generative retrieval?

Answer 24

Prefrontal cortex

Question 25

Which brain area is involved in direct retrieval?

Answer 25

Left hippocampus

Question 26

Wolke and colleagues distinguished between two personality types:

Answer 26

• Agentic: emphasis on independence, achievement, and personal power
• Communal: emphasis on interdependence and similarity to others

Question 27

Two types of memory loss?

Answer 27

1. Retrograde amnesia: difficulty accessing events that occurred in the past (prior to brain damage)
2. Antograde amnesia: the loss of ability to form memories after brain damage (mostly

Question 28

Ribot’s law (retrograde amnesia)

Answer 28

Older memories are often better maintained with retrograde amnesia

Question 29

Source amnesia

Answer 29

difficulty tracing the source of a particular memory

Question 30

Photo-taking-impairment effect

Answer 30

people are less likely to remember objects they photograph than objects they only observe

Question 31

Cognitive offloading accounts

Answer 31

This hypothesis states that when people take pictures, they start relying on the camera to ‘remember’ on their behalf what was photographed instead of trying to remember it themselves

Question 32

Attention-disengagement hypothesis

Answer 32

When people take photos, they disengage from the moment, which leads them to encode the object of experience less deeply