Q4 - Autobio, False, Forget Flashcards
autobio memory, false memory, forgetting
Autobiographical memory
specific memories and self-knowledge
- combines information from episodic events and semantic knowledge
- identity relevant
Conway’s Theory of Autobio Memory Representation (4)
- episodic or specific events
- general events
- life-time periods
- The working self.
These levels create an interacting but hierarchical representation structure in our memory system
Event-specific memories
vast reservoir of episodic memories that we accumulate over our lifetimes.
- Events are the fundamental units of cognitive memory.
- Both instant events and the extended events refer to particular and unique events, they simply differ in the extent to which they last
General events
- combined, averaged, and cumulative memory of highly-similar events
- script of what happens at said event (ex wedding) - extended event
extended event
long sequence of connected episodic events
- It is different from the averaged memory in that it is the memory of a single sequence of events that occurred only once.
- However, it is similar in that it requires integrative processes to join the units together into a coherent schema
Lifetime periods
way to organize our autobiographical memories (both event-specific and general events)
- idiosyncratic, personal ways in which we organize our autobiographical past
– anchors
ex. “Before I came to JJ”
The working self
here and now restain memories that are accessible at the moment
goals and self-images that make up our view of ourselves.
- It is a complex collection of autobiographical knowledge, goals, and self-monitoring processes
- coherence
- correspondence
Coherence
processes that yield autobiographical memories that are consistent with the working self
- perception of past to make it seem like we are
“Getting better all the time…”
- who you see yourself as and positive self image
– Overestimate good things have done and underestimate bad things
Correspondence
requirement that the retrieved memory match the actual event from the past
- accuracy
Childhood/infantile amnesia
no episodic memories before ages 3-5
Offset of Childhood Amnesia
Ask people to report earliest memory
- Estimate is 3.1 years.
Target particular memories, like birth of sibling.
- Also age 3 is the estimate here.
Cue-word method.
- Slightly lower estimate – perhaps below 3.
Childhood Amnesia explanations (4)
- Psychodynamic
- Age-related changes in self-concept
- Neurological transitions in memory systems
- The influence of language on memory development
- lack of relevant encoding/retrieval cues needed access these memories
Psychodynamic view
memories of early childhood are repressed
- manifest into maladaptive behaviors
Age-related changes in self-concept
infants lack a coherent view of the self as differentiated from their surrounding environment.
- No sense of “I” or “Me”
Neurological transitions
The hippocampus and prefrontal lobes are not mature yet
language
growth of language ability in the young child provides the structure and narrative schemas necessary to support episodic memories
- no words to describe memories
Simcock & Hayne
- presented children who were 2-4 with a demonstration of their “incredible shrinking machine.”
- An object, such as a beach ball, is place at the top of the machine: a shrunken object comes out the bottom. - A year later, the children return and must recall what was shrunken.
result: only children with vocab remembered this event
Diary Studies
Diaries provide a written record by which memories can be compared.
- As such, diaries are extremely useful tools in the study of autobiographical memory.
- WHAT, WHERE, and WHO cues were better at retrieving information than WHEN cues
Cue-word Technique
an ordinary word is provided to participants and they are asked to provide the first memory – from any point in their life – which the word elicits
Reminiscence Bump
spike in recalled memories corresponding to late adolescence to early adulthood, or roughly between the ages of 16 and 25-30.
Reminiscence Bump reasons (3)
) Memory-fluency.
2) Neurological views.
3) Socio-cultural views.
Memory-fluency
the time period of age 16-30 is simply a time period with many “first experiences”
- events that are unique and novel = easier to recall
Neurological views
young adults have the most efficient encoding system based on optimal maturation of brain mechanisms of memory before the inevitable decline in memory abilities associated with age.
Socio-cultural views
the age range 16–30 is associated with changes in identity-formation of the individual.
- Cultural life-scripts
- how we envision an avg life enfolding
ex. get married in mid-20s
Flashbulb Memories
highly confident personal memories of surprising events.
- very confident that their memories are accurate even when they concern features of their own whereabouts which may have little to do with the public event.
Flashbulb Memories accuracy - Weaver
- compared an ordinary memory and a flashbulb memory a day after event occured
- Three months later, participants were asked about each event.
Results: accuracy (that is, correspondence with original report) was equivalent for both memories – some errors were seen in both.
- Confidence remained high for flashbulb memory but not for ordinary memory.
Flashbulb Memories accuracy - Talarico and Rubin
compared memories of their personal whereabouts when they heard the news of 9/11 and an ordinary event around the same time.
results: flashbulb memories were no more accurate than the ordinary memory, but that vividness ratings, confidence ratings, and other subjective ratings were all higher for the flashbulb memory than for the normal memory
Flashbulb Memories - Special mechanism approach
unique and special mechanism responsible for flashbulb memories only
Flashbulb Memories - ordinary mechanism approach
flashbulb memories are simply normal memories but they are memories of emotionally charged and socially significant events
observer memories
memories in which we take the vantage point of an outside observer and see ourselves as actors in our visual memory
- see ourselves in the memory
- Associated w/ “I know what happened”
field memories
autobiographical and visual memories in which we see the memory as if we were looking at the event through our own eyes
- Associated with “I remember being there” (details)
- More associated with emotion
disputed memories
Falsely remembering someone else’s memory as one’s own
- source monitoring issue
Sense of Smell and Autobiographical Memory - Willander and Larsson
tested three cueing conditions:
1. odors alone
2. word alone
3. odor and name of it.
Found: odor alone produced the most and oldest autobiographical memories
sense of smell and emotional memories - Herz
autobiographical memories produced by odor cues were given higher emotion ratings than were autobiographical memories elicited by either visual cues or auditory cues.
Why?
- Olfactory bulb is part of the Limbic system- easy access to the amygdala (emotional memories).
- Not contralateral
- Evolutionary based
- Distinctive/ interference
memory principles (7)
- Cue-Driven
- Encoding-Retrieval
- cue overload
- Reconstructive
5.Impurity - Relative Distinctiveness
- Specificity
The Cue-Driven Principle
All memories are cue driven
- Without a cue, there can be no memory
- The importance of retrieval cues cannot be overstated
The Encoding-Retrieval Principle
Memory depends on the relation between the encoding conditions and the retrieval conditions
Are the cues present at encoding present at retrieval?
- At the time of recall, it is a great advantage to have the same context available as when the material was originally learned
The Encoding-Retrieval Principle: Similar phenomena (2)
same state of mind when encoding and retrieval
1. state dependent: If you are drunk when you encode something, you will remember it better if you are drunk when you try to retrieve it.
- mood-dependent: If you are sad when you encode something, you will remember it better if you are sad when you try to retrieve it
The Cue Overload Principle
The more distinctive a cue is for one particular memory, the better that cue will be at eliciting that particular memory
The Reconstructive Principle
memory is inherently constructive
The Impurity Principle
Tasks and processes are not pure, and therefore one cannot separate out the contributions of different memory stores by using tasks thought to tap only one system.
- Because every event recruits slightly different encoding and retrieval processes, there is no such thing as “pure” memory
The Relative Distinctiveness Principle
the more distinctive an event is, the recollection of it will be better
The Specificity Principle
tasks which require the retrieval of a unique piece of information seem to be more vulnerable to interference or more likely to result in reduced performance than tasks the req generic/gist based info
- specific details are harder to remember than the gist of the event
False Memories
memories which do not correspond to events as they actually happened
Correspondence, Coherence, and Amount
Correspondence: does the memory match the actual event
Coherence: Does the memory cohere with my self-image
Amount : how much or how detailed is the memory and how many inaccurate details need t be present to determine if memory is false
Reasons for False Memory (3)
- Suggestibility
- Source Monitoring Errors
- Contextual Associations
methods for studying false memories
- Deese-Roediger-McDermott procedure (DRM)
- false memory induction
- imagination inflation
- altered evidence
Deese-Roediger-McDermott procedure (DRM)
A group of words are given in a free recall test
- all associated to a common, but unpresented word
DRM method
Critical intrusions are the false memories created by a list in which all of the words are related or associated with the absent but suggested word.
Possible explanation: Contextual associations
false memory induction
tell participants they were lost in the mall as a child, when, in fact, they had not.
- 25% of the participants generated memories of being lost in a mall
Imagination Inflation
researchers induce false memories by simply having the participant imagine the event.
Altered Evidence
altered videos of participants interacting with experimenters and then showed the videotapes to participants.
- Two weeks later, the participants returned for a memory test.
- Compared to participants who had not seen altered videotapes
results: those who had seen the altered videotapes had far more false memories.
Recovered Memories
memories, usually of traumatic experiences that have been forgotten – only to be retrieved later
The Misinformation Effect
Presenting post-event misinformation about a witnessed event can obscure, change, or degrade the memory of the original event.
ex. ran thru stop sign (false) and not yield sign
cognitive interview
when trying to recall details of a particular event, use these principles:
1. context reinstatement
2. In-depth reporting
3. Several orders
4. Different Perspectives
- In general, recall as much as possible and sort out what is relevant later.
forgetting and retrieval
retrieval facilitates recall
Accessibility (weak form of forgetting)
Forgetting = inaccessible
At any given point in time, that memory is just not accessible,
- but given the right cues, it might be accessible
Availability (strong form of forgetting)
Forgetting = unavailable
The memory is gone or erased
- No amount of cuing will bring the memory back
incidental forgetting factors
- time passage
- interference
3.
Passage of time
trace decay: May simply fade or decay over time…
- Time is probably just correlated with other mechanisms causing forgetting
1. contextual fluctuation
2. interference
interference
When a cue is linked with multiple memories, those memories compete for access to awareness when presented with the cue
1. proactive: OLD info interferes w new
2. retroactive: NEW info interferes w old
Positivity bias
People tend to remember more positive memories vs. negative memories
- increases with age
Repression
psychological defense mechanism that banishes unwanted memories, ideas, and feelings into the unconscious in an effort to reduce conflict and psychic pain.
- Theoretically, repression can either be conscious or nonconscious
Suppression
conscious and intentional attempts to forget
directed forgetting methods (2)
- Item-method
- List-method
traumatic memories types (2)
- Type I: single incident
ex. 9/11 - type 2: multiple incidents
ex. sexual abuse episodes
Hypnosis and memory
Hypnosis produces more false memories than real/accurate ones
Wording effects of accidents
Wording can change how event was perceived - creating a false memory of the events that occurred
Ex smashed vs contacted
Autobio vs episodic vs semantic
Autobio: specific memories and self-knowledge
Episodic: memories for specific autobiographical events
Semantic: memories for facts and general knowledge
