Reliability of memory

Question 1

4 methods to retrieve information from memory

Answer 1

• Recall
• Recognition
• Relearning
• Reconstruction

Question 2

Recall

Answer 2

Retrieving information stored in memory, bringing it into conscious awareness providing evidence that something previously learned was retained.

Question 3

Types of recall
- define each

Answer 3

Free recall - Retrieving info from memory in any order without the use of a prompt

Serial recall - Retrieving information from memory in a specific order

Cued recall - Retrieving information from memory with the use of a prompt.

Question 4

Recognition

Answer 4

Identifying information from memory amongst a list of alternatives. The presence of the correct information acts as a cue for its retrieval. (Multiple choice, T/F)

Question 5

Relearning

Answer 5

Learning information again after having previously learned and stored in LTM.

Question 6

Reconstruction

Answer 6

The process of reproducing and piecing together information from memories in attempt to form a representation of a past event.

Question 7

Reconstructive memory

Answer 7

Memories that have been reconstructed. It occurs most often when we retrieve episodic memories of a specific event that we are uncertain about some of the details.

Question 8

Leading question

Answer 8

A question which intentionally suggests a particular answer. It contains a presupposition that is phrased in a way in order to steer to a desired answer.

Question 9

Eye-witness testimony

Answer 9

Any firsthand account given by an individual of an event they have seen.

Question 10

Presupposition

Answer 10

Information that must be true in order for the leading question to make sense.

Question 11

What does Loftus’ research suggest?

Answer 11

That memory reconstruction can be affected by the manipulation of explicit memories. This is because they are consciously retrieved, so leading questions have an impact on the reconstruction.

The research suggests that eye-witness testimony is unreliable as the witness’ explicit memories are manipulated by the leading questions, impacting reconstruction.

Question 12

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 12

A condition in which new explicit memories cannot be consolidated due to brain trauma to hippocampus. This results in the individual being unable to remember events that occur after the trauma is experienced.

Question 13

Alzheimer’s disease

Answer 13

Irreversible neurodegenerative disease that involves the progressive loss of neurons in the brain. It disrupting consolidation and storage of explicit memories.

It is irreversible as it shrinks the hippocampus, which cannot be reversed.
The plaques and tangles build up in an Alzheimer’s brain, impairing synapses and inhibits communication between neurons.

Question 14

Retrieval cues

Answer 14

Any stimulus that assists the process of locating and recovering information stored in memory.

Question 15

Maintenance rehearsal cues

Answer 15

Repeating information over and over again to keep the information in STM for a longer period of time.
- more effective for STM storage, not LTM.
- less effective as there is no pairing with info already stored in memory.

Question 16

Elaborative rehearsal cues

Answer 16

Linking new information in a meaningful way with information already stored in memory, or with other new information to aid in its storage in LTM.
- more effective for LTM.

Question 17

Context dependent cues

Answer 17

Environmental cues in the specific situation when a memory was formed that acts as a retrieval cue to help access memories formed in that context. (sights, smells or sounds in within the specific situation)

Question 18

State dependent cues

Answer 18

An individual’s physiological or psychological state at the time the memory was formed and acts as a retrieval cue to help access those memories.

Question 19

Serial position effect

Answer 19

A research finding that free recall is better for items at the end and beginning of a list than for items in the middle of the list.

Question 20

Primacy effect

Answer 20

Superior recall for items at the beginning of the list.

Question 21

Recency effect

Answer 21

Superior recall for items at the end of the list.