Social Memory

Question 1

Give two examples of where our memory system can be seen as malleable.

Answer 1

The misinformation effect.

Planting rich false memories.

Question 2

What types of physiological responses do memories of implausible experiences lead to?

Answer 2

Strong intense emotions.

Similar to verifiable traumatic experiences.

Question 3

Can physiological reactions be taken as evidence of a memory’s authenticity?

Answer 3

No. Emotions during memory recollection are not reliable.

Question 4

Do individuals reporting recovered memories of alien abduction show more or less false recall in semantic associate tasks?

Answer 4

More (compared to controls).

Question 5

What are source monitoring errors?

Answer 5

The source of memories can be confused leading to distorted memories.

Question 6

Explain what memory distortion by linguistic presuppositions is.

Answer 6

When the way questions are asked after an event can cause a reconstruction of one’s memory of that event.

Question 7

Give an example of a linguistic presupposition.

Answer 7

Leading questions.

Question 8

What is the misinformation effect?

Answer 8

It is the change in the reporting of an even that occurs AFTER the receipt of misleading, post-event information.

Question 9

Which Loftus and Palmer experiment is key to discovering memory distortion?

Answer 9

Experiment 2. The broken glass question.

Question 10

Explain the main interpretation of the L&P study.

Answer 10

The information seen in the original films and the external, post-event information may have been integrated in one memory leading to confusion about the information source (source monitoring errors).

Question 11

What increases the misinformation effect?

Answer 11

Inducing temporary states like hypnosis.

Question 12

What are descriptions of unreal memories more likely to include?

Answer 12

Longer, more verbal hedges, more cognitive information.

Question 13

Give an example of when a rich false memory was implanted.

Answer 13

Loftus & Pickrell - lost in the mall study.

Question 14

Why do researchers use impossible false memories?

Answer 14

Because rich false memories might reflect true experiences that the misinformation made emerge. It is better to implant memories of impossible events.
E.g. Bugs Bunny at Disneyland.

Question 15

Our memory system is…

Answer 15

Malleable and prone to absorbing misinformation.

Question 16

Define flashbulb memories.

Answer 16

Memories of the circumstances in which people learnt of an impactful and emotionally charged event.

Question 17

Why are the source events in flashbulb memories usually public?

Answer 17

Because there must be an informant (e.g. journalist).

Question 18

What are canonical categories?

Answer 18

Types of information frequently reported in the accounts of the news.
E.g. place, aftermath, ongoing activity.

Question 19

What can the contents of canonical categories be?

Answer 19

Idiosyncratic or accidental.

Question 20

Name some key features of flashbulb memories.

Answer 20

Novelty, unexpectedness, consequentiality.

Question 21

How did Brown and Kulik describe flashbulb memories?

Answer 21

Different to other autobiographical memories.
Underlain by a ‘print now’ mechanism - remain unchanged (controversial!!!).
Have the ordinary memory mechanism - encoding, storing and retrieving.

Question 22

What did studies find using the test-retest methodology for flashbulb memories?

Answer 22

That flashbulb memories do not remain unchanged - inconsistencies between the two recollections.
Consistency declines with time. Confidence remains high.

Question 23

Regarding flashbulb memories, what is there a debate regarding?

Answer 23

The necessary and sufficient factors underlying formation of the memory.

Question 24

Name some possible applications from studying flashbulb memories.

Answer 24

Can be used to study traumatic memories.
Specific neural correlates (Brown & Kulik).
Selective activation of amygdala in pps who were close to the world trade centre (Sharot, Martorella). Learning of a traumatic event is different to directly experiencing it.

Question 25

How does reinforcement occur during conversations?

Answer 25

When a speaker repeats information already known. Reinforcement of existing memories. Stronger effect for those remembering than the listeners.

Question 26

What is retrieval-induced forgetting?

Answer 26

When the unrivalled memories are linked to the recalled memories there is greater forgetting than when they are not linked.
Individual and socially shared phenomenon.

Question 27

What is socially shared retrieval-induced forgetting?

Answer 27

This is where selective remembering can cause retrieval-induced forgetting.
Speaker can induce the listener to remember and to forget different aspects by just not mentioning them. Even if the memories they have are different (e.g. different car accidents)!!!

Question 28

Define social contagion.

Answer 28

It is the spread of one person’s memory to another by means of social interaction.
E.g. Loftus’ work - implanting new memories, misleading about experienced events.

Question 29

Describe the standard social-contagion experiment and its results (Roediger).

Answer 29

The slides of household scenes study.

Results: larger false recall of contagion items than items not suggested by the confederate. Source monitoring deficits.

Question 30

What are some applications of the misinformation effect and the social contagion paradigm?

Answer 30

Shows social influences on memory.

Clearer idea on the formation of false memories.

Question 31

What is the difference between misinformation and social contagion?

Answer 31

Misinformation - researcher gives information.

Social contagion - confederate gives the information (more socially natural).