w7 Flashcards
define everyday memory
Memory phenomena people
experience in normal life
what is autobiographical memory
memory for events in one’s own life
what is most important for us to measure memory
Content more important than accuracy
what does autobiographical memory relate to in traditional memory research
episodic memory and semantic memory
what is a schema
integrated knowledge structure for things which captures commonly encountered aspects of life
what do schemas allow us to do
- Allows us to form expectations.
- Helps us to draw inferences
what is memory
interaction between event and our own pre-
existing schemata
schema-relevant
better memory than schema-irrelevant
schema-congruent
schema can provide retrieval cues
schema incongruent
elaboration, attracted attention
schema irrelevant
no good memory
downside of schemas
- schema’s are packets of knowledge which can distort our memory
- produce a coherent (but not necessarily accurate) story.
- rationalisations: making it in line with own (cultural) expectations
what is childhood amnesia
Almost total lack of autobiographical memories from first 3 yrs of life
how does Freud explain childhood amnesia
Repression of sexual feelings towards parents
neurological explanation for childhood amnesia
hippocampus and frontal lobes are still developing
how do schemas impact childhood amnesia
Underdeveloped schema’s / semantic memory could cause it
what does the emergent cognitive self mean
child may only recognise themself as a unique and individual entity at 18 months
what is the reminiscence bump
Lots of memories from age 15-25
neurological explanation for reminiscence bump
brain peak- neither maturing nor declining
identity formation view of reminiscence bump
this is a time of decisions which shape the future, we create a life script and a sense of adult identity
what is a life script
coherent, integrated account of who we are and how we became like this
cognitive account of reminiscence bump
primacy effect- better memory for first time events, less
proactive interference
how do we describe the accuracy of autobiographical memory
Truthful to the gist of actual experiences.
Tendency to place ourselves centre-stage
Tendency for favourable view of present self
Tendency to create a coherent memory
what does it mean that we have a tendency to create a coherent memory
memory which consists with our current goals and beliefs
what are flashbulb memories
highly detailed and vivid memories for surprising
events that are relatively resistant to forgetting
is witness confidence a good predictor of accuracy of EWT
no
how does race impact EWT
Cross-racial identification harder than inter-racial
what is the expertise hypothesis
cross-racial identification is difficult as we have more experience distinguishing faces of same race
what is the social-cognitive hypothesis
more thorough facial processing of faces of the in-
group compared to the out-group
what factors affect EWT at perceptual stage
darkness, distance, duration, lighting
what factors affect EWT at encoding stage
stress, violence
what factors affect EWT at storage stage
time (decay, interference)
what factors affect EWT at retrieval stage
Questioning, expectations, misrememberings
what is confirmation bias
You remember what you expect to see
what is the effect of violence crime on memory
Memory for central aspects of a violent event better
than a non-violent event, but worse memory for
peripheral aspects
what is weapon focus effect
the unexpectedness of the weapon in the context leads to better remembering
the forgetting curve is Ebbinghausen in nature, meaning…
sharp drop within 20 mins., continued forgetting until
leveling out 2 days after event
source misinformation says
Source of post-event information memory trace is
wrongly attributed to the original event
vacant memory slot says
Misinformation more likely to be accepted if original
correct info did not get stored
memory coexistence says
both original and misleading info remembered, but misleading is more recent- obscures other memory trace
why does the CI recreate the environment
Principle of encoding specificity and mood
congruency- act as retrieval cues
why does CI say to report everything
may lead to someone remembering important cue to trigger more info
why does CI say to report things in a different order
Different retrieval pathways to same piece of info.
Different starting points can lead to different details.
why does CI say to report events from someone else’s perspective
perspective provides a schematic structure for retrieval,
can make some info more salient
why do we not interrupt someone mid CI
Disrupts natural retrieval process.
cf. part-set cueing effect: giving partial information inhibits recall
