Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Cognition (y2s1) > Week 5 Lecture 5 - motivated forgetting > Flashcards

Week 5 Lecture 5 - motivated forgetting Flashcards

1
Q

Why are we motivated to forget?

A
  • environmental cues bring to mind traumatic memories
  • forgetting is beneficial
  • retain a positive outlook towards life (positivity bias)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What is a positivity bias?

A

Tendency to recall more pleasant memories than either neutral or unpleasant ones

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Does positivity bias increase over the lifespan?

A

yes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What did a study into positivity bias find?

A
  • older adults recalled about twice as many positive than negative images
  • young ppts recalled equal amounts of positive and negative images
  • recognition was equal for positive and negative
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What are 2 possible reasons for positivity bias?

A

1.) as we get older our focus shifts away from goals concerning the future and instead maintain a sense of well-being

2.) older people are more skilled in emotional regulation inc. better control of what we remember

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

True or false
Motives alter what we remember and we get better at it as we get older

A

True

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is repression according to Freud?

A
  • psychological defence mechanism aimed at rejecting
  • keeps something out of consciousness
  • can still affect behaviour and emotions
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What is the difference between repression and suppression?

A

repression:
- unconscious process
- automatic

Suppression:
- conscious process
- intentional, goal directed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What 3 things make up motivated forgetting?

A
  • intentional forgetting
  • psychogenic amnesia
  • other
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What is intentional fogetting?

A
  • conscious goal to forget
  • intentional contextual shifts (avoidance of cues)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What is Psychogenic amnesia?

A
  • profound forgetting
  • psychological in origin
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What is other?

A
  • not accidental but also not consciously intended
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What are 3 methods of controlling what we remember?

A
  • limit encoding
  • prevent retrieval
  • stop retrieval
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

How do you limit encoding?

A
  • look away from stimulus
  • focus on pleasant aspects of stimulus
  • stop elaborative thoughts
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

How do you prevent retrieval?

A
  • intentionally shift to new thought
  • avoid cues/ reminders
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

How do you stop retrieval?

A

in the face of a reminder:
- actively supress the unwanted memory

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What has the item method been used to study?

A

Limiting retrieval

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What has the list method been used to study?

A

preventing retrieval

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What are 2 methods of directed forgetting?

A
  • item method
  • list method
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What has directed forgetting been observed in?

A
  • recall tests
  • recognition tests
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

How does the item method reflect differences in episodic encoding?

A
  • remembering instructions = elaborative semantic encoding
  • forget instruction = release attention and stop rehearsal
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What is the item method process?

A
  • told an item then told whether to remember or forget it
  • additionally given a secondary task to complete –> to show forgetting isn’t passive
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Is forgetting passive or active (item method)?

A
  • forget instruction engages an active process that disrupts encoding
  • encoding suppression –> active process adopted at encoding and restricts which experiences we allow into memory
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

Why do we need encoding supression?

A
  • regulates which experiences will be allowed into memory
  • life has difficulties –> reducing the footprint of negative experience is always a plus
  • bias in remembering more positive than negative characteristics about oneself, but matched memory when these relate to someone else
  • regulate our memory to protect self-image, when feedback poses high level of threat
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

What is the list method?

A

2 groups
- 1 group told one list, told to forget it then told another list
- 1 group learns both lists

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

What does the list method find?

A
  • subjects in the forget condition show a deficit in List 1 final recall compared to subjects in the remember condition (cost)
  • subjects in the forget condition recall more List 2 items than subjects in the remember condition due to proactive interference (benefit)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

What did a naturalistic diary study with list-method directed forgetting find?

A

The forget group (compared to the remember group) had poorer memory for:
- first week events
- example items that neither group thought the would have to recall
- both negative and positive mood events

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

What are 2 possible mechanisms underlying list-method directed forgetting?

A
  • retrieval inhibition hypothesis
  • context shift hypothesis
29
Q

What is the retrieval inhibition hypothesis?

A

Forget instruction inhibit List 1 items
- reduces the activation of unwanted memories however the remain available

Re-presenting forgotten items restores their activation levels
- explains why item can be recognised but not recalled

30
Q

What is the context shift hypothesis?

A

Forget instructions mentally separate List 1 from List 2 items
- the mental context shifts between the lists
- List 2 context lingers into the final test
- The new context is a poor retrieval cue from List 1 items

May involve inhibition of the unwanted context

31
Q

What did empirical support for the context shift hypothesis find?

A
  • even without instruction to forget, context shift led to worse recall of List 1
  • part of the directed-forgetting effect arises from a shift in mental context
32
Q

What are motivated context shifts?

A
  • removing environmental cues
  • avoid reminders
33
Q

What is inhibitory control?

A

inhibit unwanted actions or thoughts

34
Q

What are 2 types of inhibitory control?

A
  • behavioural/action control
  • cognitive control
35
Q

What is behavioural/action control?

A

the ability to initiate, discontinue or prevent motor actions based on goals

36
Q

What is cognitive control?

A
  • the ability to flexibly control thought in accordance with out goals
  • includes ability to stop unwanted thoughts from entering consciousness
37
Q

What task is associated with behavioural/action control?

A
  • go/no-go task
38
Q

What task is associated with cognitve control?

A

think/no-think task

39
Q

What is the go/no-go task?

A

measures inhibitory control over action

Task:
- press a button whenever a letter appears on the screen
- if the letter is an X, withhold the response

40
Q

What is the think/no-think task?

A
  • measures inhibitory control over memory
41
Q

What are the 3 effects under the think/no-think paradigm?

A
  • total control effect
  • positive control effect
  • negative control effect
42
Q

What is the total control effect?

A
  • think > no-think
  • intentional control yields lasting retrieval consequences
43
Q

What is the positive control effect?

A
  • think > baseline
  • reminders without intention to suppress facilitate memories
44
Q

What is the negative control effects?

A
  • no-think < baseline
  • reminders with intention to suppress inhibit memories
45
Q

Under TNT:
when did suppression increase?

A

with more suppression trails per event

46
Q

Under TNT:
was memory suppression replicated?

A

yes with various stimulus combinations
e.g., word pairs, face-scene, scene -object pairs

47
Q

Under TNT:
What did suppression occur with?

A

with neutral and unwanted/unpleasant memories
but still unclear if emotional memories are more/less suppressible

48
Q

Under TNT:
after a single suppression, how long did forgetting last?

A

at least 24 hours

49
Q

Under TNT:
people with diminished cognitive control showed what?

A

showed less suppression-induced forgetting

50
Q

What did a study into inhibitory control and whether it is impaired in PTSD find?

A
  • across memory measures, suppression was diminished in the PTSD group compared to CG
  • retrieval suppression was most compromised in people with the most severe symptoms
51
Q

What is psychogenic amnesia triggered by?

A

trauma/severe psychological stressors

52
Q

What might psychogenic amnesia cause?

A

profound loss of personal memories

53
Q

What does psychogenic amnesia lack?

A

an observable neurobiological basis

54
Q

In psychogenic amnesia what memories are intact?

A
  • memory for public events and general knowledge
  • ability to form new memories
55
Q

What are 2 forms of psychogenic amnesia?

A
  • global –> affects entire history
  • situation specific –> affects only memory for the traumatic event
56
Q

What is a possible mechanism for psychogenic amnesia?

A

extreme psychological distress –> involuntary suppression retrieval in relation to certain stimuli

57
Q

What is spontaneous recovery?

A

the re-emergence of a previously extinguished conditioned response after a delay in classical conditioning

the stronger the initial memory, the more likely to recover

58
Q

What did a study into spontaneous recovery in episodic memory find?

A
  • List 1 initially suffers from retroactive interference
  • After 30 minutes, recall for list 1 improves
  • Same results across studies with different stimulus types
59
Q

Why do memories spontaneously recover?

A

If retroactive interference reflects inhibition of responses that had been previously relevant:
- forgotten memories recover when inhibition is gradually released
- inhibition appears to decrease over time
- retrieval-induced forgetting is significantly reduced after a 24-hour delay

60
Q

What did a study into whether repeated failures to recover a memory mean that memory is not recoverable find?

A
  • successive recall attempts led to recalling previously forgotten ones
  • people often display reminiscence
61
Q

What is reminiscence?

A

remembering again the forgotten without relearning

62
Q

What is hypermnesia?

A
  • improvement in recall arsing from repeated testing sessions on the same material
  • increases with more recall tests
  • largest effects on free recall, but also appears for cued recall and recognition
63
Q

What did a study into hypermnesia find?

A
  • recall improved over testing days
  • essentially reversed Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve
  • larger effects for pictures than for less-imageable words
  • arises through visualisations and reconstruction
64
Q

What did a study into hypermnesia with realistic memories find?

A
  • the number of verifiable details remembered increased over the interviews = hypermnesia
65
Q

Biasing attention can lead to what?

A

can lead to forgetting of the unattended elements
But encountering the right cue can lead to memory recovery

66
Q

What did a study into cue reinstatement find?

A
  • without cues, memory for the nonreviewed categories was impaired
  • providing the category cues eliminated the forgetting effect
  • true for negatives as well as neutral memories
67
Q

What are 2 avenues of memory recovery?

A

Suggestive therapy:
- memories may reflect therapist’s suggestions rather than reality
- lack corroborative evidence

Spontaneous recovery:
- more likely to be genuine
- more likely to be corroborative

68
Q

What did a study into avenues of memory recovery find?

A
  • caution when interpreting memory recovery after suggestive therapy
  • not all recovered memories are the same
  • discontinuous memories are just as verifiable as continuous
69
Q

What did a study into prior remembering of recovered memories find?

A
  • the ability to recall prior remembrances is diminished if the retrieval perspective differed
  • people may have a recovered memory experience because they simply forget remembering it before

Cognition (y2s1) (10 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions