Week 8 Autobiographical Memory Flashcards
what is an autobiographical memory
memory from specific experiences in our lives (episodic and semantic)
important characteristics of autobio memories
multidimensional (senses, location, emotion) - individual components play a role in retrieval
we remember some better than others
the self and the brain
prefrontal cortex: processing info about the self
hippocampus: recall
memory over the life span + reminiscent bump
good for recent years and in young adulthood/adolescence
why is memory for adolescence good
self image hypothesis: Memory enhanced for events that occur as a person’s self image/life identity is being formed
cognitive hypothesis: Periods of rapid change followed by periods of stability cause stronger encoding of memories
cultural-life-script hypothesis: Distinguishes between a person’s life story (events in life) and a cultural life script (culturally expected events that occur at a particular time in the life span)
emotions are associated with memory, what part of the brain in particular
amygdala - gives boost to consolidation and encoding of events/info
stress shows more consolidation
flashbulb memory
personal significance
memory for the moment of learning about an emotional/suprising/significant event
often how you HEAR about it
very vivid
timeline of childhood amnesia
adults: cant remember before 3/4
starts around 7
like adults by 10
what causes childhood amnesia
many changes in brain that young
-refining neural networks/structure
experience world differently that young - harder to access memories
as you develop more sense of self/independence, the way you store autobiographical info changes
what can cause childhood memories to persist
emotion
story telling (parents help with this)
evolutionary advantage (dont get hurt again)
how do others/partners help us remember (socially distributed cognitive systems)
cue information
bits of info in each person
recalling info together gets more info than individual (socially distributed cognitive systems)
how could emotion affect memory
attentional focus/intensity
encoding depth/elaboration
degree of rehearsal
consolidation
affect/emotion acts as retrieval cue
flashbulb memories have been shown to be iffy, what is reliable or nonreliable about them
details iffy
basic ideas reliable
what do flashbulb memories depend on
prior knowledge
personal importance
emotional state
overt rehearsal/storytelling
what is hypermnesia and what brain region is it associated with
super memory for autobiographical memories
large caudate nucleus
way they organize is linked to OCD
narrative rehearsal hypothesis
The idea that memory can be affected by what happens after the event
We may remember events not because of a special mechanism, but because we rehearse these events after they occur
affects flashbulb memories
