What are the 7 sins of memory?

Question 1

What are the 7 sins of memory? (Think of TAB Soda. TAB: Moldy Soda Bi-Product)

Answer 1

Transients
Absent Mindedness
Blocking 
Misattribution
Suggestibility
Bias
Persistence

Question 2

Transients

Answer 2

The tendency to lose access to information across time, whether through forgetting, interference, or retrieval failure. A memory you have stored but may not be able to get access to. The memory is not always available.

Question 3

Absent Mindedness

Answer 3

“Everyday memory failure in remembering information and intended activities, probably caused by insufficient attention or superficial, automatic processing during encoding.” (See also Reason’s lapses). Lapses are an example of this. ‘Did I remember to wash my hair?’

Question 4

Blocking

Answer 4

“Temporary retrieval failure or loss of access, such as the tip-of-the-tongue state, in either episodic or semantic memory. (see also Tip of the Tongue).” You use attention to try and cue recall. You’re consciously thinking about how to access episodic or semantic memories and if the recall cues work, then you’re able to get the memory. But if they don’t work and your thoughts get diverted, you get a block and can’t remember what you want to. Retrieval failure.

Question 5

Misattribution

Answer 5

“Remembering a fact correctly from past experience but attributing it to an incorrect source of context.” When you tend to have false memories but feel that they are accurate.

Question 6

Suggestibility

Answer 6

“The tendency to incorporate information provided by others into your own recollection and memory representation.” This is the other part to Misattribution. When you sort of implant memories that are not real memories. Beth Loftus has an example of this

Question 7

Bias

Answer 7

“The tendency for knowledge, beliefs, and feelings to distort recollection of previous experiences and to affect current and future judgments and memory.” What you know and who you are (you’re schema) and having it shape, interfere and alter what you remember and what you already know. Your prior experiences predict your perception.

Question 8

Persistence

Answer 8

“The tendency to remember facts or events, including traumatic memories, that one would rather forget, that is, failure to forget because of intrusive recollections and rumination.” Sort of the opposite of transients. The idea of not being able to forget something. You can’t do anything to shake the memory.

Question 9

Example of Transients:

Answer 9

Not being able to remember how to get to your old elementary school after many years away from the area.

Question 10

Example of Absent Mindedness:

Answer 10

‘Where did I put my car keys?’

Question 11

Example of Blocking:

Answer 11

Being unable to think of a word, so you substitute another word. ‘Where’s the….animal?’ (instead of using the word dog)

Question 12

Example of Misattribution:

Answer 12

Thinking that you were wearing a red dress during Thanksgiving dinner last year when in fact you wore a blue one. You wore the red one for Christmas dinner.

Question 13

Example of Suggestibility:

Answer 13

Remembering that

Question 14

Example of Bias:

Answer 14

The thought that romantic relationships are bad because you had a bad one previously.

Question 15

Example of Persistence:

Answer 15

Not being able to escape the image of a dead body.

Question 16

What do they tell us about how memory works?

Answer 16

Emotions play a huge role in how our minds perceive things. For example, lets say a person typically enjoys being around children however, if we are angry we may be more likely to view children as a nuisance, thus the next time the person thinks about children, they may be less likely to have a positive memory.

These also tell us how important it is to pay careful attention to memories. One exaggeration of a story’s details could potentially lead to misattribution. For example, lets say that it was sprinkling outside when you got into a car accident. By retelling the story as occurring during a hail storm, can potentially lead to you actually believing that it occurred during a hail storm.