6.1

Question 1

Schema

Answer 1

A schema is a mental framework or pattern your brain uses to organize and understand information.

Question 2

Reconstructive memory

Answer 2

The process of remembering that involves the recreation of an event that has only been partially stored in memory

Question 3

Explain why memory is constructive

Answer 3

Memory is constructive becasue it depends on
1) what actually happened
2) Context: the person’s knowledge, experiences, cultural background, expectations

Question 4

Loftus & Palmer

Answer 4

The people were asked how fast the cars were going using different words (hit vs smashed), the people that were given smashed as a word said that yes there was broken glass.

Suggestive language can influence memory

Question 5

Leading Questions

Answer 5

A leading question prompts/encourages a desired answer

Ex: Was the man wearing a black jacket?

• Doesn’t leave room for open-ended answers
• encourages witnesses to reinvent memories - they guess what the other person wants to hear (the “correct” response)

Question 6

Inaccurate descriptions: encoding failures

Answer 6

• did not pay attention to necessary details due to:
• poor lighting
• too far away
• short exposure
• impaired vision
• Own-race bias

Question 7

Inaccurate descriptions: rehearsal failures

Answer 7

• our memories will fade unless we have a reason to rehearse them, can be impacted by:
• another event happening shortly after
• Emotional state of witness: fight/flight and freeze mode

Question 8

Inaccurate descriptions: retrieval failures

Answer 8

• Even if we have the information, sometimes it does not come back to us accurately impacted by:
• Leading questions
• Prototype comparison errors
• Errors of elaboration based on retelling

Question 9

Own-race bias

Answer 9

The tendency for people to recognize faces of their own race more accurately than faces of other races

Question 10

Prototype comparison errors

Answer 10

Things like misjudgment of size, consistency, degree

Question 11

Eyewitness testimony

Answer 11

an account given by the person who witnessed the event or crime

• juries pay attention to this, it’s seen as persuasive and reliable
• expect its not actually reliable

Question 12

Anxiety/stress affects on memory

Answer 12

• some people remember very well in stress
• some people remember poorly in stress (they blank)

Question 13

Weapon Focus

Answer 13

• People can only focus on the weapon and not the person
• Not uncommon for them to recall specific details of the weapon