Everyday memory and errors

Question 1

Cognitive hypothesis

Answer 1

An explanation for the reminiscence bump, which states that memories are better for adolescence and early adulthood because encoding is better during periods of rapid change that are followed by stability.

Question 2

Reminiscence bump

Answer 2

The empirical finding that people over 40 years old have enhanced memory for events from adolescence and early adulthood, compared to other periods of their lives.

Question 3

Self-image hypothesis

Answer 3

The idea that memory is enhanced for events that occur as a person’s self-image or life identity is being formed. This is one of the explanations for the reminiscence bump.

Question 4

Cultural life script hypothesis

Answer 4

The idea that events in a person’s life story become easier to recall when they fit the cultural life script for that person’s culture. This has been cited to explain the reminiscence bump.

Question 5

Repeated recall

Answer 5

Recall that is tested immediately after an event and then retested at various times after the event.

Question 6

Amygdala

Answer 6

A subcortical structure that is involved in processing emotional aspects of experience, including memory for emotional events.

Kevin LaBar and Elizabeth Phelps (1998) found people would remember arousal words better.

Florin Dolcos and coworkers (2005) found the amygdala was more active when remembering images tied to emotions.

B.P. suffered damage to amygdala and did not have enhanced memory for emotional events.

Question 7

Narrative rehearsal hypothesis

Answer 7

The idea that we remember some life events better because we rehearse them. This idea was proposed by Neisser as an explanation for “flashbulb” memories.

Question 8

Flashbulb memory

Answer 8

Memory for the circumstances that surround hearing about shocking, highly charged events. It has been claimed that such memories are particularly vivid and accurate. See Narrative rehearsal hypothesis for another viewpoint.

Question 9

Cultural life script

Answer 9

Life events that commonly occur in a particular culture.

Question 10

Youth bias

Answer 10

Tendency for the most notable public events in a person’s life to be perceived to occur when the person is young.

Question 11

Constructive nature of memory

Answer 11

The idea that what people report as memories are constructed based on what actually happened plus additional factors, such as expectations, other knowledge, and other life experiences.

Question 12

Source monitoring

Answer 12

The process by which people determine the origins of memories, knowledge, or beliefs. Remembering that you heard about something from a particular person would be an example of source monitoring.

Question 13

Source misattributions

Answer 13

Occurs when the source of a memory is misidentified. See Source monitoring error.

Question 14

Illusory truth effect

Answer 14

Enhanced probability of evaluating a statement as being true upon repeated presentation.

Demonstrated by Lisa Fazio and coworkers (2015).

Question 15

Source monitoring error

Answer 15

Misidentifying the source of a memory. See Source misattribution.

Larry Jacoby and coworkers (1989) “Becoming Famous Overnight” demonstrated a connection between source monitoring errors

Question 16

Fluency

Answer 16

The ease with which a statement can be remembered.

Question 17

Repeated reproduction

Answer 17

A method of measuring memory in which a person is asked to reproduce a stimulus on repeated occasions at longer and longer intervals after the original presentation of the material to be remembered.

Question 18

Schema

Answer 18

A person’s knowledge about what is involved in a particular experience. See also Script.

Question 19

Highly superior autobiographical memory

Answer 19

Autobiographical memory capacity possessed by some people who can remember personal experiences that occurred on any specific day from their past.

Question 20

Pragmatic inference

Answer 20

Inference that occurs when reading or hearing a statement leads a person to expect something that is not explicitly stated or necessarily implied by the statement.

Demonstrated by William Brewer (1977) and Kathleen McDermott and Jason Chan (2006).

Question 21

Misinformation effect

Answer 21

Misleading information presented after a person witnesses an event that changes how the person describes that event later.

Question 22

Script

Answer 22

A type of schema. The conception of the sequence of actions that describe a particular activity. For example, the sequence of events that are associated with going to class would be a “going to class” script. See also Schema.

Demonstrated by Gordon Bower and coworkers (1979).

Question 23

misleading postevent information (MPI)

Answer 23

The misleading information that causes the misinformation effect.

Demonstrated by Elizabeth Loftus and coworkers (1978). Loftus and Palmer (1974) and Stephen Lindsay (1990).

Question 24

Weapon focus

Answer 24

The tendency for eyewitnesses to a crime to focus attention on a weapon, which causes poorer memory for other things that are happening.

Question 25

Repressed childhood memory

Answer 25

Memories that have been pushed out of a person’s consciousness. Remembering them through therapy not always accurate.

Question 26

Cognitive interview

Answer 26

A procedure used for interviewing crime scene witnesses that involves letting witnesses talk with a minimum of interruption. It also uses techniques that help witnesses recreate the situation present at the crime scene by having them place themselves back in the scene and recreate emotions they were feeling, where they were looking, and how the scene may have appeared when viewed from different perspectives.

Question 27

Eyewitness testimony

Answer 27

Testimony by eyewitnesses to a crime about what they saw during commission of the crime.

Question 28

Post-identification feedback effect

Answer 28

An increase in confidence of memory recall due to confirming feedback after making an identification, as in a police lineup.

Question 29

Nostalgia

Answer 29

A memory that involves a sentimental affection for the past.

Question 30

music-enhanced autobiographical memories (MEAMS)

Answer 30

Autobiographical memories elicited by hearing music.

Question 31

Cryptomnesia

Answer 31

Example of source monitoring error (unconscious plagiarism).

Question 32

Bartlett's classic "War of the Ghosts" experiment is particularly noteworthy because it was one of the first to make use of ___.

Answer 32

Repeated reproduction

Question 33

The cognitive hypothesis for the reminiscence bump is related to which of the following processes?

Answer 33

Encoding

Question 34

It is estimated that around ___ of all criminal cases where an individual was wrongly convicted of a crime involved eyewitness testimony.

Answer 34

75%

Question 35

Janelle is getting an fMRI scan while she describes an everyday episodic memory. Which of the following brain areas will show the LEAST activity in her scan?

Answer 35

amygdala and hippocampus

Question 36

What distinguishes a flashbulb memory from an autobiographical memory?

Answer 36

Intensity

Question 37

What was the problem with Brown and Kulik's research into flashbulb memories?

Answer 37

The participants' memories could not be verified.

Question 38

What is the key variable in the method known as repeated reproduction?

Answer 38

Time

Question 39

The misinformation effect on memory is related to which of the following?

Answer 39

Timing

Question 40

In the research conducted by Loftus and coworkers on the misinformation effect, how did the words "smash" and "hit" affect participants' memory of seeing broken glass in the images presented?

Answer 40

Twice as many participants in smash group reported seeing glass.

Question 41

Proust effect

Answer 41

Autobiographical memories activated by senses, particularly olfaction and gustation.