memory manipulation pt 2 Flashcards
repressed memories?
failing to remember something that occurred due to trauma
i.e. sexual abuse
a lot of debate on whether these memories are real or fake
what is the only way to distinguish b/w a real and a false memory?
external corraboration
repressed or forgotten? (Anderson & Green, 2001)
task:
- learn 2 lists of paired-associates
* remember list
* suppress list
- think/no-think tast
* cues appear one at a time, recall associate for remember cues, DON’T recall associate for supress list
findings:
- recall decreased w/ number of suppression events
- suggests an active supression control process
- repressed memory are real
repressed memories vs. false memories (Clancy et al. 2001)
QUESTION:
- are people who have repressed memories more susceptible to false memory induction?
GROUPS:
- recovered, repressed, continuous, control
(abuse)
TASK:
- DRM Task (recall a memorized list; oftentimes, we recall a word that wasn’t even on list)
RESULTS:
- recovered group more likely to recall words that weren’t even on list
(people w repressed memories could be more susceptible to false memories)
Clancy et al. (2002)
QUESTION:
- are people who have repressed memories more susceptible to false memory induction?
GROUPS:
- recovered, repressed, control
(alien abuct)
TASK:
- DRM Task (recall a memorized list; oftentimes, we recall a word that wasn’t even on list)
RESULTS:
- recovered & repressed group more likely to recall/recognize words that weren’t even on list
(people w repressed memories could be more susceptible to false memories)
context dependent memory
based on the encoding specificity principle, memory retrieval increases to the extent you’re able to recreate the learning experience…. in other words, contextual info provides cues useful for accessing info
External States: Encoding Specificity
(Golden & Baddeley, 1975):
land/water study
found that participants do better when they’re tested in the same location they study in –> LOCATION CUE
External States: Encoding Specificity
(Ball, Shoker, & Miles, 2009):
rosemary/lemon and word-fragment completion task
FINDINGS:
- individuals that studied and tested with rosemary odor did better than other groups
- no difference in lemon group
–> ODOR CUE
Internal States: Encoding Specificity
(Teasdale & Russell, 1983):
learn a list of words
- negative, positive, neutral words
- at test, induce elation or depression
RESULTS:
- neutral word recall was about the same in both states
- if elated, much more likely to remember positive words
- if depressed, more likely to remember negative
**INTERNAL STATES (MOOD) CUES
memory is best for info w the same _____ as mood at test
valence
Altered States: Encoding Specificity
(Eich, 1975):
study list of words while…
- smoking nicotine cig or marijuana cig
RESULTS:
- nic/nic and weed/weed test better than nic/weed and weed/nic
**ALTERED STATES can help!
context dependent “overdose”
3 groups of rats
- control: dextrose injections
- heroin 1: heroin in colony room
- heroin 2: heroin in white noise room
gets much larger dose later
if given large dose of heroin in SAME context that they previously had it, lot less died!
**environmental cue prepped them for large dose of heroin
**CONTEXT YOU’RE IN PREPARES THE BODY FOR “OVERDOSE”
what can serve as cues?
- location
- odor
- internal state/mood
- altered state/narcotics
hyperthymestic syndrome
person spends an abnormally large amount of time thinking about personal past
person has extraordinary capacity to recall specific events from personal past
Patient AJ
has highly superior autobiograhical memory –> able to remember what happened on each day since 1974
kept diaries from age 10 to 34 (help corraborate events)
