Misremembering Information

Question 1

Why is the concept of memory as just something you can take out and experience in a flashback by will impossible? (Ie: pensieve)

Answer 1

Memories is not objective: memories is subjective and is encoded from one’s own perspective
Memories are not as details as we think it is

Question 2

Retrieval is _____, combining fragments and filling in ___ with background knowledge

Answer 2

Retrieval is really reconstruction, combining fragments and filling in gaps with background knowledge

Question 3

How much does testimony of others affect one’s memory?

Answer 3

Testimony of others can be potent of a source of information as one’s own perception, both semantic and episodic

Question 4

Explain Loftus study where they showed people films of ordinary events and then questioned them about the events with false presuppositions

Answer 4

Showed an image of something like a crowded cafe. Control was no question, just dismissed after seeing the image, direct question was did you see a stroller, and leading questions was did you see the woman pushing a stroller? (Leads participants to assume that there is a stroller) control had an 8% report rate of seeing the stroller, direct question had a 12% report rate of seeing the stroller, and the leading questions had a 26% report rate of seeing a stroller

Question 5

Memory for false supposition ____ over time, particularly with ____. Why?

Answer 5

Memory for false supposition increases over time especially with sleep. Sleep is important to memory consolidation, leading question consolidates and becomes stronger

Question 6

Our memories are suspectible not only to leading questions but leading ____ from others.

Answer 6

Our memories are suspectible not only to leading questions but leading feedback from others

Question 7

Describe how Wells and Bradfield showed the effect of eyewitness confirmation by showing a video of a robbery

Answer 7

Showed a video of a robbery and asked participants to identify who the robber was out of five inaccurate other options (wanted to control for confidence rates of actually being right)
After they made their identification, some participants were told nothing, they identified the main suspect, and they did not
Tested things such as certainty of identification, ease of identification and memory of the robber’s face on a 1-7 scale
It was found that very few that had disconfirming feedback were confident or rated their scores high, while many who had confirming feedback were confident and rated their scores high

Question 8

Describe Wise et Al’s study where they interviewed US police officers on the fallibility of eyewitness testimonies

Answer 8

81% assumed confidence is a good predictor of accuracy
88% ability to recall minor details indicate accuracy
46% assumed exposure to mugshots does not impair memory recall
33% assume high levels of stress does not impair memory encoding
36% assume memory is like a video recording of an event
These are all wrong by the way. No wonder they suck at their job

Question 9

a forced choice between the original event and the suggested event

Answer 9

Standard misinformation paradigms

Question 10

What were the two possibilities of the misinformation effect?

Answer 10

The original memory is altered or overwritten by the misleading information
The original memory coexists with the misleading information but we confuse their source

Question 11

How did researchers differentiate what was responsible for the misinformation paradigm?

Answer 11

Provided an option where the suggested event was not an option- if participants were more likely to remember with thee original memory that would suggest that it coexisted with the false suggestion and was not overwritten

Question 12

Provide an example of a standard misinformation paradigm

Answer 12

Original event: thief hides money under the hammer
Suggested event: thief hides money under a screwdriver
Test question: Was it a hammer or screwdriver?
Most people would go for the suggested memory

Question 13

Provide a different example of the misinformation paradigm that could explain the further mechanisms of the paradigm

Answer 13

original event: thief hides money under hammer
suggested event: thief hides money under screwdriver
Test question: hammer or wrench
if your memory is truly overwritten, it should be at chance
37% chose the hammer, most sided with suggested event
72% chose the hammer, meaning most sided with the original event- suggests that inherent memory of the original event was present

Question 14

Provide an example of a flashbulb memory

Answer 14

Remembering where you were when JFK got shot, when you were at 9/11, hearing school was out for COVID, etc

Question 15

Explain the two theorized mechanisms for flashbulb memories

Answer 15

Special mechanisms: evolved a mechanism for remembering highly surprising and highly consequential events in detail (such as predators)
Regular mechanisms: get recounted more often leading to more rehearsal, conceptually and emotionally distinct

Question 16

If we evolved a mechanism for remembering flashbulb memories without them changing, what would this suggest?

Answer 16

Evolutionary assumption: for example “oh no there is a tiger I got to remember where the tiger is so I don’t die”

Question 17

Explain how Schmolck et al analyzed one’s memory for OJ Simpson verdict

Answer 17

Interviewed people soon after the event and then interviewed them 15 and 32 months later. Most people did not change their memory by 15 month but by 32 months major distortion occurs and is the most common finding. Finding remains consistent for lots of events

Question 18

Describe the remembering satan phenomenon in the 80s and 90s

Answer 18

daughter accused her sheriff father and the mayor of a satanic ritual abuse
there were so many allegations of murdered babies then there were people in the town
however there were no missing babies?
no memory of the childhood event until you suddenly retrieve it- not continuous without any evidence
surprisingly common phenomenon

Question 19

How did researchers use DRM to suggest that recovered memories were actually false reconstructions?

Answer 19

Take a word like needles that is associated with other words and not on a word list on the word list. Used DRM test on people who were reporting revovered memories and found they were more susceptible to creating false memories (guessed that needle was on the list of words when it wasn’t)
no memory: 52%
recovered memory: 72%

Question 20

What were the two interpretations for the recovered memory DRM test?

Answer 20

Some individuals are more suspectible to creating false memories in the lab and outside the labs
Experience abuse that is traumatic and leads to repression leads to memory deficits

Question 21

Describe Clancy et al and how they found the underlying mechanisms behind false recognition and and recovered memory

Answer 21

Chose participants who recalled a false memory- alien abduction
False recogniton rates:
No memory 42%
Recovered memory 67%
Implications was that recovered memory in DRM was not mediated by recovered trauma (does not count for cases of continuous abuse or corroborated events)

Question 22

What was the question of Wade et al?

Answer 22

Can photographs induce false memories?

Question 23

What were the alternatives of Wade et al?

Answer 23

Yes, photos provide a plausible, perceptually rich basis for creating false memories
No, false photographs are packed with details any one of which could be used as a basis for rejecting the event

Question 24

What was the logic of Wade et al?

Answer 24

If false photos can indicate false memories, then showing people photos of themselves participating in an event that did not occur should lead them to think the event did occur

Question 25

What was the method of Wade et al?

Answer 25

20 confederates recruited a family member (who had not been in a hot air balloon) to participate confederates supplied the researchers with family photos, one was doctored and three were used as controls participants were shown the photos on 3 occasions and asked to recall them as much as possible

Question 26

What was the results of Wade et al?

Answer 26

50% ultimately recalled the false event partially (30%) or clearly (20%)

Question 27

What was the inferences of Wade et al?

Answer 27

false photographs can induce false memories they may actually be more effective than false narratives due to their detail and presumed authenticity false photographs provide new means for test old hypotheses (source monitoring framework)