Section 6: Using Knowledge

Question 1

What are the seven sins of memory?

Answer 1

1. Transience
2. Absent-mindedness
3. Blocking
4. Misattribution
5. Suggestibility
6. Bias
7. Persistence

Question 2

What is transience?

Answer 2

• Tendency to lose access to information through time
• Names hardest bc arbitrary

Question 3

What is infantile amnesia (transience)?

Answer 3

• We have a hard time recalling events form the first 3-4 years of our life
• Possibly bc no language, stable sense of self, brain development

Question 4

What is absent-mindedness?

Answer 4

• Everyday memory failures happen bc you didn’t encode information deeply enough (not bc you forgot)
• E.g., forgetting why you walked in a room, misplacing keys, forgetting to send a text
• E.g., penny study (we see pennies all the time, but never encode the details!)

Question 5

What is blocking?

Answer 5

• When the cue you need for a memory activates a competing memory more strongly (and thus it blocks your ability to retrieve the target)
• E.g., trying to remember GRAPE but APPLE is retrieved

Question 6

What is retroactive interference (blocking)?

Answer 6

• New information interferes with older information
• E.g., Learn MOON-FATE, learn MOON-HALL; when asked to recall first list FATE is blocked by HALL

Question 7

What is proactive interference (blocking)?

Answer 7

• Old information interferes with newer information
• E.g., Learn MOON-FATE, learn MOON-HALL; when asked to recall second list HALL is blocked by FATE

Question 8

What is the tip of the tongue state (blocking)?

Answer 8

• When you know the word, could recognize it if shown, can retrieve partial info… but can’t fully retrieve it
• E.g., trying to remember “zebra” but “zebu” (or something similar) blocks you

Question 9

What is retrieval induced forgetting (blocking)?

Answer 9

• Study categories (FRUIT-GRAPE; ANIMAL-TIGER; FRUIT-APPLE; JOB-LAWYER); practice retrieval of some items (FRUIT-A___; JOB-L___); then test all
• Result = practicing some items makes you WORSE at recalling unpracticed items of same category (e.g., best recall = APPLE; worst recall = GRAPE)

Question 10

What is misattribution?

Answer 10

• A memory error where you correctly remember something but misidentify the source of it
• E.g., Remember an idea but think you came up with it (when you heard it elsewhere)

Question 11

What is source monitoring (misattribution)?

Answer 11

• Ability to identify where a memory came from
• Breakdown –> Misattribution –> false memory

Question 12

What is the DRM paradigm (misattribution)?

Answer 12

• Study list of strongly related words (bed, rest, awake, tired)
• Result = at test, people falsely recall “sleep” at very high rates (it was related to words but not presented)

Question 13

What is activation-monitoring theory (misattribution)?

Answer 13

False memory occurs as a result of: (1) activation of critical item during encoding of list, (2) failure of memory-monitoring at time of test

Question 14

Repetition _______ false memory

Answer 14

Reduces

Question 15

How does speed of presentation matter in false memory?

Answer 15

• Fast presentation = more false memories (no time to encode)
• Slow presentation = fewer false memories (each encoded)

Question 16

How does modality impact false memory?

Answer 16

• Auditory presentation = higher false memory
• Visual = lower false memory

Question 17

How does encoding type impact false memory?

Answer 17

• Relational processing (how words related) = more false memory
• Item-specific processing = fewer false memories

Question 18

What is suggestibility?

Answer 18

• Tendency for a person’s memory to be influenced by information encountered AFTER an event

Question 19

What is the misinformation effect (suggestibility)?

Answer 19

• Exposure to event (watch a car accident), exposure to misleading information/questions (how fast was the car going when it passed the barn? there is no barn), memory test
• Result = people often report details that never happened (e.g., was there a barn? –> yes)

Question 20

What are implanted memories (suggestibility)?

Answer 20

• Suggestibility can create entirely new autobiographical memories, not just altered details
• Lost in the mall study = family provides true childhood events & 1 false one… participants then develop memories of the event
• Show subject digitally altered photograph of them in a hot air balloon

Question 21

What are possible causes to misinformation effect (suggestibility)?

Answer 21

• Memory impairment (change/alteration in memory, overwriting)
• Source misattribution (inability to distinguish where memory came from)
• Misinformation acceptance (accept additional information as having been part of earlier experience without actually remembering it)

Question 22

What is bias?

Answer 22

• When current knowledge, beliefs, values, or feelings distort how you remember the past
• People remember grades as better than they were
• Can be shaped by schemas

Question 23

What is clinician bias task (bias)?

Answer 23

• Clinicians read cases with live events, emotional reactions, behaviors; then clinician gave diagnosis; then recognition test on facts
• Result = clinicians likely to misremember client reactions as matching severity of events/behaviors

Question 24

What is persistence?

Answer 24

• Tendency to remember facts/events that you would rather forget
• E.g., PTSD as memory persistence
• Strong encoding, frequent rehearsal, distinct

Question 25

What are flashbulb memories?

Answer 25

- People report vivid "snapshot-like" memories for shocking events (9/11, assassinations, explosions)