The reliability and unreliability of human memory Flashcards

1
Q

What framework was suggested by Schacter (2001) on the failings of memory?

A

The Seven Sins of memory.

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2
Q

What are the seven types of error identified by Schacter (2001)?

A

Transience (forgetting/interference), absent mindedness, blocking, misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence.

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3
Q

According to Schacter (2001), what are the types of absent-mindedness?

A
  1. Excessive transience (serious memory disorders - storage), atypical.
  2. Inattention - encoding. Most common, can work on this!
  3. Failure to retrieve at the right moment - prospective - retrieval.
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4
Q

What did Schacter (2001) state about blocking?

A
  1. Retrograde traumatic amnesia (closed-head injury, lose recent memories - stored but irretrievable. Memory steadily improves, filling in memories in chronological order over time).
  2. Lab examples - part-list cueing, retrieval-induced forgetting, directed forgetting and retrieval inhibition.
  3. Tip of the tongue states for words - the “Ugly Sister” effect serves the maintain blocking, where if something incorrect is retrieved the correct memory cannot be accessed.
    Mostly retrieval effects.
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5
Q

According to Brown (2004), what is déjà vu an example of?

A

The misattribution of fluency for familiarity - due to easy processing, assume this is because have done in the past.

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6
Q

What did Whittlesea (1993) test?

A

Déjà vu effect on words - predictability of words in a sentence increase fluency, had pts read sentences. Found that new but fluent words are often falsely recognised.

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7
Q

What did Jacoby et al. (1989) do?

A

False fame paradigm - had pts read names on day one and judge fame on day two, found misattribution of familiarity for fame.

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8
Q

What are some examples of misattribution, other than déjà vu and the false fame paradigm?

A
  • source and reality monitoring errors - remembering something from the wrong context
  • unconscious transference (rapist example from Tuesday)
  • misleading police line-ups
  • cryptomnesia - unintentional plagiarism
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9
Q

What has research into suggestibility found?

A

It is possible to make people remember the film of the Schipol plane crash, and suggestive feedback in line-ups affects confidence in correct identification.

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10
Q

What does suggestibility research investigate?

A
  • the misinformation effect
  • suggestive feedback
  • false confessions
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11
Q

What five types of bias did Schachter (2001) propose?

A
  • consistency (of memories with current attitudes) - Ross (1989), dangers of toothbrushing.
  • change - revising the past to justify course (Conway and Ross, 1984)
  • hindsight - once you know the punchline it seems obvious (Carli, 1999)
  • egocentric - overestimation of own contribution (social function of memory), (Ross and Sicoly, 1979), 70:30 split of work, remembered grades - accurate for 89% of As, 29% of Ds (Bahrick et al., 1996).
  • stereotypical - tendency to remember black criminal names (Banaji and Bhaskar, 1999), false fame more likely for male names (Banaji and Greenwald, 1995).
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12
Q

What is persistence?

A

The remembrance of things you don’t want to - PTSD, getting songs in your head.

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13
Q

What did Wegner (1994) demonstrate?

A

The ‘ironic’ processes of mental control - trying not to think about something can often increase the chances of it being recalled.

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14
Q

According to Wenzlaff and Wegner (2000), what does suppression lead to?

A

Immediate suppressed thought enhancement, with or without load, plus post-suppression enhancement.

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15
Q

What does PTSD provide an example of?

A

Unwanted memories for traumatic events - flashbacks.

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16
Q

What is debated about PTSD flashbacks?

A

Whether it is the event or the emotion that is critical (Rynearson and McCreery, 1993).

17
Q

What is PTSD clinically linked to?

A

Incomplete narrative encoding.

18
Q

Where in memory is transience present?

A

Possibly storage and retrieval.

19
Q

What is the adaptive function of transience?

A

According to Anderson and Schooler (2000) it’s actually a way of ensuring that the most useful information is most likely to be retrieved.

20
Q

What did Schacter (2001) state about blocking?

A

It is most likely for names that are not being used regularly.

21
Q

What did Schacter, Guerin and St Jacques (2011) propose?

A

That misattribution and suggestibility errors arise from the power of the memory in simulation and creativity.

22
Q

What is the adaptive value of memory biases?

A

Increasing self-esteem (e.g. Wilson and Ross, 2003).

23
Q

Why do we make so many errors in memory?

A

It’s adaptive.

24
Q

What is the adaptive value of persistence?

A

An adaptive need for resolution/completion (Zeigarnik effects).

25
Q

What is the adaptive value of absent-mindedness?

A

It’s an efficient choice of cues attended at encoding (e.g. weapon focus).

26
Q

What did Ericssson (1988) state were the three skills necessary to have expert memory?

A
  • meaningful encoding (paradox of the expert, taxi drivers’ memories)
  • retrieval structure - learn with cues needed for successful retrieval
  • speed-up - extensive practice improves storage efficiency
27
Q

What did Francis Bacon (1620) state about the enhancement of storage through retrieval?

A

That memory is improved by testing oneself.

28
Q

What did Roediger and Karpicke (2006) demonstrate?

A

That people still find it hard to believe that testing improves memory - compared actual and predicted recall for various combinations of studying and testing.

29
Q

What did Karpicke and Roediger (2010) demonstrate?

A

That the effect of retrieval on storage is even more dramatic with a retrieval and re-reading condition (i.e. using a plausible everyday learning strategy).

30
Q

What did Rohrer and Pashler (2007) state?

A

That ISI is important in enhancing long term retention.