week 4: autobio memory

Question 1

autobiographical memory general definition

Answer 1

• events, situations, and other knowledge about yourself across your whole life

Question 2

what order do people report in relation to type of info for ABMs?

Answer 2

general then specific

Question 3

what type of memory takes longer to retrieve: ABM, SM, or EM

Answer 3

ABM, takes about 2-15 seconds vs other ones that take 1-2 seconds

Question 4

distortion and vicarious in relation to ABM

Answer 4

distortion: changes happen based on other ppl’s accounts
vicarious: if you hear the story enough you can perceive it as your own (childhood memories)

Question 5

methods of studying ABM

Answer 5

• galton-crovitz cue word method: use words as cues to generate first memory that comes to mind (ex tree)
• cue phrase for life events: ‘meeting new friends’, going to bday part etc
• diary studies: keep diary record of life events (weeks, years, months)

Question 6

functions of ABM

Answer 6

• social: positive and other focused, serves interpersonal/ conversational function (why you chose your career)
• reflective: positive self focused attention aimed at understanding who you are (ppl get to know you)
• ruminative function: self-focused and directed at perceived losses and threats (ppl who have passed)
• generative function: aimed at positive impact on the world and create legacy (prior experience to teach others)

Question 7

examples of measures of ABM (ex diaries)

Answer 7

• sensecam: case study w ppl w amnesia (remembered more w sense cam), camera that records activity
• hippocamera: memory prosthetic app designed at u of t, you can rate your videos, more like social media
• 1second everyday: social app where ppl record 1 sec of video every day

Question 8

three levels of ABM (general)

Answer 8

• Event specific memories
• lifetime periods
• general events

Question 9

event specific memories

Answer 9

• individual events
• closest to basic EM
• contains details from different modalities, features, emotions, space, time

Question 10

four ways event specific memories endure

Answer 10

• most are lost over time but some endure like memories of:
• initial events that cause later goal related memories (experiment that directs career path)
• turning points when a person’s life plan is redirected (torn muscle)
• events that become basis for major belief system (religion)
• anomalous events that guide future behaviour (overhearing trash talk)

Question 11

lifetime period ABM

Answer 11

• long stretches of time that are organized along common theme (ex early childhood, career)
• broad, theme based portion of person’s life

Question 12

general event memories

Answer 12

• unifies smaller events into one memory
• sequence of events that form larger episode (ex first day on the job (all events throughout the day)
  OR
• repeating event (ex memory of class taken last year)
• require integration (bring dif memories together) and interpretation ( know how sub events fit together)

Question 13

taxonomy of ABMs

Answer 13

• three categories for memory but lines can be blurred

Question 14

evidence for hierarchy of ABMs

Answer 14

• different types of memory elicited by dif cues
• ex event specific reports cued by no specific target audience/ after hearing narrative centred on lifetime theme
• ppl w amnesia: can recall lifetime periods of general events but not specific episodes

Question 15

in relation to three levels of ABM, what would someone with left hemisphere damage have intact and have trouble w

Answer 15

intact: general, lifetime
impaired: specific

Question 16

in relation to three levels of ABM, what would someone with frontal parietal/parietal-occipital damage have intact and have trouble w

Answer 16

intact: N/A
impaired: all

Question 17

in relation to three levels of ABM, what would someone with lrigth antierior temp. lobe damage have intact and have trouble w

Answer 17

intact: specific
impaired: general, lifetime

Question 18

in relation to three levels of ABM, what would someone with thalamic damage have intact and have trouble w

Answer 18

intact: N/A
impaired: all

Question 19

ABMs are life narrative memories, organized in ____ and cued by their ____

Answer 19

stories, elements (ie smell, sound)

Question 20

ABMs elicited by smells tend to be ____

Answer 20

emotional, can be bc of its close proximity to amygdala
- they are also more memorable and elicit more rare memories

Question 21

factors driving AMB retrieval

Answer 21

• clustering (causally related memories are retrieved one after another)
• common elements (shared person)
• order (fill out memories w semantic details)
• narrative structure
• snapshots are bad cues (poor memory for order of event if looking at specific)

Question 22

POV of memories and age

Answer 22

• older memories: observer (out of body) also less emotional and more self aware
• newer: field (pov from eye view) also more emotional and less self aware

Question 23

schema copy plus tag model

Answer 23

• when you experience a new event, you activate the appropriate schema which becomes the basis for your event memory
• reduces the need to actively think about every detail
• can assume most details abt event are as they usually are
• ppl use schemas to reconstruct incomplete memories (fill in the blanks with previous schemas)
• in short: first activate schemas as a basis then denote important schema-inconsistent details (tags)

Question 24

schema

Answer 24

mental concept that helps people anticipate and respond to situations and experiences

Question 25

positivity bias

Answer 25

- aka Pollyana principal - we tend to remember more emotional events than neutral ones - remember positive more than negative ones - emotional memories are more likely to have mental imagery/eye movements

Question 26

fading effect bias

Answer 26

emotionality of neg effects fade faster

Question 26

tunnel memory

Answer 26

- increased focus on central details in emotional ABMs at the expense of peripheral details - ex team winning

Question 27

mental health and AMBs

Answer 27

- neg remains strong in ABMs in ppl w anxiety - overgeneral memories (fewer recalled details) in ppl w depression, more schema driven - AMBs can trigger rumination that bring in personal concerns and prevent consolidation of details

Question 27

involuntary memories

Answer 27

- ABMs that are consistently retrieved spontaneously and involuntarily - not all are rumination - most likely activation of memory systems driven by default mode network - cued by surroundings, can trigger more if they are related in some way

Question 28

evidence of reducing emotionality

Answer 28

- when there is a blocker upon reconsolidating, there is lower emotionality when tested

Question 29

flashbulb memories

Answer 29

- highly detailed and vivid memory of an event thats emo sig or surprising - can be neg or positive - confident but not always accurate - details about event but also context - retrieval in right hippocampus and amygdala

Question 30

___ attitude determines whether smth is emotional (flashbulb memory)

Answer 30

affective (opinions and beliefs prior to an event that provide basis for later elaboration)

Question 31

emotional intensity increase ___ and ___

Answer 31

attention, arousal

Question 32

reminiscence bump

Answer 32

- strong memory for experiences around the age of 20 - further back in time ppl go for memories, the fewer there are expect for the transitional phase age range

Question 33

cognitive explanations for reminiscence bump

Answer 33

transitional theory: major transitions in lives act as landmarks that organize thinking abt and remembering our lives (ie finishing highschool, moving to new place, start new school etc)

Question 34

neurological explanations for reminiscence bump

Answer 34

- brains have fully developed, memory is most efficient at this time

Question 35

indenity formation explanations for reminiscence bump

Answer 35

- making decision about who you are, which then shape your actions (form identity)

Question 36

cultural explanations for reminiscence bump

Answer 36

- our 'cultural schemas' or 'life scripts' have important events during this time (graduating, moving, first job) - they are used as a guide when retrieving - children anticipate bump for future lives

Question 37

reminiscence bump is shown in ____ about memories

Answer 37

predictions - reading story abt/imagining someones entire life leads us to show bump

Question 37

collective memories

Answer 37

- shared by ppl in a group (ie family) - often based around critical/trauma events - similar properties to individual memories (e distinctiveness/von restorff effects, forgetting curves, retrieval-induced forgetting, serial position effects) - memories can be passed down (intergenerational)

Question 38

living in history effect

Answer 38

- living through momentous events that cause great deal of upheaval (ie wars) produce transitions in life and greater/stronger memories for those times