Topic 8: Everyday Memory and Memory Errors

Research on eyewitness testimony reveals that a. highly confident eyewitnesses are usually accurate. b. it is unnecessary to warn an eyewitness that a suspect may or may not be in a lineup. c. when viewing a lineup, an eyewitness's confidence in his or her choice of the suspect can be increased by an authority's confirmation of his or her choice, even when the choice is wrong. d. despite public misconception, eyewitnesses are usually very accurate when selecting a perpetrator from a lineup.

when viewing a lineup, an eyewitness's confidence in his or her choice of the suspect can be increased by an authority's confirmation of his or her choice, even when the choice is wrong.

Which of the following terms does NOT reflect the concept of flashbulb memories? a. Intense b. Accurate c. Malleable d. Circumstantial

Accurate

Define the illusory truth effect. What are some potential dangers or risks associated with this phenomenon? Give an example to support your thinking.

Enhanced probability of evaluating a statement is true after repeated presentation

Extrapolating from the cultural life script hypothesis, having a child at age 45 should be a very easy experience to recall. True False

False

Extreme vividness of memories generally indicates high accuracy. True False

False

Flashbulb memory is best represented by which of the following statements? a. It is vivid, highly accurate memory for the circumstances surrounding how a person heard about an emotional event. b. It is vivid, highly accurate memory for emotional events. c. It is memory for the circumstances surrounding how a person heard about an emotional event that remains especially vivid but not necessarily accurate over time. d. It is vivid memory for emotional events.

It is memory for the circumstances surrounding how a person heard about an emotional event that remains especially vivid but not necessarily accurate over time

A script is a type of schema that also includes knowledge of a. what is involved in a particular experience. b. items appropriate to a particular setting. c. a sequence of actions. d. information stored in both semantic and episodic memory.

a sequence of actions.

The misinformation effect occurs when a person's memory for an event is modified by misleading information presented a. during the event. b. after an event. c. before the event. d. all of the above.

after an event

The "two groups of immigrants" study found that the reminiscence bump coincided with periods of rapid change, occurring at a normal age for people emigrating early in life but shifting to 15 years later for those who emigrated later. These results support the a. self-image hypothesis b. cognitive hypothesis. c. autobiographical hypothesis. d. narrative rehearsal hypothesis.

cognitive hypothesis.

According to the ______ approach to memory, what people report as memories is based on what actually happened plus additional factors such as other knowledge, experiences, and expectations. a. misinformation b. event-specific c. constructive d. source

constructive

Unconscious plagiarism of the work of others is known as a. narrative rehearsal. b. cryptoamnesia. c. repeated reproduction. d. repeated recall.

cryptoamnesia.

In the "War of the Ghosts" experiment, participants' reproductions contained inaccuracies based on a. cultural expectations b. source misattributions c. shallow processing d. narrative rehearsal

cultural expectations

In the experiment in which participants sat in an office and then were asked to remember what they saw in the office, participants "remembered" some things, like books, that weren't actually there. This experiment illustrates the effect of __________ on memory. a. schemas b. scripts c. bias d. confabulation

schemas

Autobiographical memory research shows that a person's brain is more extensively activated when viewing photos a. the person took himself or herself. b. the person has never seen before. c. of familiar places. d. the person has seen before.

the person took himself or herself.

__________ occurs when reading a sentence leads a person to expect something that is not explicitly stated or necessarily implied by the sentence. a. Prospective memory b. Pragmatic inference c. Observer perspective d. Automatic narrative

Pragmatic inference

Eyewitness testimony can be influenced by increased confidence due to post-event questioning. True False

True

False memories can be explained as a product of familiarity and source misattribution. True False

True

An important application of memory research has been in understanding the nature of eyewitness testimony. Citing the research in your text, explain why people make errors in eyewitness testimony.

Your Answer: > Participants view security videotape with gunman in view for 8 seconds• Everyone identified someone as the gunman from photographs afterward• The actual gunman's picture was not presented• Studies such as this show how difficult it is to accurately identify someone after viewing a videotape of a crime• Strong inclination to pick someone Memory declines over time.

For most adults over age 40, the reminiscence bump describes enhanced memory for a. childhood and adolescence. b. young adulthood and middle age. c. childhood and middle age. d. adolescence and young adulthood.

adolescence and young adulthood.

The observation that older adults often become nostalgic for the "good old days" reflects the self-image hypothesis, which states that a. life in a society gets more complicated and difficult as generations pass. b. people tend to remember more of the positive events in their lives than negative ones. c. memory for life events is enhanced during the time we assume our life identities. c. our memories change as we live longer and have more "lifetime periods" to draw events from.

memory for life events is enhanced during the time we assume our life identities.

One of the experiments described in lecture measured people's memories of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Which of the following was the primary result of that research? a. Participants had a very high level of confidence of the terrorist events and also had high confidence in their present "everyday" memories 32 weeks later. Participants had high confidence in the accuracy of their memories of the terrorist events 32 weeks later, but when actually tested made significant errors when asked what they were doing on the day of the attacks. c. After 32 weeks, participants had a high level of confidence in their memories of the terrorist events, but lower belief in their memories of "everyday" events. d. Participants had very little confidence in the accuracy of their memories of the events 32 weeks after they occurred.

After 32 weeks, participants had a high level of confidence in their memories of the terrorist events, but lower belief in their memories of "everyday" events.