Cog Psych Exam 3

Changes being made to correct problem of inaccurate eyewitness testimony

1. When asking witness to pick perp from lineup, they are informed that perp may not be in the lineup 2. When constructing lineup, use "fillers" who are similar to the suspect. Increasing similarity doesn't result in missed identification of some guilty suspects, but substantially reduces the erroneous identification of innocent people 3. When presenting a lineup, use sequential rather than simultaneous presentation. Then witness compares perps to the memory of what they saw, and not to the other people standing there 4. Use a "blind" lineup administrator and get an immediate confidence rating 5. Improve interviewing techniques

Typicality effect

Ability to judge highly prototypical objects more rapidly

Spreading activation

Activity that spreads out along any link that is connected to an activated node. Example: activating robin node to bird node to animal node. Easier to retrieve bird node from memory if one of the other nodes was already activated

Exemplars

Actual members of a category that a person has encountered in the past

Connection weights

Additional feature of connectionist network that determines how signals sent from one unit either increase or decrease the activity of the next unit

Subordinate level

Also called specific level, bottom level in hierarchical organization for categories (example kitchen table)

Cultural life script hypothesis

Another explanation for reminiscence bump, essentially proposes that culturally shared expectations structure recall. Distinguishes between a person's life story, which is all of the events that have occurred in a person's life, and a cultural life script, which are culturally expected events that occur at a particular time in the life span.

Connectionism

Approach to creating computer models for representing concepts and their properties based on characteristics of the brain. Also called parallel distributed processing models. Basic principle of this states that stimulus presented to the input units is represented by the pattern of activity that is distributed across the other units.

Avoiding illusions of learning as a way to study effectively

Avoid fluency (rereading materials enhances ease of reading but not memory), avoid familiarity effect (familiarity doesn't mean learning)

Pros of connectionist approach to networks

Based on how information is represented in the brain and explains the number of findings, including how concepts are learned and how damage to the brain affects people's knowledge about concepts.

Cognitive interview

Based on what is known about memory retrieval. Involves letting the witness talk with a minimum of interruption and also uses techniques that help witnesses recreate the situation present at the crime scene by having them place themselves back and the scene, and recreate things like emotions they were feeling, where they were looking, etc.

Hebb's theory of changes at the synapse relating to learning

Believes that learning and memory are represented in the brain by physiological changes that take place at the synapse. Believed that brain activity strengthens the synapse by causing structural changes, greater transmitter release, and increased firing.

Example of how to use Collins and Qullian's Hierarchical model of semantic networks: canaries

Can see how this network works when considering how we would retrieve the properties of canaries from the network. Start at node for canary, can see that it can sing and is yellow (links connecting to nodes that say that). TO access more information, move up the link and learn that it is a bird, that a bird has wings, that it can fly. Move up another level and see that it is also an animal which can move, then reach the level of living things which tells us it can grow. Etc. Predicts that when using sentence verification technique, it will take longer to answer yes to statement "canary is an animal" than "canary is a bird" because you have to travel along more links to get to the first answer

Coding vs. encoding

Coding refers to the FORM in which information is represented. Encoding refers to the PROCESS used to get information into LTM.

Placing words in complex sentences as a way to show how encoding influences retrieval

Complex sentences create more connections between the word to be remembered and other things, and these other things act as cues that help us retrieve the word when we are trying to remember it. Example: Given task of remembering the word chicken, results show people remember it better in sentence "The great bird swooped down and carried off the struggling chicken" than "She cooked the chicken"

Learning process of connectionist network

Consists of initially weak and undifferentiated activation of property units, with many errors (ex. input of canary caused activation of property unit tall). Error signals then sent back to network and signals result in changes in connection weights, so next activation of canary results in new activation pattern

Organizing as a way to study effectively

Creating a framework helps relate some information to other information makes the material more meaningful and therefore strengthens encoding. Helps reduce the load on your memory. Relates to phenomenon of chunking - grouping small elements into larger more meaningful ones increases memory

Autobiographical memory

Defined as recollected events that belong to a person's past. Episodic memories for our lives plus personal semantic memories of facts about our lives. Multidimensional because consists of spatial, emotional, and sensory components.

Category-specific knowledge impairment: brain scanning examples

Different areas of brain activated for living and nonliving things. Areas in the brain activated by animals also respond well to the kinds of motion associated with animals, such as walking and running. Areas activated by tools respond well to the kinds of motion associated with tools, like banging with a hammer.

How to study more effectively

Elaboration, generate and test, organize, take breaks, match learning and testing conditions, avoid "illusions of learning"

Memory for "exceptional" events

Emotions are often associated with events that are more easily remembered.

Reminiscence bump

Enhanced memory for adolescence and young adulthood found in people over 40

Testing effect

Enhanced performance due to testing

Study of errors in eyewitness testimony associated with attention: weapons focus

Experimenters measured how well participants remembered details of a filmed simulated crime. Found that participants were more likely to recall details of the perpetrator, the victim, and the weapon in the "no-shoot" condition (gun present but not fired) than in the "shoot" condition (gun was fired). Presence of weapon that was fired distracted attention from other things that were happening.

Study illustrating effect of organization on memory: what happens when you prevent organization

Half of subjects read passage, doesn't make sense. Then hard to recall the passage. Other half saw picture passage was describing and THEN read passage, and remembered twice as much as the first group. Key is organization: picture provides mental framework that helps reader create meaningful story, resulting organization makes passage easier to comprehend and remember

Cognitive economy

Hierarchical model of semantic networks has a way of storing shared properties just once at a higher level node. Makes network more efficient.

GLobal level

Highest level in hierarchical organization for categories, also called the superordinate level (example: furniture)

Narrative rehearsal hypothesis for flashbulb memories

Idea that explains why we can potentially enhance memory for flashbulb events. Argues that we may remember events like those that happened on 9/11 not because of a special mechanism, but because we rehearse these events after they occur. Makes sense when considering 911, because much of the "rehearsal" for the event occurred after hearing about it (not at the moment you first heard about it)

Family resemblance

Idea thats proposed to deal with the problem that definitions don't always include all members of a category. Family resemblance refers to the idea that things in a particular category resemble one another in a number of ways. Thus, instead of setting definite criteria that every member of a category must meet, the family resemblance approach allows for some variation within a category

Post-identification feedback effect

Increase in confidence due to confirming feedback after making an identification

Depth of processing

Influences memory, distinction between shallow processing and deep processing

Deep processing of memory

Involves close attention, focusing on an item's meaning and relating it to something else. Creating an image of item in relation to another item would create deep processing. This way occurs with elaborative rehearsal, and according to levels of processing theory, results in better memory than shallow processing.

State-dependent Learning

Learning that is associated with a particular internal state, such as mood or state of awareness. According to this theory of learning, a person's memory is better when their internal state during retrieval matches his or her internal state during encoding

Exemplar approach to categorization

Like the prototype approach, it involves determining whether an object is similar to a standard object. However, instead of involving single average member of the category, it involves many examples called exemplars. This can explain many studies - for instance respond better to the "prototypical green" because we see it more often and they are better examples and like exemplars and exemplars are classified faster. One advantage of this approach is that by using real examples, it can more easily take into account atypical cases such as flightless birds.

Source Monitoring errors hypothesis for MPI

MPI is mistakenly identified as what was originally experienced

Concept

Mental representation that is used for a variety of cognitive functions, including memory, reasoning, and using and understanding language

Basic level

Middle level in hierarchical organization for categories (example table)

Collins and Qullian's Hierarchical model of semantic networks

Network consists of nodes that are connected by links. Each node represents a category or concept, and concepts are placed in the network so that related concepts are connected. Also, properties associated with each concept are indicated at the nodes. Links connecting nodes indicate that they are related to each other in the mind. It is hierarchical because it consists of levels arranges so specific concepts are at the bottom and general concepts are at the top. Concerned with how concepts and their properties are associated in the mind.

Synaptic consolidation

Occurs at synapses and happens rapidly, over a period of minutes. Part of reorganization of nervous system that occurs during consolidation process

Pragmatic inference

Occurs when reading a sentence leads a person to expect something that is not explicitly stated or necessarily implied by the sentence. These inferences are based on knowledge gained through experience.

Memory trace replacement hypothesis for MPI

One theory to explain the misinformation effect. States that MPI impairs or replaces memories that were formed during the original experiencing of an event.

Experiment looking at the influence of scripts

Participants read passages about familiar activities, like going to the dentist, going swimming, etc. After a delay period, they were given titles of the stories they had read (ex. The Dentist) and were told to write down what they remembered about each story as accurately as possible. They created stories that included much material that matched the original stories, but they also included material that wasn't presented in the original story what is part of the script for the activity described. Constructive process

Lexical decision task

Participants read stimuli, some of which are words and some are not words. They must indicate as quickly as possible whether each entry is a word or nonword

Study of misinformation effect and MPI: stop signs

Participants saw series of slides where car stops at a stop sign then turns a corner and hits pedestrian. Some of the participants then answered several questions, like "did another car pass the red Datsun while it stopped at the stop sign." Another group of participants (MPI group) the words "yield sign" to replace "stop sign" in the stop sign question. Participants were then shown pictures from the slide show plus some pictures they had never seen. Those in this group were more likely to say they had seen the picture of the car stopped at the yield sign (which they had never seen) than were participants who hadn't been exposed to MPI.

Retrieval

Process of transferring information from LTM to working memory. One factor that influences this is the way information was encoded when you learned it.

Consolidation

Process that transforms new memories from a fragile state, in which they can be disrupted, to a more permanent state, in which they are resistant to disruption

Graceful degradation

Property where disruption of performance in connectionist networks occurs only gradually as parts of the system are damaged. Information is distributed across many units, so, operation of these networks not totally disrupted by damage.

Spacing effect as an way to study effectively

Research has shown that memory is better when studying is broken into a number of short sessions, with breaks in between, than concentrated in 1 long session, even if the total study time is the same.

Match learning and testing conditions as a way to study effectively

Research shows that people remember material better when they have learned it in a number of different locations, compared to spending the same amount of time studying in one location.

Matching conditions of encoding and retrieval

Retrieval can be increased by matching the conditions at retrieval to the conditions that existed at encoding. Example: professor in book needed to return to her office to her office to retrieve the thought "bring the DVD" to class

Linking words to yourself to show how encoding influences retrieval

Self-reference effect. Participants presented with a question for 3 seconds followed by a brief pause and then a word. The task was then to answer the question "yes" or "no" after seeing the word. 4 types of questions: size of word, rhyming, meaning, describes you. Results showed that subjects more likely to remember words that they rated as describing themselves. Because statements that result in richer, more detailed representations in a person's mind result in better memory

Transfer-approach processing

Shows the memory performance is enhanced if the type of task at encoding matches the type of task at retrieval.

Encoding specificity

States that we encode information along with its context.

Study of the levels of processing theory

Study list of words and count the vowels. Then study a list of words and visualize how each might be useful if you were stranded on an island. Then test which procedure resulted in better memory? Most experiments have found memory is superior when meaningful connection has been made between an item and something else. Proves memory depends on depth of processing that an item receives

Study of schemas

Study of how memory is influenced by schemas about offices. Participants were seated in an office waiting to be in an experiment. Then called into the room and told it was actually a memory experiment and they wrote down what was present in the office they waited in. Many of them wrote down things they remembered seeing, but also included some things that weren't there but fit into their "office schema." Thus, schema can provide a guide for making inferences about what we remember.

Physiological study of memory and emotion

Tested participants ability to recognize emotional and neutral pictures 1 year after they were initially presented and observed better memory for the emotional pictures. Used fMRI to measure brain activity when people were remembering, revealing amygdala activity was higher for the emotional words

Eyewitness testimony

Testimony by an eyewitness to a crime about what he or she saw during commission of the crime. Eyewitness testimony is one of the most convincing types of evidence to a jury, but unfortunately many innocent people have been incarcerated based on mistaken identification by eyewitnesses

Testing as a way to show how encoding influences retrieval

Testing better way to remember information than rereading it. Study demonstrated this. Students read passage, then did math problems. Then testing group took a recall text, while rereading group just reread the passage. The 2nd phase of experiment was after a delay of either 5 minutes, 2 days, or 1 week and then all given a recall test. Results showed there was little difference after 5 minute delay between groups, but testing groups performance better after 2 day or 1 week delay. Enhanced performance of that group due to testing effect

Cryptomnesia

Unconscious plagiarism of the work of others

Prototypicality and family resemblance

When an item's characteristics have a large amount of overlap with the characteristics of many other items in a category, this means that the family resemblance of these items is high. Little overlap means the family resemblance is low. There is a strong relationship between family resemblance and prototypicality, because items high on one are high on the other. Good examples for category furniture, such as chair and sofa, versus poor examples like mirror and telephone

Prototypical objects are named first

When participants are asked to list as many objects in a category as possible, they tend to list the most prototypical members of a category first (for birds, sparrows would be named before penguins)

Retrieval cues

Word or other stimulus that helps a person remember information stored in memory. Example: word apple is a retrieval cue for other fruits

Another study of organizing information showing how encoding influences retrieval: organized encoding

Words are presented in an organized way during encoding. Study presented words in organizational tree, which organized words according to categories. In recall test, subjects organized their responses in the same way the trees were organized. Another group shown trees where words were randomized, and remembered significantly less words.

Misleading post-event information

(MPI) Misleading information part of misinformation effect

Experiment of encoding specificity: "diving experiment"

1 group of participants put on diving equipment and studied a list of words underwater and another group studied the words on land. These groups were then divided so half of the participants in land and water groups were tested for recall on land, and half tested underwater. Results indicate that best recall occurred when encoding and retrieval occurred in the same location. Suggest: you might want to duplicate in your study situation the same conditions that will occur during the exam

6 ways to improve retrieval with encoding

1. Placing words to be remembered in complex sentences. 2. Forming visual images based on words 3. Forming links between words and personal characteristics 4. generating information 5. organizing information 6. testing

Schema

A person's knowledge about some aspect of the environment.

Cognitive hypothesis for reminiscence bump

Another explanation for reminiscence bump, proposes that periods of rapid change that are followed by stability cause stronger encoding of memories. Adolescence and young adulthood fit this description because of rapid changes that occur during these periods are followed by relative stability of adult life.

Study of flashbulb memories: Challenger

Asked participants how they heard of the Challenger space shuttle explosion. They filled out a questionnaire the day after the explosion, and then filled out the same one 2.5-3 years later. Found that responses changed. For instance, one person originally said they heard about it in a classroom, and then later remembered that they heard about it on TV. Reasons for increased TV memories could be because TV reports became more memorable through repetition. Also, people remembered fewer details and made more errors at longer intervals after the event.

Study of state-dependent learning

Asked participants to think positive thoughts while listening to "merry" music or depressing thoughts while listening to "melancholic music." Participants rated their mood while listening to music & encoding part started when their rating reached "very pleasant" or "very unpleasant." Once this occurred, participants studied lists of words while in their positive or negative mood. Participants returned 2 days later and put in same mood and then given memory test for the words they had study. Results indicate that they did better when their mood at retrieval matched mood during encoding

Study of cultural life script hypothesis

Asked people to list when important events in a person's life typically occur, and many common responses were falling in love (16 years), college (22 years), marriage (27 years), having kids (28 years). Many of these fit into span of reminiscence bump. Doesn't mean this occurs for a specific person's life, but events in person's life story become easier to recall when they fit cultural life script for a person's culture

Study of MPI as causing source monitoring errors

Asked subjects who are exposed to MPU whether they really believe they saw something that was only suggested to them. Answer would be "yes" if the subject is making a source monitoring error. Subjects saw a sequence of slides showing a maintenance man stealing money and a computer. Slide presentation was narrated by female speaker, who simply described what was happening as slides were being shown. 2 days later, subjects had a memory test. Just before the test, they listened to the story by the same speaker, without the slides. There were a few small changes (ex. Marlboro cigarettes became Winstons). In the memory test, they were asked questions like "the man had a pack of cigarettes, what brand was shown in the slides" These questions were misled items, where they received incorrect information in the 2nd story. Results showed responses corresponded to incorrect information in 2nd story when the female voice told it.

"Now Print" mechanism for flashbulb memories

Brown & Kulik's proposal that the mechanism responsible for detailed and vivid memories is a "Now Print" mechanism, as if the memories are like a photo that resists fading. Research has shown this is not accurate, as people's memories for how they heard about flashbulb events change over time. Although people report that these memories are vivid, they are often inaccurate or lacking in detail

Errors in eyewitness testimony due to familiarity (bystanders)

Bystanders add another dimension to the testimony of eyewitnesses because there is a chance that a bystander could be mistakenly identified as a perpetrator because of familiarity from some other context. Famous example: woman was watching TV program at the same time as she was attacked at her home. Woman subsequently accused the person on the TV as the one who attacked her, based on her memory for his face. When looking at a lineup of several people, and police officer says "which one of these men did it." Problem is that it implies that crime perpetrator is in the lineup. Another time this occurs

Study of source monitoring and familiarity; "Becoming Famous overnight" experiment

Demonstrates effect of source monitoring errors by testing participants ability to distinguish between famous and nonfamous names. Participants presented with list of nonfamous names, in the immediate test, which was presented right after participants saw the list of nonfamous names, they were told to pick out names of famous people from a list containing both nonfamous names they had just seen, new nonfamous names they hadn't seen before, and famous names. At this test, participants correctly identified most of old nonfamous names as being nonfamous. In the delayed test, however, which happened 24 hours later, the same list of names was presented and participants were more likely to identify the old nonfamous names as being famous. Conclusion: making decision over whether or not person is famous based on how familiar the name was. This was a source monitoring problem, because to answer the question one determines the source of familiarity: are they famous or did you just see the name before?

Study of transfer-approach processing

Experiment had 2 parts: encoding and retrieval. Encoding part had 2 conditions: meaning condition where the task focused on meaning of the word, rhyming condition where the task focused on the sound of a word. Participants heard sentence with a blank, then a word. Task for meaning group was to say yes or no if the word fit in meaning wise. Task for rhyming group was yes or no based on rhyme created by replacing "blank" with target word. For retrieval part, all subjects given rhyming recognition test. Task was to indicate whether each word presented during retrieval rhymed with one of the target words they had heard during learning. Results showed that the people who had the same type of task during both encoding and retrieval did better

Study comparing cued recall and free recall

Experimenters presented subjects with list of words to remember. For memory test, subjects in free recall group just recalled as many as they could. In cued recall group, asked to recall words but were provided with the names of the categories ("birds," "furniture," etc.) and recalled significantly more words

Study of creating false memories for early events in people's lives

Experiments contacted parents of subjects and asked them for descriptions of actual events that happened when subjects were kids. Then created descriptions of false events, ones that never happened in a person. Subjects were colleges students who were far removed from those childhood experiences, were given some information from parents descriptions and told to elaborate on them. They were also given some information from the false events and were told to elaborate on them as well. Result was that 20% of false events were "recalled" and described in some detail by the participants. First time they were asked about an event, they didn't remember the false parts. The second time, 2 days later, the participant "recalled" the false event. Apparently, hearing about the event and then waiting caused the event to emerge as a false memory. This can be explained by familiarity. When questioned about the same event a 2nd time, participants familiarity with the wedding from the first exposure caused him to accept the event as having actually happened.

Self-image hypothesis

Explanation for reminiscence bump. Proposes that memory is enhanced for events that occur as a person's self-image or life identity is being formed.

Assessment of theories: 4 properties to consider

Explanatory power of a theory, predictive power of a theory, falsifiability of a theory, generation of experiments to support or improve theory

Method to study misleading postevent information

First present the stimulus to be remembered (list of words, or film of an event), then MPI is presented to 1 group of participants before their memory is tested, and isn't presented to the control group. The effect of MPI is determined by comparing the memory reports of participants who received the misleading information to the memory reports of participants who didn't receive it

Generating information as a way to show how encoding influences retrieval

Generating memory yourself, rather than passively receiving it, enhances learning and retention (also called the generation effect). Participants had to study list of word pairs either by reading them, or generating the 2nd word in a pair, and found that people who generated words were able to reproduce more than the people who just read them

Shallow processing of memory

Involves little attention to meaning. Occurs when attention is focused on physical features, such as whether word is printed in lower or uppercase letters, or number of vowels in a word. Also occurs during maintenance rehearsal

Hierarchical organization

Kind of organization where larger, more general categories are divided into smaller, more specific categories, creating a number of levels of categories. 3 levels: superordinate (global), basic, and subordinate (specific) level

Maintenance rehearsal

Kind of rehearsal that helps maintain information in STM/WM, but is not an effective way of transferring information into LTM. Example: repeating a telephone number to remember it

Elaborative rehearsal

Kind of rehearsal, more effective at transferring information into LTM. It occurs when you think about the meaning of an item or make connections between the item and something you know.

Paired-associate learning

List of word pairs are presented, later the first word in each pair is presented and the participant's task is to remember the word it was paired with.

Types of retrieval cues and 1 example

Location, smell, hearing. Example: office serves as retrieval cue for remembering what professor wants to take to class

Study of naming things and levels

Looking at pictures of objects, people pick a basic level name (guitar) rather than musical instrument (global) or rock guitar (specific)

Reactivation

Major mechanism of consolidation, process during which the hippocampus replays the neural activity associated with a memory. During reactivation, activity occurs in the network connecting the hippocampus and the cortex. Activity results in formation of connections between the cortical areas. Eventually cortical connections are strong enough so hippocampus is no longer necessary.

Familiarization/novelty preference procedure in infants

Makes use of the fact that when given a choice between a familiar object and a new one, infants generally will look longer at the novel object.

Study of autobiographical memory

Measured brain activation caused by 2 sets of stimulus photos: one that participant took (A photos) and another set that was taken by someone else (L photos). After seeing these, they saw the same sets, plus some new L photos they had never seen. They were asked to indicate whether each photo was an A-photo, L-photo they had seen before, or a new L-Photo and brain activity measured during answers. Scans showed A and L photos activated many of the same structures in the brain, but A photos also activated regions associated with processing information about the self, with memory for visual space, and with recollection. This activation shows richness of experiencing autobiographical memories compared to laboratory memories.

Prototype approach to categorization

Membership in a category is determined by comparing the object to a prototype that represents the category.

Remote memories

Memory for events that occurred long ago. Retrograde amnesia less severe for these memories.

Self-reference effect

Memory is better if you are asked to relate a word to yourself

Study of organizing information showing how encoding influences retrieval: unorganized encoding

Memory system uses organization to access information. Study: read a list of words, then cover them and write down as many as you can. Research shows that people spontaneously organize the words as they recall them. One explanation for this: Retrieval cues

Source monitoring errors

Misidentifying the source of a memory. Also called source misattributions because the memory is attributed to the wrong source.

Misinformation effect

Misleading information presented after a person witnesses an event can change how the person describes that event later

How are concepts represented in connectionist network: demonstration

Model of network: concepts (daisy, rose, pine, etc), relation (is, can, has), property (living thing, plant, animal). If you ask network questions by indicating a concept and a relation, then note which property units would be activated when the network answers the question. Shows how concepts properties can be represented by activation of property units in our connectionist network. So concept like "canary" represented by activity of property units AND by pattern of activation of other units within the network.

Graded amnesia

Nature of retrograde amnesia, occurs because memory for recent events is more fragile than memories for remote events. Less memory for events further back than more recent events, although loss of memory for both. See chart page 193

Weapons focus

One example of how attention can affect a witness's access to relevant information. Refers to the tendency to focus attention on a weapon, which results in a narrowing of attention, so witnesses might miss seeing relevant information such as the perpetrator's face.

Cued recall

One method of recall, participant presented with retrieval cues to aid in recall of the previously experienced stimuli. Cues are typically words or phrases

Free recall

One method of recall, participant simply asked to recall stimuli that they have already seen before (in life, or from experimenter)

Medial temporal lobe

One structure of the brain. One of the most clearly established facts about memory and the brain is that the hippocampus, one of the structures in the MTL, is crucial for forming new LTMs.

Retroactive interference hypothesis for MPI

One theory to explain the misinformation effect. Occurs when more recent learning (misinformation in this example) interferes with memory for something that happened in the past (actual event). Essentially, MPI interferes with but does not eliminate original memory

Script

One type of schema, Our conception of the sequence of actions that usually occur during a particular experience.

Elaboration

One way to study more effectively. Is the process of thinking about what you are reading and giving it meaning by relating it to other things that you know. Help transfer information into LTM. Techniques based on association, such as creating images that link 2 things, often prove useful for learning individual words or definitions.

Generate and test

One way to study more effectively. Studies have shown that self-testing increases what you know and increases ability to remember what you know later

Units

Part of connectionist network, are the neurons found in the brain. Connected by lines that represent transfer of information between units and are roughly equivalent to axons in the brain.

Systems consolidation

Part of reorganization of nervous system that occurs during consolidation process. Involves the gradual reorganization of circuits within brain regions and takes place on a longer time scale, lasting weeks, months or even years. Hippocampus plays central role in this.

Amygdala

Part of the brain that is activated for emotions. Studies show that emotions trigger mechanisms in this part of the brain that help us remember events that are associated with the emotions.

Study of flashbulb memories: 9/11

Participants asked about 9/11 the day after, and their everyday lives in the days before 9/11, then retested either 1 week later, 6 weeks later, or 32 weeks later. People remembered fewer details and made more errors at longer intervals after the event. Supports idea that there is nothing special about flashbulb memories. However, there is a difference between these memories and everyday memories in that peoples BELIEF that their memories were accurate stayed high over entire 32 week period, but dropped for everyday memories. Thus, idea that flashbulb memories are special appears to be based at least partially on the fact that people think the memories are stronger and more accurate, although in reality there's no difference between flashbulb and everyday memories

Study of the effect of post-event questioning

Participants split into 2 groups. Test group took a cued recall test about a video of the show 24, which contained questions like "what did the terrorist use to knock out the flight attendant." The no-test group played a computer game after viewing the 24 tape. Both groups then given distraction tasks. Test group actually responded yes to incorrect items more times than the no-test group (who just played a video game). Shows reverse testing effect. May be because of re-consolidation effects.

Study of medial temporal lobe

Participants viewed a series of words while in a brain scanner. They were instructed to create an image of a specific place that went with each word. 20 hours later, they were presented with recognition test where they saw the same words, plus more. During this part, they weren't in the scanner, and their task was to indicate which of words they had seen before. THey remembered 54% of old words, and forgot remaining 46%. He then compared those results with brain activity in the brain for remembered words, which indicated that activity in the perirhinal cortex was greater for the remembered words. Words that generated more activity during encoding were more likely to be familiar to participants during recognition test. Confirms physiologically what we have seen behaviorally.

Study using video of error in eyewitness testimony due to suggestion

Participants viewed a video of an actual crime and then were asked to identify the perpetrator from a photo spread that didn't actually contain the perpetrator. Following their choice, subjects either received confirming feedback, no feedback, or disconfirming feedback. They were then asked to give their confidence rating in who they picked, and those who received confirming feedback were more confident in their choice.

Category-specific knowledge impairment: neuropsychology examples

Patient has trouble recognizing objects in 1 category. Study of 2 patients who have those shows they were able to correctly name pictures of nonliving things (like car and table) and fruits and vegetables, but performed poorly when asked to name pictures of animals

Long-term potentiation

Phenomenon resulting from outcome of changes at the synapse (Hebb). Refers to enhanced firing of neurons after repeated stimulation. Scenario: first time neuron A is stimulated, neuron B fires slowly. After repeated stimulation, B fires more rapidly to the same stimulus. LTP shows that repeated stimulation causes not only structural changes but also enhanced responding.

Study of prototypical objects and how they are affected by priming: color groups

Priming occurs when presentation of one stimulus facilitates the response to another stimulus that usually follows closely in time. Participants first heard the prime (name of a color, such as green). Then saw a pair of colors side by side and indicated as quickly as possible whether the 2 colors were the same or different. Side-by-side colors paired 3 ways: as the same color and good examples, same color and poor examples, or different colors. Result: for the two "same" color groups, priming resulted in faster same judgments for prototypical (good) colors than non-prototypical colors. Explanation: when people hear word green, imagine a highly prototypical green, so prime facilitates response to stimulus if it contains the information needed to respond.

Study measuring variation of depth processing

Procedure: question presented, followed by word, then participant responded. Shallow processing achieved by asking questions about word's physical characteristics, deeper processing asked about words sound, deepest processing involved words meaning (fill-in-the-blank question). Conclusion: deeper processing associated with better memory

Back propagation

Process by which error signals are sent back to the hidden and representation units to provide information about how the connection weights should be changed so the correct property units will be activated (connection weights can be incorrect)

Categorization

Process by which things are placed into groups called categories

Encoding

Process of acquiring information and transferring it into LTM

Source monitoring

Process of determining the origins of our memories, knowledge, or beliefs. Idea that memories can be influenced by the sources of information, this concept at the heard of constructive approach to memory.

Collins and Loftus model: personal experience affects networks

Proposed model that results in network where concepts that are more closely related are connected by shorter lines. This abandons hierarchical structure in favor of a structure based on a person's experience. Means that spacing between concepts can differ for different people depending on their experience and knowledge about specific concepts.

Semantic network approach

Proposes that concepts are arranged in networks in the mind

Parallel distributed processing model (connectionist)

Proposes that concepts are represented by activity that is distributed across a network. There are input units, output units, and hidden units. Incoming stimuli activate input units and signals travel through the network, activating hidden and output units. Patterns of activity indicating output units are determined by initial activity of input units and by the connection weights that determine how strongly hidden and output units will be activated. Activation of units in this network depends on signal that originates in the input units and connection weights throughout the network

Levels-of-processing theory

Proposes that memory depends on how information is encoded, with "deeper" processing resulting in better encoding and retrieval than "shallow" processing. In other words, memory depends on how information is programmed into the mind.

Standard model of consolidation

Proposes that memory retrieval depends on the hippocampus during consolidation, but that once consolidation is complete, retrieval no longer depends on the hippocampus. Process: incoming information activates areas in the cortex. Activation is distributed across cortex. Cortex communicates with hippocampus to deal with the fact that activity is distributed across many areas, and hippocampus connects them. According to this, retrieval for recent memories shows high activation in hippocampus (not cortex) and vice versa for remote memories.

Multiple trace hypothesis of consolidation

Proposes that the hippocampus is involved in retrieval of remote memories, especially episodic memories. Evidence for this idea comes from experiments, one where experimenters elicited recent and remote episodic memories by showing participants photos of themselves engaging in various activities that were taken at times ranging from recently to 5 years old. The results showed that hippocampus was activated during retrieval of both recent and remote memories.

False recall and recognition study of scripts

Read a list of words, then cover the list and write down as many of the words as possible. List of words all related to "sleeping" (ex. bed, rest, dream, blanket, etc.) only the word sleep isn't on the list. Most people thought report seeing the word sleep. Remembering sleep is a false memory because its not on the list, but it occurs because people associate sleep with the other words on the list. This is similar to the effect of schemas. Constructive process again have created an error in memory.

Flashbulb memories

Refers to a person's memory for the circumstances surrounding hearing about shocking, highly charged events. The occur under highly emotional circumstances, and are remembered for long periods of time and are especially vivid and detailed. Ex. remembering where you were when you heard about 9/11, JFK's assassination

Study of self-image hypothesis

Study of people with average age of 54. Created "I am" statements that defined them as a person. Then asked when each statement had become a significant part of their identity, average age was 25 years, which is within the span of reminiscence bump. Development of self-image therefore brings with it numerous memorable events, most of which happen during adolescence of young adulthood.

Study of cognitive hypothesis for reminiscence bump

Study of recollections of people who emigrated to the US in their 20s or mid-30s. Indicates that reminisce bump is shifted to alter for those who emigrated later, just as cognitive hypothesis would predict.

Study of source monitoring and gender stereotypes: "remembering who said what"

Study showed peoples performance on a source monitoring task can be influenced by gender stereotypes. Items presented that originate from specific sources, and participants task is to indicate which source was associated with each item. Participants hear statements (with said John or Sally) and then presented with each statement without speakers name. Errors occur when statement is attributed to wrong person. Result indicates that the gender label affected participants memory judgments. If participants didn't have strong memory for who made a particular statement, their memory retrieval was biased by their knowledge of what "typical" males and females would say. The influence of real-world knowledge therefore resulted in source monitoring errors.

Experiment of hierarchical organization

Subjects list as many features as they can that would be common to all objects in the category (furniture, table, kitchen table). List the most amount at specific level, then less as they go up to global/superordinate level. Reasoned that because greater # of features provides more information about a category, starting at the basic level and moving up to the global level causes the loss of a lot of information.

Study using lexical decision task

Subjects presented with 2 strings of letters, one above the other (ex. fundt over glurb). Subjects had to indicate as fast as possible if they were words or not. In some trials words were closely associated (bread, wheat) and some they were weakly associated (chair, money). Result was that reaction time was faster when 2 words were associated. Proposed this might have occurred because retrieving one word from memory triggered a spread of activation to other nearby locations in a network. Because more activation would spread to words that were related, the response to the related words was faster than the response to unrelated words.

Study using retrieval cues (nouns)

Subjects presented with 600 nouns, and during learning, they were told to write down 3 words they associated with each noun. (ex. banana - yellow, bunches, edible). Subjects then had surprise memory test: were presented with 3 words they wrote down, and could remember 90% of the 600 words. Another group of participants presented with the 3 words generated by someone else, and could only remember 55% of 600 words. Results show retrieval cues are effective info for retrieving memories, and are significantly more effective when they are created by the person whose memory is being tested

Experiment of pragmatic inference: birdhouse

Subjects read a number of action statements in the acquisition part of the experiment and then tested their memory for the statements later. In one group, read "pounding nails" sentence and some others, and the other group read "looking for the nail" sentence and some others. During the test, participants who read the sentence that mentioned pounding the nail were more likely to be misled into thinking that the original sentence contained the word hammer than participants in the other group, who read that he was looking for the nail. Participants in the "pounding" group inferred from the use of the word pounding that a hammer had been used, even though it was never mentioned.

"War of the Ghosts" experiment

Subjects read a story of Indian folklore. After they read it, asked to recall it as accurately as possible. Then used the technique of repeated reproduction, where same subjects came back several times to try to remember the story at longer and longer intervals after they first read it. At longer times after reading the story, subjects forgot much of the info, and reproductions were shorter than original and contained many omissions/inaccuracies. What was significant about remembered stories is that they tended to reflect participants own culture. Conclusion: subjects created memories from 2 sources - original story and what they knew about stories from their own culture. As time passed, they used information from both sources, so reproductions of story changed. Idea of source monitoring

Experiment of encoding specificity: "studying" experiment

Subjects read on article while wearing headphones. The ones in "silent" condition heard nothing in headphones, ones in "noisy" condition heard a tape of background noise recorded during lunchtime in a cafeteria. Half the participants in each group were then given a short-answer test on the article under the silent condition and the other half tested under the noisy condition. Results indicated that the participants did better when testing condition matched study condition.

Study of misinformation effect and MPI: car crash

Subjects shown films of a car crash and then asked either: how fast were the cars going when they SMASHED into each other? or how fast were they going when they HIT each other? Both groups saw the same event, but the average speed estimated by subjects who hard smashed was faster than those who heard hit. Then when asked "did you see any broken glass," which was asked 1 week later - more members of smashed group reported glass than members of hit group, although no glass was in the video.

Reverse testing effect

Taking a recall test right after seeing the program increased participants' sensitivity to misinformation

Repeated recall

Technique used to compare later memories to memories collected immediately after an emotional event. Persons' memory is measured immediately after a stimulus is presented or something happens. Days, months or years later, when participants are asked to remember what happened, their reports are compared to this baseline.

Behavioral study of memory and emotion

Tested participants ability to recall arousing words (ex profanity/sexually explicit words) and neutral words (ex. street and store) immediately after they were presented, they observed better memory for arousing words

Criticisms of Collins and Quillian Model of semantic networks

Theory can't explain typicality effect, in which reaction times for statements about an object are faster for more typical members of a category than for less typical members. Thus, statement "canary is a bird" is verified more quickly than "ostrich is a bird" but this model predicts equally fast reaction times because they are both one node away from bird. ALso questioned concept of cognitive economy, because some people may store specific properties of concepts (like has wings for canaries) right at the node for that concept

Definitional approach to categorization

This approach says you can decide whether something is a member of a category by determining whether a particular object meets the definition of the category. Problem is that not all members of everyday categories have the same features. Example: chairs don't always have 4 legs

Study of category information in single neurons: cat/dog

Trained monkeys to respond to stimuli that were more than 50% "cat" as being in the cat category, and to respond to the rest as dogs. After several months of training, monkeys were able to accurately categorize stimuli most of the time into the cat or dog category. Once they learned to categorize the stimuli, they were tested by being shown a sample stimulus and then after a delay, the test stimulus. Task was to release a lever if it judged the test stimulus to be in the same category as sample stimulus. As they were doing this, recorded neurons in area of the temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex. Shows that during sample, neuron fires more to dog stimuli than cat stimuli. During delay and test period, when monkey is holding info about stimuli in memory and then making category judgment, neuron responds the same way to dog and cat stimuli. Shows that different areas respond to different aspects of stimuli.

Prototype

Typical member of a category. The "typical" prototype is base don an average of members of a category that are commonly experienced.

Output units

Units in connectionist network

Input units

Units in connectionist network that are activated by stimuli from the environment (or by stimuli presented by experimenter)

Hidden units

Units in connectionist network that receive signals from input units and send them to output units

Categorization in infants

Use familiarization/novelty preference procedure to see if infants have formed categories. Infant shown cat pictures during familiarization period. Then shown another cat they haven't seen before paired with a dog during preference test, and greater looking time for dog provides evidence that infant has placed the dog in a different category than "cat."

Forming visual images as a way to show how encoding influences retrieval

Use pair-associate learning, where list of word pairs are presented. One group silently repeated the pairs as they were represented, another group told to form mental picture in which 2 items were interacting. When they were all later asked to recall words, participants who created images remembered more words

Study of prototypicality using sentence verification technique

Used to determine how rapidly people could answer questions about an object's category. Participants are presented with statements and asked to answer "yes" if they think the statement is true and "no" if they think it isn't. Ex. an apple is a fruit OR a pomegranate is a fruit. Experimenters found that participants responded faster for objects that are high in prototypicality (apple as a fruit), than for objects that are low in prototypicality (pomegranates)

Prototypicality (high and low)

Variations within categories represent differences in prototypicality. High prototypicality means that a category member closely resembles the category prototype (it is like a typical member of the category). Low prototypicality means that the category member doesn't closely resemble a typical member of the category.

Constructive nature of memory

What people report as memories are constructed by the person based on what actually happened plus additional factors, such as the person's knowledge, experiences and expectations. This approach to memory is called constructive because the mind constructs memories based on a number of sources of information.