Cognition Chapter 8

source monitoring (errors)

(errors in) the process of making attributions about the origins of memories.

How many EWTs are done every day?

300

How many people were exonerated in 2014 by DNA evidence?

349

Central Park 5 Case

5 innocent young men accused of raping a woman, cumulatively spent 41 years in prison for a crime none of them committed

Father Pagano (1979)

7 positive EWT against him as an armed robber; actual perpetrator came forward and bore no resemblance to him

Haj et al

AD pts Remembered events with or without music with condition had increased details for memories

Illusory truth effect

Believing something is true because it has been repeated often or is easier to process, regardless of its actual truth

Arousal and Memory

Can either enhance or inhibit arousal (Yerkes Dodson curve)

Wade et al (2002)

Created fake childhood photos with hot air balloon, no participants realized the photos were not real, 50% remembered the fake event by 3rd interview

Memory for Emotional Stimuli

Emotion improves memory because there is an increase in accessibility and detail, activation in the amygdala/hippocampus, but stress manipulates the consolidation of memories

Cognitive hypothesis (reminiscence bump)

Encoding is better during periods of rapid change that are followed by stability due to attention (what's novel feels longer because everything is new; running to a place vs returning)

cultural life script hypothesis (reminiscence bump)

Events that fit the normal cultural life script are easier to recall (increased cues)

Greenburg and Rubin (2003)

Found that patients with object agnosia (inability to identify objects) also experience decreased autobiographical memories due to damage in VCA (visual cortex area)

pragmatic inferences

Inferences based on knowledge gained through experience (ex. snowman vanished in the snow- it melted)

Lindsay and Wells (1980)

Lineups with similar perpetrators are more likely to choose an innocent person in a lineup with perpetrator in it.

self-image hypothesis (reminiscence bump)

Memory is enhanced for events that occur as a person's self-image or life identity is being formed.

Brewer and Treyens (1981)

Office study recall: objects fitting the schema were more likely to be recalled (30%) than unusual objects that were actually there (27%)

Belfi (2016)

Participants heard cues of popular music from 15-30 years ago Resulted in stronger memories than pictures of famous people

Inside Baseball Study

Participants read a blurb about baseball. If they had previous knowledge of baseball, they would make inferences about the game. These inferences went against baseball logic, so baseballs fan's performance declined

Bower dentist study

Participants read a vignette about a trip to see the dentist and included false memories about details fitting the script (ex checking in with the receptionist)

Stanny and Johnson study

Participants shown video of a crime involving a shooting or not. Participants in the no shoot condition had better memories of the details of the perpetrator, weapon and victim

Ross et al (1994)

Participants watched a film of a male or female teacher lecturing, then saw a video of the female teacher being robbed. Results: participants who watched the male teacher lecture were more likely to choose him in line ups with and without the perpetrator

Wells & Bradfield (1998) Study 2

Participants watched a videotape of a gunman and chose someone from a null lineup IV: +, - or neutral feedback DV: Confidence rating in choice + feedback =5.4, no feeback= 4.0, - feedback= 3.5

Wells & Bradfield (1998) Study 1

Participants watched a videotape of a gunman who was shown for 8 seconds and were shown a null line up 1998- 100% of participants chose someone 2001- 61% of participants chose someone

Shaw & Porter (2015) Young Criminal Study

Participants were pressured to remember a crime they didn't commit as a child, 70% remembered the false events as true 2 weeks later

DMR task

Present a list of words related to, but missing, the critical lure stimuli (CLS)

Ost et al. (2002) Princess Diana

Princess Diana's death wasn't on film but 20/45 people claimed they watched it

propaganda effect

Prior exposure to statements increases liking

autobiographical memory

Recollected events that belong to a persons past

Nash & Wade (2009)

Said "We saw you cheat" when no participants did- 73% said they did anyways Doctored a video of participants cheating in a gambling game- 100% confessed

Characteristics of autobiographical memory

Semantic and episodic (mental time travel), multidimensional (involves all senses), and associated with emotional or highly salient experiences

Mazzoni et al (1999) Dream Study

Session 1: Filled out life events questionnaire Session 2: 10-15 days later, dreams interpreted as being about a false memory they repressed Results: 60-80% reported the false memory as being true, HUGE legal implications with EWT

Reminiscence bump and immigration

Supports the cognitive explanation because the memories changed depending on what age a person was when they immigrated (20-24 vs 34-35)

LaBar and Phelps (1998) Arousing words

Task: Ask participants to recall a set of words IV: arousing words or neutral words DV: ability to recall Results: observed better memory for the arousing words

Herz and Schooler (2002)

Task: Asked for participants to describe things (lotion, crayons and baby powder) IV: Cued with smell or picture Result: Increased rates of remembering, increased emotional ABMs

Cabeza et al (2004) Duke camera study

Task: Assigned students to take photographs of landmarks around campus, then measured brain activity when looking at photographs IV: Their own photographs or others DV: Brain activity Results: When participants looked at their own photographs, brain activation increased in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus

Hyman et al. (1995) Wedding crashers

Task: Details about a participants childhood were collected and events they didn't experience were discussed. Results: 2 weeks later, 20% of participants remembered life events that never happened.

Loftus: "Lost in Mall" Experiment

Task: Implanted false memories using altered photos and videos Results: participants were almost 100% convinced it had happened

Neisser and Harsch (1992) Challenger

Task: Interviewed memories for challenger IV: Time since event (1-224 days) DV: Confidence of memory and number of details Results: While people's memory for events decreased over time, their confidence in their memories increased

Brown and Kulik (1973) JFK assassination

Task: Interviewed people about JFK's assassination' DV: Quality of memories Results: Memories were detailed and vivid but no measurement to determine accuracy

Jacoby et al (1969) Famous Overnight Study

Task: Participants are presented with a list of names for people who aren't famous. When tested, they are presented with original list, a new list of non famous names and new famous names IV: Tested immediately after or after 24 hours Result: Delayed group remembered first list of names as being famous. Names were reconsolidated

Fazio et al (2015) Making it more true study

Task: Participants were presented with both true and false statements and how interesting they were. Participants then indicated whether the statements they had read previously and some new statements were true or false DV: Asked to indicate if statements were true or false Results: Repetition increased perceived truth, even if the person knew the correct answer (56% vs 64%)

Lindsey (1990)

Task: Participants were told a story by a female narrator with slides IV1: Participants were told different details by the same narrator the next day with some details changed IV2: Participants were told different details two days later by a male narrator Results: IV1 reported more errors (27%) than IV2 (13%), source monitoring influenced results

Deese, Roediger and McDermott (1995) DMR task

Task: Recall list of words IV: items on list are intended to lure participants to have false memories Result: critical lure stimuli- intended stimuli not on list were recalled falsely

Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) procedure

Task: Recall list of words IV: similarity of words to critical lure stimuli (CLS) DV: false memory of CLS Result: false memories arise from the same constructive process that produces true memories

Talarico and Rubin (2003) 9/10 and 9/11 Study

Task: Repeated recall for 9/10 and 9/11 with retrieval cues IV: Confidence and Details Results: Fewer details, increased confidence

Barlett

Task: War of the Ghosts story IV: Culture DV: Memory details Result: cultural bias shift from African to Native American

Loftus, Steven, and Palmer

Task: participants watched a video of a car accident occurring IV: "Hit vs smashed" and "yield vs stop sign" DV: Speed of cars Results:Misinformation effect- speed of cars increased and broken glass was reported more often depending on the word researchers chose

Larry Cahill and coworkers (2003)

Task: showed participants pictures IV1: neutral and emotionally arousing pictures IV2: Immerse arms in ice water, which causes the release of cortisol OR immerse their arms in warm water DV: Recall weeks later Results: Immersion in ice water resulted in more memory for emotional photos. The no-stress condition didn't show this pattern

Proust effect

The elicitation of memories through taste and olfaction.

constructive nature of memory

The idea that what people report as memories are constructed based on what actually happened plus additional factors (such as expectations, other knowledge, and other life experiences)

Youth Bias

The perception that the most important life events occur when a person is young (Kopel and Bernsten's study argued younger ages see this as a younger age)

Schema

Things that are associated with a particular place

cryptoamnesia

Unconscious plagiarism of another's work due to a lack of recognition of its original source

misinformation effect

When the presentation of information following an event influences a persons memories

script

conception of sequence of actions that usually occurs during a particular experience

Characteristics of flashbulb memories

highly vivid and detailed, less accuracy but increased confidence for memories

post-identification feedback effect

increase in confidence due to confirming feedback after making an identification

musically enhanced autobiographical memories (meams)

involuntary flashbacks cued by music

narrative rehearsal hypothesis

repeated viewing/hearing of an event can introduce errors because of repeated reactivation and reconsolidation

Explanations for reminiscence bump

self image, cognitive, cultural life script

reminiscence bump

the empirical finding that people over 40 years old have enhanced memory for events from adolescence and early adulthood, compared to other periods of their lives

source misattribution

the inability to distinguish an actual memory of an event from information you learned about the event elsewhere

flashbulb memory

your personal circumstances during a shocking, highly charged public event