Psych ch. 6

Hermann Ebbignhaus

-german psychologist who began the scientific study of forgetting -goal= determine how much info was forgotten after different lengths time -created forgetting curve

Elizabeth Loftus

-one of the most widely recognized authorities on eyewitness memory & diff. ways it can go awry -not only conducted extensive research on this topic but also testified as an expert witness in many high-profile cases -confirmed that post-event exposure to misinfo can distort the recollection of the original event by eyewitnesses -revealed that reports of flashbacks were extremely rare in those patients whose brains were electrically stimulated in diff. cortical regions -flashbacks appear to have been invented, not relived -most international prominent for false memories -2005 Grawmeyer recipient in psychology -realized that false memories had all the components of a real memory (especially the emotional part)

info that's NOT actively rehearsed is rapidly lost. why:

1. info that's not maintained by rehearsal fades away or decays w/ passage of time 2. interference from new or competing info causes forgetting

factors that contribute to false memories

1. misinfo effect 2. source confusion 3. schema distortion 4. imagination inflation 5. false familiarity 6. blending fact & fiction 7. suggestion

forgetting curve

1. much of what we forget is lost relatively soon after we originally learned it -how quickly we forget depends on how well the material was encoded in the first place, how meaningful the material was, and how often it was rehearsed 2. amount of forgetting eventually levels off -info that's not quickly forgotten seems to be stable in memory over long periods of time

conclusions of memory wars

1. no question that physical & sexual abuse in childhood is a serious social problem that contributes to psychological problems in adulthood 2. some psychologists contend it's possible for memories of childhood abuse to be completely forgotten only to reappear many years later in adulthood 3. details of memories can be distorted w/ disturbing ease 4. every act of remembering involves reconstructing a memory 5. psychologists & therapists became more aware of possibility of inadvertently creating false memories in therapy

Baddeley's model of working memory

3 main components & each can function independently - phonological loop -visuospatial sketchpad -central executive

auditory

STM uses ______ code to help reduce & translate the huge amount of information coming from sensory memory

human memory

______ does not function like a camera or digital recorder that captures a perfect copy of visual or auditory info -memory details change over time! -w/o awareness, details can be added, subtracted, exaggerated, or downplayed

forgetting curves

_______ indicate that the course of forgetting is initially fast but levels off with time -1 explanation for the shape of the curve is a gradual fading of physical memory trace

actively constructed

a new memory is not simply recorded but _________ -various factors can contribute to errors & distortions in what you remember; what you think you remember

limitless!

amount of info that can be held in long-term memory is _______

visual sensory memory/iconic memory

brief memory of an image or icon -holds image of your environment for about 1/4 to 1/2 second before it's replaced by another overlapping "snapshot"

auditory sensory memory/echoic memory

brief moment that's like an echo -holds info a little longer, up to 3-4 seconds -allows you to hear speech as continuous words or series of musical notes as melody rather than as disjointed sounds

procedural memory

category of long-term memory that includes memories of different skills, operations, & actions -ex: typing, riding bike, running, making eggs -we begin forming these early in life when we learn to walk, talk, etc. -we can't recall exactly when or how we learned this

semantic memory

category of long-term memory that includes memories of general knowledge, concepts, facts, & names -represents you personal encyclopedia of accumulated data & trivia stored in your long-term memory -typically store these in long-term memory w/o remembering when or where you originally acquired info

episodic memory

category of long-term memory that includes memories of particular events, including time & place that they occurred

retrieval cue

clue, prompt, or hint that can help trigger recall of a stored in long-term memory

central executive

controls attention, integrates info, & manages activities of phonological loop & visuospatial sketchpad -initiates retrieval & decision processes as necessary & integrates info coming into system

storage

decay or fading of memory with time is considered to be a failure in______

memory trace

distinct structural or chemical change in the brain

false memory

distorted or fabricated recollection of something that did not actually occur -subjectively feels authentic & is often accompanied by all the emotional impact of a real memory

memory construction

ease w/ which people form false memories best illustrates that encoding & retrieval involve __________

high degree of distinctiveness

encoded info represents unique, different, or unusual memory

mood congruence

encoding specificity phenomenon in which a given mood tends to evoke memories that are consistent w/ that mood

never

false memories can be created for events that _____ happened

consistent

false memories were for actions that would have been ______ with the script - if they had actually happened in the story

schema distortion

false or distorted memories caused by tendency to fill in missing memory details w/ info that's consistent w/ existing knowledge about a topic

pseudoevent

false story

retroactive interference

forgetting in which a new memory interferes w/ remembering an old memory; backward-acting memory interference

proactive interference

forgetting in which an old memory interferes w/ remembering a new memory; forward-acting memory interference

memory wars

highly charged public controversy over the validity of repressed memories recovered in therapy -key issue = methods used to help people unblock, or recover repressed memories

suggestion

hypnosis, guided imagery, or other highly suggest techniques that can inadvertently or intentionally created vivid false memories

different

implicit memories & explicit memories involve ____ brain regions

forgetting

inability to recall information that was previously available -NOT the loss or absence of once-remembered info

retrieval cue failure

inability to recall long-term memories because of inadequate or missing retrieval cues

encoding failure

inability to recall specific info b/c of insufficient encoding of the info for storage in long-term memory

false familiarity

increased feelings of familiarity due to repeatedly imagining an event

chunking

increasing amount of info that can be held in short-term memory by grouping related items together into single unit -also involves retrieval of meaningful info from long term memory such as the meaning of the initials FBI

retrieval

involves recovering stored information so that we're consciously aware of it

-George Miller believed it was 7 plus/ minus 2 -current research suggests 4 plus/minus 1

limited capacity of short-term memory

appear

memories only ____ to be forgotten; w/ the right retrieval cue, you can often access stored info that seemed to be completely unavailable

misinformation effect

memory distortion phenomenon in which a person's existing memories can be altered if the person is exposed to misleading info

source confusion

memory distortion that occurs when the true source of the memory is forgotten -this can help explain the misinfo effect: false details provided after the event become confused w/ details of the original memory

source memory/source monitoring

memory for when, where, & how a particular experience or piece of info was acquired

imagination inflation

memory phenomenon in which vividly imagining an event markedly increases confidence that the event actually occurred

tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) experience

memory phenomenon that involves the sensation of knowing that specific information is stored in long-term memory, but being temporarily unable to retrieve it

explicit memory

memory w/ awareness; info or knowledge that can be consciously recollected, including episodic & semantic info -also called declarative memories b/c you can declare the info when asked

implicit memory

memory without awareness; cannot be consciously recollected but still affect your behavior, knowledge, or performance of some task -also called non-declarative memories b/c you're unable to declare the info -ex: procedural memories, including skills & habits

maintenance rehearsal

mental or verbal repetition of info in order to maintain it beyond the usual 20-second duration of short-term memory

suggestibility

misinformation effect is based on _____

stage of memory model

model describing memory as consisting of 3 distinct stages: sensory memory, short-term memory, & long-term memory -based on idea that info is transferred from 1 stage to another

semantic network model

model that describes units of info in long-term memory as being organized in a complex network of associations -when one concept is activated in this, it can spread in any number of directions, activating other association in this -useful way of conceptualizing how info is organized in long-term memory -but only a metaphor not a physical structure of the brain

suppression

motivated forgetting that occurs consciously; a deliberate attempt to not think about and remember a specific information

repression

motivated forgetting that occurs unconsciously; memory that's blocked & unavailable to consciousness ** problem = is the memory "repressed" or simply forgotten?

better

numerous studies have demonstrated that items that are inconsistent w/ our expectations tend to be _____ recalled & recognized than items that are consistent w/ our expectations

absentmindedness

occurs b/c you don't pay enough attention to a bit of info at the time when you should be encoding it -often occurs b/c your attention is divided -rather than focusing your full attention on what you're doing, you're also thinking about other matters

sometimes

once memory is in long-term storage, it is _____ susceptible to interference

decreases

once the info held in memory stabilizes, it changes very little over time -rate of forgetting actually ______ over time

imagination; imagining

one key factor in creation of false memories is the power of _________ **_______ the past as different from what it was can change the way you remember it

schema

organized cluster of info about a particular topic -can be object, setting, concept -useful in organizing & forming new memories -allows you to quickly integrate new experiences into your knowledge base -but can contribute to memory distortions = can promote memory errors by promoting us to fill in missing details w/ schema-consistent information

clustering

organizing items into related groups during recall from long-term memory

encoding specificity principle

principle that when the conditions of info retrieval are similar to the conditions of info encoding, retrieval is more likely to be successful -ex: sights, sounds, aromas w/in that particular situation -environmental cues in a particular context can become encoded as part of the unique memories you form while in that context

retrieval

process of accessing stored information -our ability to retrieve stored memory hinges on having an appropriate retrieval cue

encoding, storage, or retrieval

process of interference can lead to a failure in....

storage

process of retaining information in memory so that it can be used at a later time

retrieval cue failures

prospective memory failures are due to _______ - the inability to recall a memory b/c of missing or inadequate retrieval cues

flashbulb memory

recall of very specific images or details surrounding a vivid, rare, or significant personal event; details may or may not be accurate -gradually decay over time -high degree of confidence the person has in the accuracy of the memory but it's NO guarantee of accuracy

autobiographical memory

refers to events of your personal life history & plays key role in your sense of self

memory

refers to mental processes that enable us to acquire, retain, and retrieve information over time -involves 3 fundamental processes: encoding, storage, retrieval

encoding

refers to process of transforming information into a form that can be entered & retained by the memory system -ex: memorizing definition of a key term

short-term memory

refers to the active, working stage of memory -temporarily holds all info that you're currently thinking about or consciously aware of it -info stored up to 20 seconds -ex: imagining, remembering, problem solving -stage of memory in which info transferred from sensory memory & info retrieved from long-term memory become conscious

motivated forgetting

refers to the idea that we forget b/c we're determined to forget, usually b/c a memory is unpleasant or disturbing

sensory memory

registers a great deal of info from environment & holds it for a very brief period of time -after 3 seconds or less = memory fades -"snapshots" of your surroundings & instantly fades to be replaced by another one

elaborative strategy

rehearsal that involves focusing on the meaning of info to help encode & transfer it to long-term memory -you relate info to other info you already know -significantly improves memory for new material

prospective memory

remembering to do something in the future

George Sperling

research by this psychologist first largely identified characteristics of visual sensory memory -his experiment demonstrated that our visual sensory memory holds a lot of info very briefly, for about half a second -this info is available for us to pay attention to specific elements that are significant to us at that moment then transferred to short-term memory

lost-inthe-mall technique

research strategy of using info from family members to help create or induce false memories of childhood experiences

3-4 items

researchers believe that the capacity of working memory is no more than about _______ at a time when chunking is not an option

script

schema for the typical sequence of an everyday event

visuospatial sketchpad

specialized for spatial or visual material, such as remembering layout of a room or city

phonological loop

specialized for verbal material, such as lists of numbers or words

long-term memory

stage of memory that represents long-term storage of info, potentially for a life time ** info flows in both directions from short term to long term & vice versa

working memory

temporary storage & active, conscious manipulation of information needed for complex cognitive tasks, such as reasoning, learning, & problem solving

context effect

tendency to recover info more easily when the retrieval occurs in the same setting as the original learning of the info

serial position effect

tendency to remember items at the beginning and end of list better than items in the middle -primacy effect = tendency to recall first items in a list -recency effect = tendency to recall final items in a list

interference theory

theory that forgetting is caused by one memory competing w/ or replacing another ** most critical factor is the similarity of the info!!

imagination inflation

unfounded confidence in a false or distorted memory caused by vividly imagining the pseudoevent

suggestive questions

use of _____ is one example of how the info a person gets AFTER an event can change what the person later remembers about the event

short term memory

use this to temporarily store & manipulate other types of stimuli, such as visual images -used when the focus is on simpler memory processes, such as rehearsing lists of syllables, words, or numbers

blending fact & fiction

using vivid, authentic details to add legitimacy & believability of pseudoevent

decay theory

view that forgetting is due to normal metabolic processes that occur in the brain over time -idea that when a new memory is formed, it creates a memory trace & over time, the normal metabolic processes of the brain are thought to erode the memory trace, especially if it's not "refreshed" by frequent rehearsal

serial recall

when you need to remember a list of items in their original orders -primacy effect is especially prominent for this -ex: speeches, telephone numbers, directions