LearningCurve 7b. Forgetting; Memory Construction Errors; Improving Memory

Colton wakes up in a hospital. Apparently, he cannot remember anything that happened immediately following a severe head injury. Colton's BEST case demonstrates:

Amnesia

Almost everybody has had the feeling of knowing the answer to a question, but not being quite able to say it. This is called the "tip-of-the-tongue" phenomenon, and is a failure of:

Retrieval

A memory _____ is lasting physical changes in the brain as a memory forms.

70%

Owen has trouble remembering a friend's new phone number; he keeps recalling the old number instead. Completing a rental application, Pippa finds she can't recall one of her previous addresses, as she's had several addresses since. Owen is experiencing _____ interference. Pippa is experiencing _____ interference.

proactive; retroactive

Recalling something that you had once merely imagined happening as something you had directly experienced BEST illustrates _____ amnesia.

source

It's evening and we're mentally replaying the day's events. We picture our facial expressions as we listened to a friend's tale of woe. Because we were unable to see these expressions at the time, our recall necessarily illustrates:

Consolidation (memories being altered)

Nana is taking a Spanish final at the end of the spring semester. The problem is that the French vocabulary she learned the semester before keeps getting in the way, causing her to forget Spanish words. Nana is experiencing _____ interference.

Proactive

_____ interference is the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.

Proactive

Psychologists' understanding of memory has benefited greatly from the in-depth studies of such individuals as Jill Price ("the woman who couldn't forget") and Henry Molaison (H. M.). These examples highlight the importance of the _____ method in psychological research.

case study

Several months after watching a science fiction movie about space travel and alien abduction, Daniel began to remember that aliens had abducted him and had subjected him to many of the horrors portrayed in the movie. His mistaken recall BEST illustrates _____ amnesia.

source

Some patients with anterograde amnesia have learned how to spot hard-to-find figures in the Where's Waldo? series without any conscious awareness that they can do so. This BEST illustrates their retention of _____ memory.

implicit

A ____________________ is lasting physical changes in the brain as a memory forms.

memory trace