LONG-TERM MEMORY

LONG-TERM MEMORY

1. Encoding

   • Levels of Processing: Remember more accurately when it is deep and meaningful processing vs shallow, sensory processing
     • Deep processing encourages accurate recall because of distinctiveness and elaboration
   • Self-Reference Effect: memory more accurate if you relate to a personal experience
     • To be valid, the stimuli much be classified in terms of the person's actual mental activities (rather than experimenters instructions in research)
       • Effective due to a) self is a rich source in memory cues, b) self-reference instructions encourage people to think about how their own characteristics are interrelated, c) it increases peoples rich complex rehearsal
   • Encoding-Specificity Effect: recall is more accurate if the contact during retrieval is similar to the context at encoding
     • Most likely to operate in certain situations a) when memory is tested by recall rather than recognition, b) when real-life events are studied, c) when the original event happened long ago and d) when mental context is emphasised
       • Can modify levels of processing principle

2. Overview

   • LTM - High capacity and quite durable, lasts minutes to decades
   • 3 Categories: 1) Episodic Memory (personal experiences), 2) Semantic (organised knowledge about the world) Memory, 3) Procedural Memory (knowledge about how to do something)
   • Encoding and Retrieval are closely linked; although possible to know something but not recall when prompted
   • Emotions: typically recall pleasant stimuli more accurately (esp if seen during a pleasant presentation vs violent)
     • If you have an anxiety disorder, more accurate recall on high anxiety words

3. Retrieval

   • Explicit Memory Tasks: instruct for recall or recognition
     • Implicit Memory Tasks: perform a cognitive task such as completing a word with missing letters
       • Depth of processing has an impact on explicit tasks but not on implicit
   • Amnesia: 1) Retrograde - difficulty recalling events that occurred prior to damage, 2) Anterograde - difficulty recalling events after damage (particularly explicit memory. Implicit is ok)
   • Expertise is important on LTM, although it is context-specifc. Typically have well organised knowledge structures and vivid visual images
     • Own-Ethnicity Bias: typically more accurate in recognising faces from own ethnic group, in part because their expertise makes these faces more distinctive

4. Autobiographical Memory

   • Memories are usually accurate, although we can make errors on some details and can blend information together from different events
   • Memory Schemas encourage us to make some errors in recall. May reveal a consistency bias by exaggerating the similarity between current self-schema and previous characteristics
   • Source Monitoring: shows we may have difficulty deciding where we learned some information
     • Reality Monitoring: difficulty in deciding if something really happened or imagined it happening
   • Flashbulb Memories: rich in information, often confident that they re accurate however they might not be as accurate as expected
     • Eye Witness Testimonies: Post-event misinformation effect can occur if misleading information is introduced after the event (consistent with the constructivist approach)
       • Errors are likely a) if the crime happened during stressful circumstances long ago, b) misinformation is plausible, c) social pressure is applied, d) positive feedback is provided
         • Self confidence is NOT strongly correlated to memory accuracy