Chapter 7 Linear notes

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What are autobiographical memories?

database of the self

historical and personal context

binds self to reality,

guide interaction, continuity to experiences,

free retrieval vs cued recall - better at different periods bc retrieval curve

easily damaged by brain injury and psychiatric illness e.g. PTSD

ABM and the Lifespan

WS develops when infant subjective self-awareness

Childhood amnesia

Reminiscence bump

Recency

ABK

specific events, general events and lifetime periods - hierarchically organised from specific to least specific

general events involve emotions but mainly visual images - single events, repeated events, extended events - organised via goal relevance

images can be used to access sensory-perceptive info from semantic and episodic mem to form detailed ABMs

reference points for future similar events

lifetime periods are less event specific, goal evaluation neg and pos, cue other related memories, enduring self evaluations

Life story and schema: coherent themes giving meaning to life, fixed, event encapsulation, evaluates goals re LP experiences - can change goals

Episodic and Semantic Memory

Tulving distinction problematic - episodic memory contains spatio temporal info but also semantic info

Conway - sensory-perceptual, experience near, event specific - doesn't integrate unless relevant to WS goals (episodic less durable so gives way to semantic over time - Cabezza and Jaques)

recollective experience - awareness of something being real and not a dream/fantasy/plan - sense of self in the past, occurs when sensory-perceptual knowledge is accessed during memory construction

The Working Self

Research re personality dimensions e.g. independence vs dependence - personality & accessibility of goal related ABK - memories of behaving this way

research re power/intimacy - self memory congruency - goals strengthen congruency effect

affective/non affective and implicit/explicit motives

WS is a control process for disruptive retrieval mode, governs what is retrieved and how memories are constructed - modulates access to LTM knowledge

educational episodes and self defining moments - turning points - pos and neg - can change/inform big goals

happiness/pride and sadness/fear re evaluation of goal progress

self discrepancies during childhood e.g. remembering feeling needy --> intimacy goal in later life

Constructing ABMs

generative retrieval - effortful but efficient, intentional and controlled

explicit - cue + WS goal = ABM

cue = cinema -> LP -> GE access -> episodic access = ABM

direct retrieval - unintentional, can be disruptive, intrusive, bypasses generative, WS can inhibit if high priority goal needs processing

WS controls retrieval by mapping cues onto episodic memories as part of GE and LP - this means a stable pattern of activation is reached and specific ABMs can be linked to WS goals thus memory enters conscious awareness

Probing experiment shows that both types of retrieval can be applicable to the same task - length of probe affects retrieval and ABK type - longer probe - decreases GE -> more specific

ABM in distress

PTSD: intrusive and disruptive memories that can't be integrated into ABM as they conflict with WS goals e.g. survival

3 components: traumatic event, feelings at the time, resulting symptoms

symptoms: re-experiencing, avoidance, hyper arousal

Nature of trauma memories: sensory-perceptual - NOWNESS and no sense of self in the past - inhibits recollection - vivid but jumbled - strongest threat to WS will likely become PTSD memory, emotions e.g. disgust/fear, sensory info e.g. smells, and sounds, can be distorted, therapy aims to make PTSD memories more like ABMs

What are ABMs for?

correspondence model: accuracy and capacity of memory

coherence model: knowledge guides retention and remembering

WS: incorporates both - ADAPTIVE COHERENCE

episodic memories: snippets from summaries of experience

selective process of ABM construction- WS goal structure determines what is filtered and integrated with LTM pre existing knowledge