Everyday Memory & Memory Errors

Everyday Memory & Memory Errors

1. FLASHBULB MEMORY

   • Special Mechanism?
     • Emotions & Amygdala
       • Argument against special mechanism
         • Narrative rehearsal hypothesis
   • Memories for such events decrease in much the same way as memories for everyday events
     • Belief that your accuracy is high

2. INACCURATE MEMORY

   • O.J SIMPSON STUDY
     • Fewer “don’t remember” responses @ 32 months than @ 15 months (decreased with time)
       • more inaccurate responses @ 32 months than @ 15 months
     • Memory is constructed based on actual memories plus additional influences
   • Many incorrect responses involved watching TV

3. CONSTRUCTIVE APPROACH

   • What people report as memories are:
     • constructed by the person based on what actually happened
       • + Additional factors, such as knowledge, experiences, & expectations
   • Bartlett’s “War of the Ghosts” Experiment
     • Participants read the story & Bartlett asked them to recall it as accurately as possible
       • Repeated Reproduction
       • Over time, participants constructed the story so that it reflected characteristics of their culture

4. SOURCE MONITORING & MISATTRIBUTION

   • The process by which we determine the origins of our memories
     • E.g. I know that guy, but is he from class, work…?
   • Attributing something we remember to the wrong source = Source Misattribution
     • "Becoming Famous Overnight”
       • Remember/Know Judgements
     • Past exp. can result in memory errors
       • Schemas & Scripts
         • Books & Office
         • "The Dentist"

5. CONFABULATION

   • Patient believes that their statements are true
   • Brain Damage
     • Frontal Lobes
     • Medial Temporal Lobe
     • Constructed memories can sometimes become exaggerated
       • Bizarre false memories created

6. MEMORY ERRORS

   • Eyewitness Testimony
     • Errors due to weapons
     • Errors due to familiarity
     • DONALD THOMPSON
       • Talking about memory errors on TV at exactly the same time a woman was attacked in her home
         • Woman accused Thompson of being her perpetrator wrongfully.
   • Creating False Memories
     • E.g. Spilling a punch bowl at a wedding reception when you were 6 years old
       • E.g. Lost in mall when young

7. MEMORY & SUGGESTION

   • Misinformation Effect
     • Misleading information after an experience can change a person’s memory for the original event
   • Misleading information is referred to a misleading post-event information, or MPI (Misleading Post Information)
   • E.g. How fast were the cars going when they (smashed/hit) each other?
     • Hit: 34 | Smashed: 41
       • Hit: 14% remembered an broken glass wrong
       • Smashed: 32% remembered an broken glass wrong

8. RECOVERED MEMORIES

   • Many cases of recovered memories but are they real?
     • Therapists being sued for “retrieving wrong memories”
       • It is likely that some of the recovered memories are accurate & some are not
         • Difficult, if not impossible, to determine which memories are accurate & which are not

9. SCHACTER'S 7 SIN OF MEMORY

   • 1. Transcience
     • Loss of info with time
   • 2. Absentmindedness
     • Problems w attention & LTM
   • 3. Blocking
     • Retrieval failure
   • 4. Bias
     • Present knowledge, beliefs, & feelings skew our memory for past events
   • 5. Misattribution
     • Source Error - intact memory but not source
   • 6. Suggestibility
     • Memory changed through suggestion
   • 7. Persistence
     • Automatic retrieval of unwated memories
   • Sins of Omission
     • Sins of Commission
       • Presence of inaccuracies

10. Memory Does Not Work Like A Video Recorder

    • SHERESHEVSKII (S)
      • "Virtually Limitless memory"
      • Disadvantages
        • Trouble forgetting unneeded things
        • Storing everything can overload the system
    • Personal Bias