Flashcards
Distorted Worlds: Memory
Flashcards do conjunto (29)
- 1What is episodic memory? (LO1)Episodic memory is memory of personally experienced events (autobiographical events) in terms of contextual information such as what happened, where it happened and when it happened. But also other information such as associated emotions.
- 2What is semantic memory? (LO2)Semantic memory refers to our memory of general knowledge relating to facts, ideas, meaning, and concepts we have accumulated in our lives.
- 3What did the findings of Schmolck et al (2002) suggest about semantic and episodic memory.Schmolck et al (2002) found that patients with amnesia show specific deficits in episodic memory but not semantic memory suggesting that the two are independent of each other.
- 4What is one source of distortion for episodic memory? (LO2)Schematic knowledge
- 5What did Brewer and Treyens (1981) find and what is one possible explanation for the findings? (LO2)Participants were asked to wait (they were unaware this was part of the study) in the an academics's office set up by the researchers for 35 seconds and then were asked to recall what objects were in the office.
Almost a third of participants reported seeing books in the office, despite there being none.
This error in memory may have occurred because books are consistent with what participants would expect to find in an academics office, therefore their memory is being created around their "schemata" of the office. - 6What is the DRM (Deese, Roediger, and McDermott, 1995, 2000) procedure and what are typical findings?In the DRM procedure participants are asked to learn and recall a list of words grouped around a theme (for example, sleep)
However, the actual word relating the theme (i.e sleep) is missing from the list.
Having words grouped around a theme helps to facilitate recall but it was found that participants were just as likely to incorrectly recall the missing theme word as they were to correctly recall a target word.
Moreover, participants were just as confident in their recall of the missing theme word as they were in words actually in the list.
These errors occur even when participants are explicitly warned about them before recall. - 7What are schemata and how can they help with recall in episodic memory? (LO2)Schemata are broad representations of what is normal in a particular situation.
As there will often be gaps in our recollection of events, we can use our schemata to "fill in gaps" based on our prior knowledge or expectations of the event. This is likely to be accurate as schemata describes what happens most of the time.
People, unknowingly, supplement what they actually remember with a plausible reconstruction based on their schematic knowledge.
This is known as regularising as reconstructions based on schemata will make the will make the past seem more "normal" and regular than it really was. - 8What is the evidence supporting the role of schemata in episodic memory? (LO2)Evidence for the role of schemata can be inferred from the types of errors that occur in episodic memory.
For example, in Brewer and Treyens (1981) participants incorrectly recalled books being the academics' office.
This error is consistent with them relying on schemata to reconstruct or "fill in the gaps" of their memory as they are likely recalling books being present due to this being part of their schematic knowledge of what they;d expect to find in an academics' office. - 9How might schematic knowledge and attention be connected? (LO2)Schematic knowledge might biased what people pay attention to as it sets out what you'd expect to find in a given situation and therefore does not motivate you to fully attend to the situation to confirm these expectations.
- 10Considering neural connections/paths, why might episodic memory be inaccurate? (LO2)When you attempt to recall an event this will activate retrieval paths associated with the event but, due to the interconnected nature of neural pathways, this activation will spread triggering other retrieval paths associated with other information linked with the event, such as associated schemata, other events that were similar, and even your thoughts about the event.
Therefore, this can lead to your memory being reconstructed based on your schemata, resulting in a distortion of our past being more regular or standard than it was.
But this can also mean that you combine your memory of one event with a memory of another or multiple other similar events. Thus, making us vulnerable to transplant errors- where information you encounter in one context becomes transplanted into another context. - 11How might inaccuracies and distortions in episodic memory be considered functional? (LO2)Having interconnected retrieval paths in memory enrich our understanding because they highlight how our memories are related to other things we know. In particular they may be considered functional because links to schematic knowledge enables you to supplement your (often incomplete) recollection with well informed and often accurate inference.
- 12How might inaccuracies and distortions in episodic memory be considered dysfunctional? (LO2)Having highly connected retrieval paths can undermine memory accuracy. For example, by resulting in memories making more sense (i.e. fitting better with schemata) as opposed to being accurate.
Yet, this inaccuracy may be the price of having the crucial advantage of being able to search and locate memories within long term storage. This wouldn't be possible if memories were not interconnected. - 13What is the misinformation effect? (LO2/4)Where memory errors result from some form of post-event information. For example, evidence has indicated that we are susceptible to developing false memories in response to post event information.
- 14What did Loftus and Palmer find (1974)? (LO2/LO4)A classic demonstration of the impact of post event information on memory;
- After be shown pictures of an automobile collision.
- Found that participants who were asked how fast were the cars going when they 'smashed' into one another report cars as travelling significantly faster than participants who heard the cars being described as 'hitting' one another.
- Equally, participants who heard the cars being described as 'smashing' in to one another were more likely to incorrectly recall seeing broken glass when asked if there was any. - 15What did Edelson et al (2011) find to suggests that episodic memory is reconstructive? (LO2/LO4)Demonstrated how memory is susceptible to social influences.
Found that participants exhibited a strong tendency to conform to erroneous recollections of the group, producing both long-lasting and temporary errors, even when their initial memory was strong and accurate.
Suggesting that memories can be reconstructed based on social influence. - 16What did Wade et al (2002) find which suggests that episodic memory is reconstructive? (LO2/LO4)In this study participants were shown altered childhood photo where they were depicted participating in an event that never happened (e.g. going in a hot air balloon).
Based on this seeing this "evidence" 80% of participants were able to recall the event even though it didn't happen.
Suggests that episodic memory can be reconstructed based on the introduction of new visual evidence. - 17What has been found to make it easier to implant false memories and what does this suggest about episodic memory? (LO4)False memories have been found to be more easily induced if participants don't just hear about the false event but are encouraged to imagine the event.
For example, Garry et al (1996) found that asking participants to picture an event as clearly possible significantly increased participants confidence that the false event really occurred.
This effect is called imagination inflation and it might contribute to the reconstructive nature of episodic memory. - 18Logically, what brain regions might be implicated in episodic memory? (LO3)Episodic memory is often referred to as memory of what happened, when it happened and where it happened.
Two of these components relate to visuospatial information (what and where) and so it makes sense that brain regions involved in processing this information have been implicated in episodic memory. - 19What is one important brain region implicated in episodic memory? (LO3)The hippocampus
- 20What evidence is there to support the role of the hippocampus in episodic memory? (LO3)Patients (mostly famously HM) with selective damage to the hippocampus show an inability to remember recent events but typically show normal vocabulary and memory of general facts (semantic memory)
This evidence points to a disassociation between episodic and semantic memory but has also supported of the role of the hippocampus in our memory of recent events. - 21What is an issue with evidence from selective damage? (LO3)However, whilst evidence from selective damage indicates a role of the hippocampus in our episodic memory of recent events, it does not, by itself, suggest that the hippocampus plays a role in our long term episodic memory.
- 22How does the declarative theory of hippocampus function account for this? (LO3)The declarative theory of hippocampus function accounts for this by arguing that long term memories are consolidated in neocortical areas outside of the medial temporal lobe (where the hippocampus is located) so specific damage to the hippocampus will not impact long term memories.
- 23What has research indicated to support the role of hippocampus in all types of episodic memory (LO3)fMRI studies with adults have suggested that the hippocampus has a role (is active) in episodic memory regardless of the age of the memory (e.g. Cabeza et al, 2007)
- 24What is a limitation of research indicating a role of hippocampus in all types of episodic memory? (LO3)Although fMRI studies provide evidence for the role of the hippocampus in episodic memory it doesn't tell us anything about the nature of this role.
For example, it doesn't give us an indication of what memory tasks activate the hippocampus or whether the hippocampus activity is necessary. All it can tell us is that the hippocampus is active during tasks requiring episodic memory. - 25By what mechanism might emotional events trigger better recall? (LO3)Many factors influence recall. However, emotional events trigger a response in the amygdala, and the amygdala in turn increases the activity in the hippocampus. The hippocampus appears to be important in the consolidation of memories, particularly short term to long term.
- 26What is an issue with trying to establish brain mechanisms involved in episodic memory? (LO3)Individual differences may be an issue in generalising findings regarding brain mechanisms undermining episodic memory as some research has suggested activity may vary between individuals.
For example, Miller et al (2002) demonstrated that, across 9 individual engaged in episodic memory task, the pattern of neural activity from the fMRI appeared to differ from person to person. - 27What did Hassabis et al (2007) find regarding the the neural system of episodic memory and what are the implications of this? (LO4)Patients with hippocampal amnesia were markedly impaired relative to matched control subjects at imagining new experiences.
The patients' imagined experiences lacked spatial coherence, consisting instead of fragmented images in the absence of a holistic representation of the environmental setting.
The hippocampus, therefore, may make a critical contribution to the creation and imagination of new experiences by providing the spatial context into which the disparate elements of an experience can be bound. - 28What did Addis et al (2007) find regarding the neural system of episodic memory and how does this support Hassabis et al (2007) ? (LO4)Consistent with Hassabis et al (2007) finding that patients with hippocampal amnesia struggle to imagine future events, Addis et al (2007) found significant neural overlap in brain regions (e.g the hippocampus) involved when recalling past events and brain regions active when imagining a future event.
- 29What are the possible implications of of brain regions involved in episodic memory being also implicated in imagining future and fictitious events? (LO4)This could help to explain the fallibility of episodic memory as if these regions are also involved in imagination it could account for why our memories can be subject to post hoc reconstructions.
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- Distorted Worlds FlashCards sobre Distorted Worlds: Memory , criado por Nichola Livermore em 04-04-2017.
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- Nichola Livermore
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