Download Memory

Preview p.20
• Could you be an impartial jury member in a trial
of a parent accused of sexual abuse based on a
recovered memory?
• Or of a therapist being sued for creating a false
memory of abuse?
Memory
pp. 380 -393
Objective 22: What is Freud’s concept of repression? Is
repression reflected in current memory research?
• To remember our past is to revise it
• Repression: in psychoanalytic theory, the basic
defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness
anxiety-arousing thoughts, feeling, and emotions.
• We repress painful memories
• “memories for painful experiences are sometimes
pushed into the unconscious”
• Memory researchers disagree with Freud
• Suppression: when we consciously forget information
Objective 23: How do misinformation and
imagination distort our memory of an event?
• (Loftus & Palmer, 1974)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP8kJ5A5x
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Objective 23: How do misinformation and
imagination distort our memory of an event?
• Misinformation effect: incorporating
misleading information into one’s memory of
an event.
• As memory fades with time following an
event, the injection of misinformation
becomes easier.
• Fill in gaps with guesses and assumptions
Objective 23: How do misinformation and
imagination distort our memory of an event?
• Imagining nonexistent actions can create false
memories
• The more vividly people can imagine things,
the more likely they are to inflate their
imaginations into memories (Loftus, 2001)
Objective 24: How does source amnesia
contribute to false memories?
• Source amnesia: attributing an event to the
wrong source (source misattribution)
• We remember the experience, story, tweet, day
dream, but do not remember where it came
from
Objective 25: What are some differences and
similarities between true and false memories?
• True Memories
• Greater detail
• Self-assured
• “Maturation makes
liars of us all”
• Ask less suggestive,
more effective
questions
• “Visualize the scene”
activates retrieval
• *cognitive interview
• False Memories
• Restricted to
meanings and feelings
• Memory construction
• Self-assured
Objective 26: Are young children’s reports of
abuse reliable?
• Yes
• Neutral wording leads
to accurate recall
• Neutral interviewer
• No
• Leading questions
plant false memories
• Suggestible
Objective 27: Can memories of childhood
sexual abuse be repressed or recovered?
• Are clinicians who have guided people in
“recovering” memories of childhood abuse
triggering false memories that damage
innocent adults, or are they uncovering the
truth?
• Hypnosis or drugs are unreliable retrieval cues
• Memories before the age of 3 are unreliable
Objective 27: Can memories of childhood
sexual abuse be repressed or recovered?
• Loftus et al. (1996)
• Implanted false memories in children such as
being lost for an extended time, almost
drowning, and vicious animal attack
• For the most part, highly emotional memories
are very likely to be remembered rather than
repressed
Lost in a Shopping Mall
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQr_IJvYzb
A
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hER5mdIoN0
Objective 28: How can memory contribute
to effective study techniques?
• Study repeatedly to boost long-term recall
• Spend time rehearsing or actively thinking about material
• Make the material personally meaningful
• Mnemonic devices-peg words
• Activate retrieval cues
• Recall events before misinformation
• Minimize interference
• Test your knowledge
Process p.20
1. Formulate one hypothesis that might explain
how a real, traumatic, and previously
forgotten event could suddenly be
remembered.
2. Formulate one hypothesis to explain how
people could remember something that
never really happened.
3. Describe one strategy that might help
distinguish between real and false memories.
Addendums to Chapter 9
• Objective 4: 2 types of rehearsal
• Maintenance rehearsal: recitation of information
over and over
• Elaborative rehearsal: application of personal
meaning and understanding to ensure that
information is encoded into LTM
• Objective 13: 2 types of explicit memory
• Episodic memory: personal memories
• Semantic information: general knowledge about
your environment
• Objective 13: 2 types of amnesia
• Retrograde amnesia: inability to remember
events from the past, specifically episodic
memories
• Anterograde amnesia: inability to form new
memories