7 everyday memory

• Types of learning


  1. Intentional learning

  2. Incidental learning
• Intentional learning


  • Deliberate
  • e.g. mid term test – told about it, know what is covered, deliberately studying material, hoping that it comes out
  • DV – accuracy
• Incidental learning


  • Not deliberate (but affects performance)
  • e.g. Korean vocab from watching Kdramas
  • e.g. surprise quiz - not expecting to be tested - reflects how much we learn while not explicitly trying to remember
  • DV – goals & interests atp
• Autobiographical memory


  1. Memories specifically related to our own personal life events across lifespan

  2. Reflects life history (start to end of life)

  3. Defines identity and sense of self

  4. Form of declarative memory i.e. have conscious access
• Flashbulb memories (Brown & Kulik, 1977)
• Recovered memories
• Flashbulb memories are so shocking and unusual events that freeze memory in mind, leading to very accurate, long-lasting memories
• Flashbulb memories retain better and are more long-lasting if there is a strong emotional response elicited, contributing to resilience and accuracy of memory
• Mixed evidence for flashbulb memories
• 9/11 study (Talarico & Rubin, 2001) assessed student memories of the 9/11 terrorist attack at different times
• Results of the 9/11 study showed higher vividness ratings for flashbulb memories compared to control, everyday memories, with about the same vividness with increasing time
• Results of the 9/11 study also showed consistency in the degree to which the original account of memory matches the later account
• 9/11


  12 sept 2001
• Results show higher vividness ratings for Flashbulb Memories (FBM) compared to control, everyday memories, with about the same vividness with increasing time
• Results show lower consistency ratings for Flashbulb Memories, with less consistency with increasing time
• Recovering threatening/traumatic autobiographical memories that have been repressed
• Repressing memories


  Pushing threatening memories into the unconscious as part of a defense mechanism
• Recovering memories


  Bringing repressed memory to consciousness
• No compelling evidence that repressed memories can be recovered (to be covered in lab 3)
• Lifespan memories


  • Childhood amnesia
  • Reminiscence bumps
• Improving autobiographical memory


  Self memory system model (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce)
• Childhood amnesia: almost total lack of memories from 0-3 years old, with earliest memories mostly from 4 years old onwards
• Reminiscence bump: disproportionately many memories between 10-30 years old, with the bulk of memories well remembered between 15-25 years old
• Life script theory: cultural expectations about major life events that people assume they will have in life, guiding and organizing retrieval of autobiographical memories
• Self memory system = Autobiographical knowledge base, organized hierarchically
• Current goals of working self influence retrieval and storage of memories in this system
• Types of everyday memory: Eyewitness testimony, Misinformation effect, Eyewitness identification
• Question of accuracy, how reliable are eyewitness testimonies, potentially important implications, repercussions (life and death)
• Eyewitness testimony as a leading cause of wrongful convictions, subsequently overturned by DNA testing
• What leads to accurate/inaccurate eyewitness identification, what undermines accuracy of eyewitness testimony
• Potentially important implications, repercussions (life and death)
• Eyewitness testimony as a leading cause of wrongful convictions
• Factors leading to accurate/inaccurate eyewitness identification
• Factors that undermine the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
• Post-event misinformation effect


  Ppl witness event → exposed to new, misleading info → recollections distorted
• Stop/yield study (Loftus et al.)

  Participants viewed a stimulated accident at an intersection with a stop or yield sign
• Changing verb study (Loftus & Palmer, 1974)

  Participants saw film of a car accident, described what happened & asked questions after
• Misleading post-event information severely distorts what people remember
• Fallibility of eyewitness identification
• Target face study (Burton et al., 1999)

  Results – Target face presented = 65% select // target face not presented = 35% still select (motivated to see someone)