5.5 Forgetting & Memory Distortion

• What is retroactive interference?


  when it becomes harder to recall old information because of learning new information.
• What is proactive interference?


  when it becomes harder to recall new information because of old information in the past. The old information affects the ability to learn new information.
• What is amnesia?


  the inability to remember past memories/events
• What are the two types of amnesia?

  retrograde and anterograde
• What is retrograde amnesia?


  occurs when someone is unable to recall their most recent memories/their general past.
• When does retrograde amnesia typically occur?

  Usually, this sort of amnesia occurs after an emotional or physically traumatic event because there are some details from the event that the victim might not want to remember.
• What is anterograde amnesia?


  when an individual is unable to form new memories. Past memories (long term) can still be recalled, but we have no awareness of it.
• What is source amnesia?


  the inability to remember how you learned previously acquired information.

  
  

  For example, some people won't remember if they heard a joke they made repeated back to them.
• What is source amnesia also called?

  misattribution error
• What is deja vu?


  a false sense when you feel that you experienced a situation before.
• What is the misinformation effect?

  when misleading information has corrupted one's memory of an event
• What is motivated forgetting?


  belief by Freud that we may purposely repress memories and forget them.

  
  

  -could be either conscious or unconscious in order to shy away from unacceptable behaviors or painful memories.
• What is repression?


  unconsciously pushing negative thoughts away

  
  

  one of the defense mechanisms in Freud's psychoanalytic theory.
• What are defense mechanisms?


  protect our self-concepts and attempt to minimize the anxiety we feel about a subject.