Forgetting and Memory Construction By: Ms. Kong

Penny Pinchers SCORE YOUR PENNY DRAWINGS: One point for whether each of the nine features is present One point for whether each is located on the correct side One point for each feature that was drawn in the correct position on the circular area Draw two large empty circles, at least four inches in diameter on a blank sheet of paper. Draw from memory both sides of a U.S. penny Include all the pictorial and alphanumeric detail you can.

Which is the real penny? Answer A

NINE FEATURES Top Side: Head (Lincoln’s profile, right side) In God We Trust Liberty Year Bottom Side: Lincoln Memorial United States of America E Pluribus Unum One Cent

Encoding Failure Ineffective attention given to material Cannot remember what we do not encode because the info never enters long-term memory Much of what we sense we never notice and fail to encode, meaning that we can not remember that information

Storage Decay Poor durability of stored memories leads to their decay Memory is lost with passage of time Ebbinghaus showed this with his forgetting curve Forgetting occurs rapidly and then levels off with time Permastore Memory: Long term memory that are resistant to forgetting and are likely to last a lifetime

Retrieval Failure Although the information is retained in the memory store it cannot be accessed Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) is a retrieval failure phenomenon.

Proactive Interference When an older memory disrupts the recall of a newer memory Ex: Locker Combinations, Old phone numbers

The Stroop Effect

Retroactive Interference When a more recent memory disrupts the recall of an older memory Example: Knowing the Super bowl champs this year, but forgetting who won last year

Forgetting Mnemonic Device: P O R N Proactive Interference: old information blocks out new information. Retroactive Interference: new information blocks out old information. Calling your new girlfriend by old girlfriend’s name. Getting a new bus number and forgetting old bus number.

Motivated Forgetting Motivated Forgetting: People unknowingly revise their memories. Repression: Defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness. There is more and more research that shows that repression rarely if ever occurs.

Have any of you ever gone to Disney Land/World? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RLvSGYxDIs

Memory Construction Misinformation Effect = incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event causing them to remember. Shows how eyewitnesses similarly reconstruct their memories when later questioned. How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other? How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?

Memory Construction A week later they were asked: Was there any broken glass? Group B (smashed into) reported more broken glass than Group A (hit).

What happened earlier today? Write down the following answer to the questions: Who came into the room? What was this person wearing? What did they do? Did they say anything?

Children’s Eyewitness Recall Children are even more susceptible to the misinformation effect than adults. They truly believe their stories even after they are told they are false memories. Professional psychologist trained in interviewing children could not even tell if the children were talking about a real memory or a false one.

Improving your memory Study repeatedly to boost long-term recall. Spend more time rehearsing or actively thinking about the material. Make material personally meaningful. Use mnemonic devices: associate with peg words — something already stored make up a story chunk — acronyms

Improving your memory Activate retrieval cues — mentally recreate the situation and mood. Recall events while they are fresh — before you encounter misinformation. Minimize interference: Test your own knowledge. Rehearse and then determine what you do not yet know.