Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Cognition Long-Term Memory Chapter 5

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Introduction long-term memory—large capacity; memory for experiences and information accumulated over a lifetime episodic memory—your memories for events that happened to you semantic memory—organized knowledge about the world procedural memory—knowledge about how to do something

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Introduction encoding—initial acquisition of information retrieval—locating information in storage and accessing that information autobiographical memory—memory for events and topics related to your own everyday life

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding in Long-Term Memory Levels of Processing Craik and Lockhart (1972) levels-of-processing/depth-of-processing approach—argues that deep, meaningful kinds of information processing lead to more permanent retention than shallow, sensory kinds of processing

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding in Long-Term Memory Levels of Processing Levels of Processing and Memory for General Material Craik and Tulving (1975)—meaning vs. physical appearance Distinctiveness Elaboration deep processing also enhances memory for faces

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding in Long-Term Memory Levels of Processing Levels of Processing and the Self-Reference Effect self-reference effect 1.Representative research Rogers and coauthors (1977)—visual, acoustic, semantic, self-reference positive vs. negative instances across age groups, instructions, stimuli meta-analysis technique

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding in Long-Term Memory Levels of Processing Levels of Processing and the Self-Reference Effect 2.Participants' failure to follow instructions Foley and coauthors (1999) compare different types of mental image instructions vs. what students actually used

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Participants Failure to Follow Instructions

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding in Long-Term Memory Levels of Processing Levels of Processing and the Self-Reference Effect 3.Factors responsible for the self-reference effect the self produces a rich set of cues self-reference instructions encourage people to consider how their personal traits are related to one another you rehearse material more frequently if it is associated with yourself

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding in Long-Term Memory The Effects of Context: Encoding Specificity encoding specificity principle—recall is better if the retrieval context is similar to the encoding context

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding in Long-Term Memory The Effects of Context: Encoding Specificity Research on Encoding Specificity Marian and Fausey (2006)—read stories in English and Spanish; questions about the stories in matched or mismatched languages gender of voice of reader and questioner present context vs. other contexts real life vs. laboratory

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding Specificity

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding in Long-Term Memory The Effects of Context: Encoding Specificity Research on Encoding Specificity 1.Different kinds of memory tasks recall vs. recognition encoding specificity effect is most likely to occur in memory tasks that assess your recall use real-life incidents examine events that happened long ago

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding in Long-Term Memory The Effects of Context: Encoding Specificity Research on Encoding Specificity 2.Physical versus mental context feel may be more important than look

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding in Long-Term Memory The Effects of Context: Encoding Specificity Levels of Processing and Encoding Specificity similarity between encoding and retrieval conditions encoding specificity can override levels of processing To determine how to store some information, you'll need to figure out the characteristics of the retrieval task

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding in Long-Term Memory Emotions, Mood, and Memory emotion mood

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding in Long-Term Memory Emotions, Mood, and Memory Memory for Items Differing in Emotion Pollyanna Principle 1. More accurate recall for pleasant items Matlin & Stang (1978); Balch (2006) learn lists of words—pleasant, neutral, unpleasant recall after delay pleasant items recalled significantly more accurately than unpleasant items; neutral items recalled least accurately memory for events memory for near-accidents

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding in Long-Term Memory Emotions, Mood, and Memory Memory for Items Differing in Emotion 2. More accurate recall for neutral stimuli associated with pleasant stimuli Bushman (1998)—media violence and commercials

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding in Long-Term Memory Emotions, Mood, and Memory Memory for Items Differing in Emotion 3. Over time, unpleasant memories fade faster Walker and coauthors (1997) personal events recorded and rated for pleasantness and intensity positivity effect—people tend to rate past events more positively with the passage of time age depression

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding in Long-Term Memory Emotions, Mood, and Memory Mood Congruence mood congruence—you recall material more accurately if it is congruent with your current mood Murray and colleagues (1999)—tendency towards depression and recall of positive/negative trait words

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Mood Congruence

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding in Long-Term Memory Individual Differences: Social Goals and Memory social goals approach social goals avoidance social goals

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Encoding in Long-Term Memory Individual Differences: Social Goals and Memory Strachman and Gable (2006) story about interpersonal relationships, recall of positive/neutral/negative statements from the story overall number of items recalled social goal type was related to whether statements were recalled as more positive or more negative than they actually were

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Retrieval in Long-Term Memory Explicit Versus Implicit Memory Tasks Definitions and Examples Explicit Memory Tasks recall recognition

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Retrieval in Long-Term Memory Explicit Versus Implicit Memory Tasks Definitions and Examples Implicit Memory Tasks—task does not directly ask for either recall or recognition; shows the effects of previous experience when we are not making a conscious effort to remember word completion repetition priming—recent exposure to a word increases the likelihood that you'll think of this particular word, when you are given a cue that could evoke many different words

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Retrieval in Long-Term Memory Explicit Versus Implicit Memory Tasks Research with Normal Adults material not remembered on explicit memory task may be remembered when tested on an implicit memory task anesthesia studies dissociation levels of processing and explicit/implicit memory tasks proactive interference

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Retrieval in Long-Term Memory Individuals with Amnesia amnesia retrograde amnesia—loss of memory for events that occurred prior to brain damage anterograde amnesia—loss of memory for events that have occurred after brain damage

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Retrieval in Long-Term Memory Individuals with Amnesia hippocampus—H.M. Warrington and Weiskrantz (1970) presented English words to individuals with anterograde amnesia and controls tested with explicit and implicit memory tasks dissociation

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Retrieval in Long-Term Memory Expertise expertise—consistently exceptional performance in a particular area practice more important than inborn skill

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Retrieval in Long-Term Memory Expertise The Context-Specific Nature of Expertise strong positive correlation between knowledge about an area and memory performance in that area more accurate than nonexperts in both recognition and recall immediate and delayed testing no difference in general memory skills or intelligence

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Retrieval in Long-Term Memory Expertise How Do Experts and Novices Differ? 1. Experts possess a well-organized, carefully learned knowledge structure, which assists them during both encoding and retrieval. 2. Experts are more likely to reorganize the new material they must recall, forming meaningful chunks in which related material is grouped together. 3. Experts typically have more vivid visual images for the items they must recall.

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Retrieval in Long-Term Memory Expertise How Do Experts and Novices Differ? (continued) 4. Experts work hard to emphasize the distinctiveness of each stimulus during encoding. 5. Experts rehearse in a different fashion. 6. Experts are better at reconstructing missing portions of information from material that they partially remember. 7. Experts are more skilled at predicting the difficulty of a task and at monitoring their progress on this task.

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Retrieval in Long-Term Memory Expertise Own-Race Bias own-race bias—people are generally more accurate in identifying members of their own ethnic group than members of another ethnic group expertise distinctiveness

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Retrieval in Long-Term Memory Expertise Own-Race Bias Walker and Hewstone (2006) discrimination task—photos differing along a continuum of race; 2 photos judged same or different British high school students, White and South Asian accuracy of responses contact hypothesis age group expertise

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Own-Race Bias Figure 5.2 Percentage of Accurate Responses in a Discrimination Task, as a Function of the Ethnic Group of the Student and the Ethnic Group of the Faces.

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory autobiographical memory—memory for events and issues related to yourself; verbal narrative, imagery, emotional reactions, procedural information; measured in terms of accuracy ecological validity

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory Characteristics of our memory for life events 1. Although we sometimes make errors, our memory is often accurate for a variety of information (Theme 2). 2. When people do make mistakes, they generally concern peripheral details and specific information about commonplace events, rather than central information about important events. 3. Our memories often blend together information; we actively construct a memory at the time of retrieval.

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory Schemas and Autobiographical Memory schema—your general knowledge or expectation distilled from past experiences with an event or a person consistency bias—we tend to exaggerate the consistency between our past feelings and beliefs and our current viewpoint Honig (1997)—Chicana garment workers strike

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory Source Monitoring source monitoring—the process of trying to identify the origin of memories and beliefs Marsh and colleagues (1997)—recognition for own ideas and someone else's ideas; recognition vs. generation test "wishful thinking bias" source monitoring at a societal level

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory In Depth: Flashbulb Memories flashbulb memory—memory for the circumstances in which you first learned about a very surprising and emotionally arousing event

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory In Depth: Flashbulb Memories The Classic Study Brown and Kulik (1977)—memories triggered by important political events; details of location and people later studies suggested that people made numerous errors in recalling details of national events, even though they claimed that their memories for these events were very vivid

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory In Depth: Flashbulb Memories Memories about September 11, 2001 Talarica and Rubin (2003) memories of ordinary event vs. "flashbulb memory" delay before recall consistent and inconsistent details confidence

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Flashbulb Memories Figure 5.3 Average Number of Consistent and Inconsistent Details Reported for a Flashbulb Event (9/11/2001) and an Ordinary Event, as a Function of the Passage of Time

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory In Depth: Flashbulb Memories Memories about September 11, 2001 Pezdek (2003)—proximity to New York City; factual details vs. autobiographical rehearsal frequency, distinctiveness, elaboration accuracy over time

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory Eyewitness Testimony questioning the validity of eyewitness testimony DNA vs. eyewitness testimony

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory Eyewitness Testimony The Post-Event Misinformation Effect post-event misinformation effect—people view an event, are given misleading information about the event, mistakenly recall the misleading information rather than the event itself retroactive interference

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory Eyewitness Testimony The Post-Event Misinformation Effect Loftus and coauthors (1978)—stop/yield sign experiment; consistent vs. inconsistent information faulty source monitoring constructivist approach to memory consistency bias

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Post-Event Misinformation Effect

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory Eyewitness Testimony Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony People may create memories that are consistent with their schemas People may make errors in source monitoring Post-event misinformation may distort people's recall plus

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory Eyewitness Testimony Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony (continued) Errors are more likely when there is a long delay between the original event and the time of the testimony. Errors are more likely if the misinformation is plausible Errors are more likely if there is social pressure Errors are more likely if eyewitnesses have been given positive feedback.

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory Eyewitness Testimony The Relationship Between Memory Confidence and Memory Accuracy in many situations, participants are almost as confident about their misinformation-based memories as they are about their genuinely correct memories confidence not strongly correlated with accuracy

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory Eyewitness Testimony The Recovered Memory/False Memory Controversy 1.The two contrasting positions in the controversy recovered-memory perspective false-memory perspective

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory Eyewitness Testimony The Recovered Memory/False Memory Controversy 2.The potential for memory errors autobiographical memory is less than perfect source monitoring and difficulty recalling whether or not we actually did something therapist suggestions often can't determine accuracy

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory Eyewitness Testimony The Recovered Memory/False Memory Controversy 3.Laboratory evidence of false memory Roediger and McDermott (1995)—misremembering words on lists; false-recall, intrusion errors role of associations constructing false memories for childhood events

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory Eyewitness Testimony The Recovered Memory/False Memory Controversy 4.Arguments for recovered memory lab studies lack ecological validity can't create false memories for very embarrassing events ER/legal system studies Freyd and DePrince—betrayal trauma

Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 5 Autobiographical Memory Eyewitness Testimony The Recovered Memory/False Memory Controversy 5.Both perspectives are partially correct some people have truly experienced childhood sexual abuse and may forget about the abuse for many decades until a critical event triggers recall; other people may never have experienced childhood sexual abuse, but a suggestion about abuse creates a false memory of experiences that never really occurred; in other cases, memory for abuse is accurate for years afterwards