Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Improving Memory Module 22

Slides:



Advertisements
Similar presentations
Chapter 9 Memory pt. 3: Motivated Forgetting and Memory Reconstruction.
Advertisements

Are You A Good Eyewitness? Are You A Good Eyewitness?
EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY EIGHTH EDITION IN MODULES David Myers PowerPoint Slides Aneeq Ahmad Henderson State University Worth Publishers, © 2011.
1 Forgetting, Memory Construction and Applying Memory Principles to Your Own Education Module 28.
A.P. PSYCHOLOGY MODULES Memory How Does Your Memory Work?
Memory AP Psychology.  Persistence of learning over time via the storage and retrieval of information  Can you remember your first memory? Why do you.
1 Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Improving Memory Module 22.
Memory AP Psychology. Memory  Can you remember your first memory? Why do you think you can remember certain events in your life over others?
Forgetting. Encoding Failure We fail to encode the information. It never has a chance to enter our LTM.
Forgetting.
Module 27 Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Improving Memory.
Chapter 9 Memory.  Memory  persistence of learning over time via the storage and retrieval of information  Flashbulb Memory  a clear memory of an.
Thinking About Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behavior 2e Charles T. Blair-Broeker Randal M. Ernst.
PSYCHOLOGY, Ninth Edition in Modules David G. Myers PowerPoint Slides Aneeq Ahmad Henderson State University Worth Publishers, © 2010.
Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Improving Memory Module 22.
Encoding Storage Retrieval ForgettingMisc.
Retrieval Cues  After learning to move a mobile by kicking, infants had their learning reactivated most strongly when retested in the same rather than.
MEMORY AND THINKING. I.MEMORY AND HOW IT WORKS A. Memory: Learning that has persisted over time B. To remember an event, we must successfully 1.Encode.
I CAN Describe and Distinguish the seven sins Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007.
Retrieval: Getting Information Out Retrieval refers to getting information out of the memory store. Spanky’s Yearbook Archive.
Myers EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY (6th Edition in Modules) Module 22 Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Improving Memory James A. McCubbin, PhD Clemson University.
Forgetting and Memory Construction. Information Processing Model Encoding – process of getting information into the memory system Storage - retention.
Myers 5e Chapter 9 Memory The Phenomenon of Memory Forming Memories: An Example Memory as Information Processing Summing Up.
Forgetting Chapter 8, Lecture 5 “A good memory is helpful, but so is the ability to forget. If a memory-enhancing pill becomes available, it had better.
Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Improving Memory Module 22
Retrieving & Forgetting Memories. Memory Construction Leveling: Simplifying material, shortening Sharpening: Highlighting or overemphasizing some details.
Memory. Atkinson and Shiffrin, (1968) classic model of memory.
Chapter 9 Memory.  Memory  persistence of learning over time via the storage and retrieval of information  Flashbulb Memory  a clear memory of an.
Memory & Learning AP Psychology. Memory  Can you remember your first memory? Why do you think you can remember certain events in your life over others?
Are You A Good Eyewitness? Are You A Good Eyewitness?
Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Improving Memory
Thinking About Psychology The Science of Mind and Behavior 3e Charles T. Blair-Broeker & Randal M. Ernst PowerPoint Presentation Slides by Kent Korek Germantown.
Thinking About Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behavior Charles T. Blair-Broeker Randal M. Ernst.
PSY.MemoryRetrieval. The Willpower Instinct Independently read pg. 41 – 45 Explain one theory of memory retrieval. Before answering – do 15 jumping jacks.
Step Up To: Psychology by John J. Schulte, Psy.D. From Myers, Psychology 8e Worth Publishers.
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.
Retrieval and Forgetting AP Psychology. Forgetting An inability to retrieve information due to poor encoding, storage, or retrieval. Biological Reasons.
Forgetting Encoding Failure Forgetting Storage Decay –Ebbinghaus curve.
Forgetting and Memory Construction. Forgetting Inability to retrieve information, due to poor encoding, storage or retrieval. WHY DO I HAVE THIS STRING.
Chapter 9 Memory pt. 3: Motivated Forgetting and Memory Reconstruction.
Memory Construction Chapter 8, Lecture 6 “Like scientists who infer a dinosaur’s appearance from its remains, we infer our past from stored information.
Encoding Failure Illustrate the effort needed to store some things in our memory despite extensive exposure to the stimuli.
Forgetting, Memory Construction and Memory Improvement.
Cognition Domain kali9/istockphoto. Memory Rodrigo Blanco/istockphoto.
Memory/Cognition Memory Encoding - Getting information in
Thinking About Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behavior Charles T. Blair-Broeker Randal M. Ernst.
Chapter 7. § Forgetting as encoding failure § Information never enters the long- term memory External events Sensory memory Short- term memory Long- term.
Memory depends on encoding, storing, and retrieving information
Module 19 Forgetting and Memory Construction
Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Improving Memory Module 33
Forgetting.
Retrieval and Forgetting
Chapter 10 Memory.
Processes in Memory Three step process…
Forgetting.
Chapter 9 Memory pt. 3: Motivated Forgetting and Memory Reconstruction
Memory and Intelligence
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.
Monday, November 6 Assessments: Upcoming Dates: Today’s topic:
Forgetting Forgetting can occur at any memory stage
Unit 4: Memory
Memory notes 9-8 (obj 23-27).
Unit 4: Memory
Ex: Locker Combinations, Old phone numbers
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Forgetting, Memory Construction and Memory Improvement
Forgetting and Memory Construction
Forgetting & Memory Construction
33.1 – Explain why we forget. Herman Ebbinghaus was one of the first researchers to investigate the elements of forgetting. He discovered the Ebbinghaus.
Unit 4: Memory
Presentation transcript:

Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Improving Memory Module 22 Online link http://mcs.monet.k12.ca.us/schools/TeacherWebsite/7-12/Garber.B/AP%20Psychology/Mod%2022%20Forgetting%20and%20Memory/MyersExpPsych7e_IM_Module%2022%20garber%20edits.ppt http://mcsold1.monet.k12.ca.us/schools/TeacherWebsite/7-12/Garber.B/AP%20Psychology/Mod%2022%20Forgetting%20and%20Memory/MyersExpPsych7e_IM_Module%2022%20garber%20edits.ppt The seven sins of memory Convention award-winner Daniel Schacter explained the ways that memory tricks us. By BRIDGET MURRAY Monitor Staff October 2003, Vol 34, No. 9 Print version: page 28 Despite memory's obvious benefits, it can also let us down, said Daniel Schacter, PhD, longtime memory researcher and chair of Harvard University's psychology department, at an APA 2003 Annual Convention session honoring the publication of his book, "The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers" (Houghton Mifflin, 2001). "Memory, for all that it does for us every day...for all the feats that can sometimes amaze us, can also be a troublemaker," said Schacter of his book, which describes the seven major categories of memory foibles being investigated by psychologists. However, noted Schacter, the same brain mechanisms account for memory's sins as well as its strengths, so investigating its negatives exposes its positives. "We shouldn't think of these fundamentally as flaws in the architecture of memory," he explained, "but rather as costs we pay for benefits in memory that make it work as well as it does most of the time." At the session, during which Schacter received the APA Div. 1 (Society for General Psychology) William James Book Award, he defined his book's seven sins. The first three are "sins of omission" that involve forgetting, and the second four are "sins of commission" that involve distorted or unwanted recollections. Transience--the decreasing accessibility of memory over time. While a degree of this is normal with aging, decay of or damage to the hippocampus and temporal lobe can cause extreme forms of it. Schacter cited as a somewhat facetious example former President Bill Clinton's "convenient lapses of memory" during the Monica Lewinsky investigation. Clinton claimed in the hearings that he sometimes couldn't remember what had happened the previous week. Absent-mindedness--lapses of attention and forgetting to do things. This sin operates both when a memory is formed (the encoding stage) and when a memory is accessed (the retrieval stage). Examples, said Schacter, are forgetting where you put your keys or glasses. He noted a particularly famous instance in which cellist Yo-Yo Ma forgot to retrieve his $2.5 million cello from the trunk of a New York City cab. Module 22 11 07 14

QR code for 21 22 SG http://tinyurl.com/mod2122sg http://mcs.monet.k12.ca.us/schools/TeacherWebsite/7-12/Garber.B/AP%20Psychology/Mod%2022%20Forgetting%20and%20Memory/AP%20module%2021%2022%20Exam%20studyguide%2011%2012.doc Module 22 11 07 14

From http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct03/sins.aspx Blocking--temporary inaccessibility of stored information, such as tip-of-the-tongue syndrome. Schacter recounted the embarrassment of John Prescott, British deputy prime minister, when a reporter asked him how the government was paying for the expensive Millennium Dome. Prescott struggled to find the word "lottery," trying "raffles" instead. Suggestibility--incorporation of misinformation into memory due to leading questions, deception and other causes. Psychologists Elizabeth Loftus, PhD, and Stephen Ceci, PhD, are among those well-known in this research (see sidebar). Bias--retrospective distortions produced by current knowledge and beliefs. Psychologist Michael Ross, PhD, and others have shown that present knowledge, beliefs and feelings skew our memory for past events, said Schacter. For example, research indicates that people currently displeased with a romantic relationship tend to have a disproportionately negative take on past states of the relationship. Persistence--unwanted recollections that people can't forget, such as the unrelenting, intrusive memories of post-traumatic stress disorder. An example, said Schacter, is the case of Donnie Moore of the California Angels, who threw the pitch that lost his team the 1986 American League Championship against the Boston Red Sox. Moore fixated on the bad play, said Schacter, "became a tragic prisoner of memory," and eventually committed suicide. Misattribution--attribution of memories to incorrect sources or believing that you have seen or heard something you haven't. Prominent researchers in this area include Henry L. Roediger III, PhD, and Kathleen McDermott, PhD. An illustration of it, said Schacter, is the rental shop mechanic who thought that an accomplice, known as "John Doe No. 2," had worked with Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing; he thought he'd seen the two of them together in his shop. In fact, the mechanic had encountered John Doe No. 2 alone on a different day. Schacter has focused on this last area in his own research. He's been probing the neuropsychology of why people "misremember" having seen words. His work with amnesiacs and normal participants indicates that people's normal tendency to remember "the gist of a list" of semantically similar words--a tendency missing in amnesiacs--is also what causes them to misremember words not on the list. In his latest line of research, Schacter is using imaging to detect the brain mechanisms at work in false and correct recognition of words and shapes--work, he said, which "highlights that by using cognitive neuroscience, we can start to home in on some of the brain mechanisms involved in each of the sins." He added, "Ultimately we think this research will help us to establish a unified view of these seven sins of memory." From http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct03/sins.aspx Module 22 11 07 14

Memory Overview Forgetting Encoding Failure Storage Decay Retrieval Failure An argument ensued. The first student pulled a gun. The other student rushed him. Then von Liszt joined the fray. Amid the chaos, the gun went off. The entire room erupted into bedlam. Finally von Liszt shouted for order, saying it was all a ruse. The two enraged students weren't really students at all but actors following a script. The altercation had been part of a grand experiment. The purpose of the exercise? To test everyone's powers of observation and memory. Nothing like a fake shootout in psych class to liven things up. After the event, von Liszt divided the audience into groups. One group was asked to immediately write an account of what they had seen, another was cross-examined in person, and others were asked to write reports a little later. In order to quantify the accuracy of the reports, von Liszt divided the performance into fourteen bite-sized components, some referring to people's actions, others to what they said. He counted as errors omissions, alterations, and additions. The students' error rates varied from 26 to 80 percent. Actions that never occurred were attributed to the actors. Other From Subliminal: How your unconscious mind rules your behavior. Module 22 11 07 14

We cannot remember what we do not encode. Forgetting An inability to retrieve information due to poor encoding, storage, or retrieval. Encoding Failure Preview Question 10: Why do we forget? At what points in the memory system can our memory fail us? Bennett 1983, cocktail waitresses, small fold up Barbie and ken bar, recorded drink orders 90% correct for cocktail waitresses 77% correct for students Waitresses reported memory better on busy nights when they are in the flow We cannot remember what we do not encode. Module 22 11 07 14

A http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/common_cents/index.html Module 22 11 07 14

Storage Decay Poor durability of stored memories leads to their decay. Ebbinghaus showed this with his forgetting curve. 1885 Ebbinghaus Module 22 11 07 14

Retaining Spanish Bahrick (1984) showed a similar pattern of forgetting and retaining over 50 years. May be gradual fading of a memory trace Maybe we only retain 30% of what we learn Module 22 11 07 14

Retrieval Failure Although the information is retained in the memory store, it cannot be accessed. Just because you can’t remember does not mean that the information is not there Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) is a retrieval failure phenomenon. Given a cue (What makes blood cells red?) the subject says the word begins with an H (hemoglobin). Module 22 11 07 14

Forgetting as Interference Learning some items may disrupt retrieval of other information Proactive (forward acting) Interference disruptive effect of prior learning on recall of new information Retroactive (backwards acting) Interference disruptive effect of new learning on recall of old information What's interfering? Past information?  Match the P's (Proactive interference) Recent information?  Match the R's (Retroactive interference) Passwords, locker combinations, phone numbers for example 22 86. When Shelly first had cable television service installed, Public broadcasting (PBS) was on channel 9. Her cable company then switched PBS to channel 16. Shelly now has trouble remembering that PBS is on channel 16 and not on channel 9. This memory problem represents (AP04) (A) Memory decay (B) Retrograde amnesia (C) Reconstructive errors (D) Retroactive interference (E) Proactive interference Module 22 11 07 14

Retroactive Interference Sleep prevents retroactive interference. Therefore, it leads to better recall. We do not remember taped info played during sleep (Wood 1992) The more interesting a TV show the more forgettable the ads will be Module 22 11 07 14

Forgetting can occur at any memory stage. Why do we forget? We filter, alter, or lose much information during these stages. Of Mice and Memory at Nova http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/mice-memory.html Erasing memory video not yet available 2/11 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/profile-andre-fenton.html Forgetting can occur at any memory stage. Link of Mice and memory nova 12:16 Module 22 11 07 14

Motivated Forgetting Motivated Forgetting: People unknowingly revise their memories. Repression: A defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness. We self censor info that is embarrassing Repress to minimize anxiety 9/10 of university students believe repression is possible While researching for her doctorate in Berlin, Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik was told by her professor, Kurt Lewin, that he had noticed waiters could recall details of orders that were still not paid for better than details of orders they had completed. This led Zeigarnik to wonder whether unfinished tasks have a different status in memory, and are remembered better, than finished ones. She devised an experiment in which participants were given simple puzzles or tasks to do. They were interrupted during about half these tasks. Later, when asked how well they could remember the activities, it became clear that they were twice as likely to recall details of the interrupted tasks, whether these were ultimately completed or not. Zeigarnik reasoned that this could be due to the task lacking closure, leading to the memory being stored differently, and more effectively. This phenomenon, which became known as the "Zeiganrnik effect," had important implications…from all about psych-I think Culver Pictures Sigmund Freud Module 22 11 07 14

Motivated Forgetting So, if you are ever depressed over earning a bad grade, cheer up. Chances are, if you just wait long enough, it'll improve. …their accuracy of recall declined steadily from 89 percent for A’s to 64 percent for B's, 51 percent for C's, and 29 percent for D's. …freshmen and sophomores to think back a few years and recall the grades they had received for high school classes in math, science, history, foreign language study, and English. The students had no incentive to lie because they were told that their recollections would be checked against their high school registrars' records, and indeed all signed forms giving their permission. Altogether, the researchers checked on the students' memories of 3,220 grades. A funny thing happened. You'd think that the handful of years that had passed would have had a big effect on the students' grade recall, but they didn't. The intervening years didn't seem to affect the students' memories very much at all-they remembered their grades from their freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years all with the same accuracy, about 70 percent. And yet there were memory holes. What made the students forget? It was not the haze of years but the haze of poor performance: their accuracy of recall declined steadily from 89 percent for A’s to 64 percent for B's, 51 percent for C's, and 29 percent for D's. So if you are ever depressed over being given a bad evaluation, cheer up. Chances are, if you just wait long enough, it'll improve. From Subliminal: How your unconscious mind rules your behavior. Module 22 11 07 14

Memory Construction While tapping our memories, we filter or fill in missing pieces of information to make our recall more coherent. Preview Question 11: How accurate are our memories? There is evidence that we add to our memories The more you recall something the more you can add to your memory. Loftus chronicled a lady who had been induced to remember being in a satanic cult, eating babies, being raped, having sex with animals & being forced to watch the murder of her 8 yo. Friend. Eyewitness testimony 1996 cited in Sleights of Mind People remember shaking hands with buggs bunny at Disneyland. Sleights of mind. Confabulation: sometimes a feature that was confabulated during one episode of remembering gets remembered the next time. It becomes indistinguishable from the original. Sleights of mind. Misinformation Effect: Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event. Module 22 11 07 14

Impact of Leading Questions on Eyewitness Testimony Group A: How fast were the cars going when they hit each other? Group B: How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other? TED Scot Fraser on eyewitness testimony 20:51 http://www.ted.com/talks/scott_fraser_the_problem_with_eyewitness_testimony.html Scott Fraser studies how humans remember crimes -- and bear witness to them. In this powerful talk, which focuses on a deadly shooting at sunset, he suggests that even close-up eyewitnesses to a crime can create "memories" they could not have seen. Why? Because the brain abhors a vacuum. Scott Fraser is a forensic psychologist who thinks deeply about the fallibility of human memory and encourages a more scientific approach to trial evidence. Link Scott Fraser 20:51 Module 22 11 07 14

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). This effect has caused people to recall a yield sign as a stop sign, hammers as screwdrivers, coke cans as peanut cans, vogue magazine as mademoiselle, breakfast cereal as eggs, a clean shaven man as a man with whiskers As memories fade misinformation becomes easier to inject (Loftus 1992) Ever with someone and have them tell the story of an event different from the way you remember it? Lost in mall scenarios from podcast Imagining events can create memories (Roediger 1993) Girl who lost championships, I told her in 20 years she will tell her kids she won and made the winning shot. People who believe in aliens and feel they have been abducted are more susceptible to false memories (Clancy 2002) Séance, leader says table moved (it did not) 1/3 say later that they saw it move Module 22 11 07 14

Vividness makes information more available in memory. On his way out the door, Sanders staggered against a serving table, knocking a bowl to the floor.   On his way out the door, Sanders staggered against a serving table, knocking a bowl of guacamole dip to the floor and splattering guacamole on the white shag carpet. Gordon Bower, a cognitive psychologist at Stanford, was interested in how memory plays a role in important decisions about people. He invited groups of individuals to be members of a jury in a mock trial.14 The defendant, Mr. Sanders, had run a stop sign while driving, with the consequence of colliding with a garbage truck. Although the defendant s blood alcohol level was not tested at the time of the accident, he was being tried on the basis of evidence that he might have been drunk while driving. Testimony was presented, with each of two groups of subjects receiving one of the following two descriptions of Mr. Sanders's behavior at a party just prior to the accident:   On his way out the door, Sanders staggered against a serving table, knocking a bowl to the floor. On his way out the door, Sanders staggered against a serving table, knocking a bowl of guacamole dip to the floor and splattering guacamole on the white shag carpet. Should there have been any difference in these two snippets of testimony on judgments of Mr. Sanders's guilt or innocence? Nor at all. The information about the color of the food and its appearance on the white tin; were logically irrelevant to his possible drunkenness, but those who heard the testimony with the additional detail about the guacamole were more likely to believe that Sanders was guilty, The culprit here is the vividness with which some events stick in memory. Vividness makes some information more readily available in memory (remember the availability bias?), and what Bowers experiment shows is that availability through vividness plays a role in skewing a jury's verdict, presumably with no awareness on the part of jurors that this is happening. Its sinking that these examples are not about rare or bizarre events that afflict a small group of unusually fragile people. Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin R. Banaji & Anthony G. Greenwald Module 22 11 07 14

Source Amnesia Source Amnesia: Attributing an event to the wrong source that we experienced, heard, read, or imagined (misattribution). Talk to your masters adviser, they shoot down your idea only to later say they had a great new idea….also called source misattribution. 1975 An even more dramatic case of source amnesia (also called memory misattribution) is that of the woman who accused memory expert Dr. Donald Thompson of having raped her. Thompson was doing a live interview for a television program just before the rape occurred. The woman had seen the program and "apparently confused her memory of him from the television screen with her memory of the rapist" (Schacter 1996, 114). http://www.skepdic.com/memory.html Tom Kessinger, a mechanic at Elliott's Body Shop in Junction City, Kansas, gave a detailed description of two men he said had rented a Ryder truck like the one used in the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. One looked just like Timothy McVeigh. The other wore a baseball cap and a T-shirt, and had a tattoo above the elbow on his left arm. That was Todd Bunting, who had rented a truck the day before McVeigh. Kessinger mixed the two memories but was absolutely certain the two came in together. The first of these is source amnesia, a phenomenon of considerable interest to cognitive psychologists and cognitive neuroscientists, but which was initially discovered, and named, in the context of hypnosis (Evans, 1979; Evans & Thorne, 1966). Under the guise of a test of general information, Evans and Thorn taught subjects obscure facts like the difference between the antennae of a moth and those of a butterfly (those of moths have long, furry hairs), or the color an amethyst turns when exposed to heat (yellow). Then they gave their subjects a standard suggestion for posthypnotic amnesia. When the subjects came out of hypnosis, they had little memory for the things they had done while hypnotized, including the general-information test. But when asked about moths, butterflies, and amethysts, a substantial portion of these otherwise amnesic subjects nonetheless answered correctly. Further, when asked where they had acquired the information, they either said that they did not know, or they confabulated the source. Evans� observation was somewhat controversial within some hypnosis circles (N. P. Spanos, Gwynn, Della Malva, & Bertrand, 1988; Wagstaff, 1981), but later � much later � similar observations were made on neurological patients with amnesia (Schacter, Harbluk, & McClachlan, 1984; Shimamura & Squire, 1987), and in normal aging memory (Craik, Morris, Morris, & Loewen, 1990; E. L. Glisky, Rubin, & Davidson, 2001). http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~kihlstrm/APAHypnosis07.htm Module 22 11 07 14

From Searching for Memory Daniel Schacter 1996 If you retain the juicy tidbit but forget how you learned about it, you are liable to inadvertently spill your friend's secret. My colleagues and I made up various juicy tidbits of gossip and told old and young people that some tidbits were secrets that should not be disclosed, whereas others were common knowledge. Older adults had more difficulty than younger adults remembering which tidbits were secrets and which were not. This finding does not necessarily mean that you should never trust your grandmother with a secret, but you should probably handle such matters with care.17 Because forgetting the source of a memory opens the door to illusory recollections, older adults are especially vulnerable to certain types of memory distortions. Recall the false fame illusion I considered earlier in the book. When people are exposed in the laboratory to a made up, non-famous name such as Sebastian Weisdorf, and later fail consciously to recollect having been exposed to this name, they sometimes believe that Sebastian Weisdorf is the name of a famous person. Module 22 11 07 14

Children’s Eyewitness Recall Children’s eyewitness recall can be unreliable if leading questions are posed. However, if cognitive interviews are neutrally worded, the accuracy of their recall increases. In cases of sexual abuse, this usually suggests a lower percentage of abuse. Asked leading questions 58% of preschoolers remembered untrue things. Module 22 11 07 14

Memory Construction Memories of Abuse False Memory Syndrome Repressed or Constructed? Child sexual abuse does occur Some adults do actually forget such episodes False Memory Syndrome condition in which a person’s identity and relationships center around a false but strongly believed memory of traumatic experience sometimes induced by well-meaning therapists Memories do not appear to be forcibly repressed Your memory is a sketch of a sketch of a sketch. Every time a memory is recalled more errors can be introduced. Sleights of mind. Your memory of something is only as good a s your last memory about it. Nader 2003 in Sleights of Mind People recall seeing footage of the first plane into the first tower on 9/11 but that footage did not air until the next day. Nader 2003, 73% of college students misremembered the event. Sleights of Mind False memories and misinformation are so easy to plant that they have been induced in three-month-old infants, gorillas, and even pigeons and rats. As humans, we are so prone to false memories that you can sometimes induce one simply by casually telling a person about an incident that didn't really happen. Over time, that person may "remember" the incident but forget the source of that memory. As a result, he or she will confuse the imagined event with his or her actual past. When psychologists employ this procedure, they are typically successful with between 15 and 50 percent of their subjects. From Subliminal: How your unconscious mind rules your behavior. Module 22 11 07 14

Constructed Memories Loftus’ research shows that if false memories (lost at the mall or drowned in a lake) are implanted in individuals, they construct (fabricate) their memories. Consensus on Childhood Abuse Leading psychological associations of the world agree on the following concerning childhood sexual abuse: Injustice happens. Incest and other sexual abuse happen. People may forget. Recovered memories are commonplace. Recovered memories under hypnosis or drugs are unreliable. Memories of things happening before 3 years of age are unreliable. Memories, whether real or false, are emotionally upsetting. Shown pics of faces, asked which is more attractive, show person wrong face and they will make up why they thought it was more attractive. From Searching for Memory Daniel Schacter 1996 Studies of World War II concentration camp survivors and prisoners of war likewise show impaired explicit memory for recent experiences.50 This collection of findings raises the possibility that prolonged stress, resulting in excess exposure to glucocorticoids, could damage the hippocampus and thereby contribute to memory-related abnormalities. The same line of reasoning may apply to people who have suffered extensive childhood abuse. Frank Putnam and his colleagues have reported that sexually abused girls and adolescents have difficulty regulating Cortisol levels. A recent study used magnetic resonance imaging to examine the brains of women who had suffered severe sexual and physical abuse when they were young. The volume of the left hippocampus in the abused women was significantly reduced compared to a control group. Abused women with large reductions in hippocampal volume tended to have more severe psychiatric problems than abused women with lesser reductions in hippocampal volume. But none of these abused women showed any memory problems on a standard laboratory test of explicit memory for recently studied words, and all of them had always remembered their abuse. Yet a separate sample of women who reported an abuse history and showed normal explicit memory for recently studied materials nonetheless had problems, compared to a control group, coming up with autobiographical episodes from childhood and adolescence in response to cue words (much like our patient IC). Don Shrubshell Module 22 11 07 14

From Searching for Memory Daniel Schacter 1996 We need instead to distinguish among several intertwined questions, each of which should be considered carefully on its own. One question is whether sexual abuse can be forgotten. If sonic episodes of abuse can be forgotten I believe that they can it is also important to ask whether a special mechanism of repression must be invoked to explain the forgetting that does occur. Here much depends on exactly what is meant by the term repression. A related but distinct question concerns whether forgotten episodes of abuse are ever recovered; I believe that they are. This still leaves a separate question of whether people ever develop false recollections of traumatic events that never occurred; I believe that they do. If recovered memories of actual abuse and false memories of implanted abuse both exist, it becomes crucial to consider whether there are reliable ways to distinguish between them. To address this question, we must revisit the hidden world of implicit memory, which has come to play a peculiar role in the memory wars that have damaged so many people in our society. Module 22 11 07 14

When he spotted it, he wasn't aware of its importance, and by the time the issue came up, he was focused on the strewn papers and other disorder on the second floor, apparently causing him to recall having seen the candle wax there. Munsterberg published his ideas about memory in a book that became a best seller, On the Witness Stand: Essays on Psychology and Crime}1 In it, he elaborated on a number of key concepts that many researchers now believe correspond to the way memory really does work: first, people have a good memory for the general gist of events but a bad one for the details; second, when pressed for the unremembered details, even well-intentioned people making a sincere effort to be accurate will inadvertently fill in the gaps by making things up; and third, people will believe the memories they make up. Hugo Munsterberg died on December 17, 1917, at age fifty-three, after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage and collapsing while delivering a lecture to a class at Radcliffe.12 His ideas on memory, and his pioneering work in applying psychology to law. From Subliminal: How your unconscious mind rules your behavior. Module 22 11 07 14

RE space shuttle …years later, he asked the forty-four students who were still on campus to again recall that experience. Not one of the accounts was entirely correct and about one-quarter of them were entirely wrong. The act of hearing the news became less random and more like the dramatic stories or clichés you might expect someone to tell, just as Bartlett might have predicted. For example one subject, who'd heard the news while chatting with friends at reported how "some girl came running down the hall screaming the space shuttle just blew up" Another, who'd heard it from various classmates in her religion class, later remembered, "I was sitting in dorm room with my roommate and we were watching TV It a news flash and we were both totally shocked." Even more striking than the distortions were the students' reactions to their original accounts. Many insisted that their later memories were more accurate. They were reluctant to accept their earlier description of the scene, even though it was in their own handwriting. Said one, "Yes, that's my handwriting-but I still remember it the other way!" Unless all these examples and studies are just strange statistical flukes, they ought to give us pause regarding our own memories, especially when they conflict with someone else's. Are we "often wrong but never in doubt"? We might all benefit from being less certain, even when a memory seems clear and vivid. From Subliminal: How your unconscious mind rules your behavior. Module 22 11 07 14

How to Improve 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 Preview Question 12: How might we apply memory principles to everyday situations, such as remembering a person’s name or even the material of this chapter? Module 22 11 07 14

Improving 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. Module 22 11 07 14

EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY (7th Edition in Modules) David Myers PowerPoint Slides Aneeq Ahmad Henderson State University Worth Publishers, © 2008 Module 22 11 07 14

Loftus on Memory Loftus at Fora TV Loftus at FORA TV http://fora.tv/2009/07/14/Elizabeth_Loftus_Whats_the_Matter_with_Memory 58th most important psychologist of all time and highest ranking woman Module 22 11 07 14

Teaching Introductory Psychology: Creating linkages through creative connections Chris Hakala Western New England College The Annual Meeting of the Utah Teachers of Psychology in the Secondary Schools November 5, 2010 Module 22 11 07 14 31

Concept: Encoding specificity Activity 2 Concept: Encoding specificity Module 22 11 07 14 32

Method for Activity 2 Have students listen to the statements Have students recall the target word(s) at the end of each phrase. Then present first word of each phrase, in a different order, and have students recall word Helps students understand encoding specificity concepts Module 22 11 07 14 33

Activity 2 A brick can be used as a doorstop. A ladder can be used as a bookshelf. A wine bottle can be used as a candleholder. A pan can be used as a drum. A record can be used to serve potato chips. A guitar can be used as a canoe paddle. A leaf can be used as a bookmark. An orange can be used to play catch. A newspaper can be used to swat flies. A TV antenna can be used as a clothes rack. A sheet can be used as a sail. A boat can be used as a shelter. A bathtub can be used as a punch bowl. A flashlight can be used to hold water. A rock can be used as a paperweight. A knife can be used to stir paint. A pen can be used as an arrow. A barrel can be used as a chair. A rug can be used as a bedspread. A telephone can be used as an alarm clock. A scissors can be used to cut grass. A board can be used as a ruler. A balloon can be used as a pillow. A shoe can be used to pound nails. A dime can be used as a screwdriver. A lampshade can be used as a hat. Module 22 11 07 14 34

Activity 2 balloon lampshade boat barrel TV antenna guitar rug pen newspaper knife sheet ladder bathtub flashlight rock shoe orange pan leaf telephone scissors board wine bottle dime record Module 22 11 07 14 35