Module 27 Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Improving Memory

Inattentional Blindness We only notice what we attend to: Visual Cognition Lab

Forgetting  Forgetting as encoding failure  Information never enters long-term memory External events Sensory memory Short- term memory Long- term memory Attention Encoding failure leads to forgetting

Forgetting Penny Activity

Forgetting  Forgetting as encoding failure  Which penny is the real thing?

Forgetting  Ebbinghaus forgetting curve over 30 days-- initially rapid, then levels off with time Time in days since learning list Percentage of list retained when relearning

Retrieval  Forgetting can result from failure to retrieve information from long-term memory External events Attention Encoding Retrieval failure leads to forgetting Retrieval Sensory memory Short-term memory Long-term memory

Retrieval T-O-T = Capital Cities

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

In this demonstration, you’ll see three words at a time. Try to remember the three words. After you see the three words, you’ll see a 3- digit number. Count backwards, by 3’s from this number until you see the instructions to “WRITE DOWN THE WORDS” fifteen seconds later. Let’s practice counting backwards by 3’s from the number 99 before we begin.

CAT ELEPHANT COW

368

WRITE DOWN THE WORDS

ZEBRA HORSE LION

576

WRITE DOWN THE WORDS

PIG DOG TIGER

862

WRITE DOWN THE WORDS

BULL LEOPARD BIRD

549

WRITE DOWN THE WORDS

DOCTOR BARBER LAWYER

748

WRITE DOWN THE WORDS

WHAT WERE THE WORDS ON THE FIRST LIST YOU SAW?

WHAT WERE THE WORDS ON THE SECOND LIST YOU SAW?

List 1: CAT ELEPHANT COW List 2: ZEBRA HORSE LION List 3: PIG DOG TIGER List 4: BULL LEOPARD BIRD List 5: DOCTOR BARBER LAWYER

Forgetting as Interference

Forgetting  Forgetting can occur at any memory stage  As we process information, we filter, alter, or lose much of it

Forgetting- Interference  Motivated Forgetting  people unknowingly revise memories  Repression  defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

Memory Construction  We filter information and fill in missing pieces  Misinformation Effect  incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event  Source Amnesia  attributing to the wrong source an event that we experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined (misattribution)  Was it a dream or real?

Memory Construction  Eyewitnesses reconstruct memories when questioned Depiction of actual accident Leading question: “About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?” Memory construction

Book Example Memory Construction

Source Amnesia is linked with -  Memories of Abuse  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

Piaget’s Story Creating False Memories  Schemas sometimes drive memories Memory Construction

Eyewitness Identification / Recall – 60 Minutes – Picking Cotton (Part I), Bunny Effect inutes/main shtml 60 Minutes – Part II (line ups and identification) yewitnesstest.html Memory Construction

Infantile Amnesia  Most don’t remember much prior to 4 th birthday  Competing hypotheses as to why:  Decay  Freudian argument of regression  Intellectual development  Schematic framework is different  State/context dependent learning  Remember difference between semantic and episodic memory

Memory Construction  Most people can agree on the following:  Injustice happens  Incest happens  Forgetting happens  Recovered memories are commonplace  Memories recovered under hypnosis or drugs are especially unreliable  Memories of things happening before age 3 are unreliable  Memories, whether false or real, are upsetting

Improve Your Memory  Study repeatedly to boost 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 story  chunk--acronyms

Cognition Demos Improve Your Memory

 Activate retrieval cues--mentally recreate situation and mood  Recall events while they are fresh-- before you encounter misinformation  Minimize interference  Test your own knowledge  rehearse  determine what you do not yet know