- Recall / Recognition - - Forgetting

 Identify several memory retrieval processes.  Explain the processes involved in forgetting.

 The brain has a tremendous capacity for storing and retrieving information  But…stored info is useless unless it can be retrieved  Problem: memory stores thousands of items in such a way that you can find it when you need it  Has to be organized in a way that it’s easily retrieved  Memory is efficient so even though Psychologists don’t know how it is organized, they study of the processes of retrieval for clues.

 Memory retrieval in which a person identifies an object, idea, or situation as one he or she has or has not experienced.  We can retrieve info pretty easily.  Like a name or answer to a question  Has to be recognized in the memory though  Ex: We can recognize the sound of a musical instrument no matter what tune is being played  Ex: Multiple Choice tests

 Memory retrieval in which a person reconstructs previously learned material  More difficult than recognition  Involves more searching and finding in the memory  Involves knowledge, attitude, expectations, and attention  Remembering is an active process guided by cues we receive from the environment  Ex: Essay questions

 Conceptual framework a person uses to make sense of the world  Sets of expectations about something that is based on past experiences or knowledge.  Schemas affect that way that people “remember” things or information  Adults have more defined schemas so their “remembering” may be altered where as children have more eidetic memory  Photographic memory that can recall very specific details.  Adults rarely have photographic memory b/c their memory is based largely on their schemas

 A person recollections of his or her own life experiences  Researchers have discovered that adults tend to remember more from the second and third decades of their lives  Probably b/c many novel experiences happen in this time  Complex and seem to contain unending strings of stories and snapshots  Usually organized in three levels 1. Life time periods: something generic about high school 2. General events: trip you took after graduation 3. Event-Specific knowledge: event that happened on that trip  Usually include reality and myth  Less about the facts and more about the meaning of the “stories”

 Remembering life experiences usually involves some level of emotion  The role of emotion in memory plays a considerable interest to research and the public  FLASHBULB MEMORIES: emotionally charged, significant events that people often recall with more accuracy and more vivid imagery than everyday events  Ex: September 11, 2001  People are usually pretty confident about the memories  Usually more accurate than everyday memories

 Memory is not a perfect reflection of reality  Distortions of memory is particularly important when a person is called on to report what they saw or heard in relation to a crime  Eyewitness testimony may contain errors  Not often dramatic or traumatic for the person witnessing the crime  Not an emotional memory  Sensory memory is used in most cases (last for seconds)

 Memory is imperfect  Not unusual for 2 people to remember different things about one event  Forgetting: failure to recall information  Why do we forget?  Encoding failure: occurs when the info never reaches long term memory  Retrieval failure: include problems with storage, effects of time, brain’s condition

 Theory: people forget, not because memories are lost from storage but because other information gets in the way of what they want to remember  Proactive: when old interferes with new information  “forward in time”  Retroactive: when new interferes with old info  “backward in time”  Retrieval can get overloaded and people tend to forget

ows/dna/ pQ

 1) Describe the circumstances that lead to the wrongful conviction of Ronald Cotton.  2) 177 out of 230 wrongful convictions were because of eye-witness testimony. What are some factors that contribute to the unreliability of eyewitness testimony.  3) What are some things that policing agencies have done to combat the difficulty identifying suspects?