“Real World” Cognition Does memory remember? Seven sins of memory

Seven sins of memory: summary

Propositional Knowledge Proposition: smallest unit of verifiable knowledge, can be falsified We think what is in our heads are sentences, but sentences are built from propositions

Representing propositions in the head: semantic network A bit of knowledge: you know that John believes that Anna passed the exam. Network can also carry relevant info about time (when did John believe this) and place (where did John learn about this)

Remembering propositions (not sentences) Sachs (1967): There is an interesting story about the tele­scope. In Holland, a man named Lippershey was an eye-glass maker. One day his children were playing with some lenses. They discovered that things seemed very close if two lenses were held about a foot apart. Ltppersheybegan experimenting and his "spyglass" attracted much attention. He sent a letter about it to Galileo, the great Italian scientist. Galileo at once realized the importance of the discovery and set about to build an instru­ment of his own. He used-an old organ pipe with one lens curved out and the other in…. Base-He sent a letter about it to Galileo, the great Italian scientist. Semantic-Galileo, the great Italian scientist. Sent him a letter about it. Passive-A letter about it was sent to Galileo, the great Italian scientist. Formal-He sent Galileo, the great Italian scientist a letter about it. As intervening material increased, subjects less and less able to distinguish identical (base) sentence from changes that preserve meaning (propositional relations). But meaningful change recognized.

Fan effect As associative links increase, rt increase. Greater interference among competing associations

Levels of representation Situation model: narrative events of story Textbase: propositional content of sentences, deep structure Surface form: exact words, order of word, punctuation, surface structure Red=situation model Blue=textbase Yellow: surface form Graph shows correct retention over time

Source monitoring: Where did that memory come from? Found to be associated: elaboration – when one has added original ideas to an existing information and working memory distraction or load – when one is unable to devote needed cognitive resources to the information source.

False memories Experimentally inducing false memory: Subject learns list of word (bed, rest, awake, pillow…) At recall subject reports “sleep” as list word Effect greater effect with recognition tests

Misinformation effect and false memory Misinformation: inaccurate information provided after critical event that changes memory for the event Ex: Loftus famous “car accident” study

Implanting false memories Researcher’s supplied with childhood stories by parents False story reinforced by doctored photo. When later asked about stories, subject claims to remember false story

Autobiographical memory Bahrick et al (1975) studied memory for high school classmates. Recognition far better than recall. Need for cues increases with time, but memory impressive compared to most laboratory studies. Why? Effects of overlearning (same names practiced for years and years) and distributed practice (practice spread out over years).

Infantile Amnesia: inability to remember early months/year Deficit is more explicit than implicit: learning and habituation effects present from birth Not amnesia in the sense of memory loss, but inability to form enduring memories because of immaturity of brain/cognitive system, lack of “sense of self”

Memory over lifespan Reminiscence bump: superior memory for early adulthood. May be due to early adult “firsts,” (moving from home, first job, getting married, etc.) Mid life amnesia: “routine” of life can make for poorer memory