1. Memory Construction

2.  We often construct our memories as we encode them & we may also alter our memories as we withdraw them from our memory bank.  We infer our past from stored information plus what we later imagined, expected, saw, & heard.  We don’t just retrieve memories, we reweave them!

3. Frederick Bartlett’s constructive memory process: 1. Leveling: Material in the story gets simplified, b/c the teller makes judgments about which details are important. 2. Sharpening: The teller also makes judgments about what information is important & highlights or overemphasizes details. 3. Assimilation: The teller also changes details for a better fit with his or her own background knowledge

4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAdZH7jvdqY

5. Misinformation & Imagination Effects *The work of Elizabeth Loftus: In more than 200 experiments w/ over 20,000 people, Loftus has shown how eyewitnesses similarly reconstruct their memories when later questioned. *One classic experiment: (Loftus & Palmer,1974) showed a film of a traffic accident & then quizzed people about what they’d seen. Those asked: “How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?” gave higher speed estimates than those asked, “How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?” 1 week later…asked both groups if recalled any broken glass? IF they heard “smashed” they more than twice as likely to report seeing glass (no glass in film!)

8. Eyewitness Recall http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=rSzPn9rsPcY http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=rSzPn9rsPcY http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=rSzPn9rsPcY

9.  So unwitting is the misinformation effect that we may later find it nearly impossible to discriminate b/twn our memories of real & suggested events  One experiment showed people digitally altered photos of themselves taking a hot air balloon ride. After seeing the pic only 3 x over 2 wks = the participants “remembered” the nonexistent experience. (Wade et al., 2002)  Even repeatedly imagining nonexistent events can create false memories. One study showed students who imagined breaking a toothpick were more likely to report later having actually believed they had in fact broken a toothpick…imagination inflation occurs partly b/c visualizing something & actually perceiving it activate similar brain areas. (Goff & Roediger, 1998; Seamon et al., 2006)

10. Source Amnesia: (source misattribution)  We retain the memory of the event, but not of the context in which we acquired it. -recognizing someone but having no idea where we have seen the person -dreaming of an event & later being unsure of whether it really happened -hearing something & later recalling having seen it  Along with the misinformation effect, source amnesia is at the core of many false memories.  False memories feel like true memories & are equally durable.

11. False Memory & Eye Witness Testimony… http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=bfhIuaD183I

12. Children’s Eyewitness Recall   Studies of children’s memories have opened eyes regarding children’s suggestibility…   They asked 3 y.o. to show on anatomically correct dolls where pediatricians had touched them. 55% who hadn’t received genital exams pointed to either genital/anal areas.   When using suggestive interviewing techniques, they found most preschoolers & older kids too could be induced to report false events, such as seeing a thief steal their food in their day- care center (Bruck & Ceci, 1999, 2004).   Another experiment: preschoolers overheard an erroneous remark that a magician’s missing rabbit had gotten loose in their classroom. Later, when the kids were suggestively questioned, 78% recalled actually seeing the rabbit (Prinicpe et al., 2006).

13. Does this mean that children can never be accurate eyewitnesses?   No. If questioned about their experiences in neutral words they understand, kids often accurately recall what happened & who did it (Goodman, 2006; Howe, 1997; Pipe, 1996)   Especially accurate when they haven’t talked with involved adults prior to the interview & when their disclosure is made in a 1 st interview w/ a neutral person who asks nonleading questions.

14. Repressed or Constructed Memories of Abuse What is the controversy related to claims of repressed and recovered memories?   In one U.S. survey, the avg. therapist estimated that 11% of the population (34 million ppl) have repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse (Kamena, 1998).   Many therapists use controversial techniques to try to “recover the repressed memories of abuse”; “memory work” techniques such as “guided imagery,” hypnosis & dream analysis…   Critics claim the use of these techniques create “mental chaos and are a blight on the entire field of psychotherapy” (Loftus et al., 1995).

15.   Those committed to protecting abused children & those to protecting wrongly accused adults agree on the following: *Sexual abuse happens - & it happens more than we once supposed. It is a traumatic betrayal that leaves victims w/ many pieces to pick up. *Injustice happens – innocents have been falsely convicted & guilty have evaded responsibility by casting doubt on their truth- telling accusers *Forgetting happens – many who were abused were either very young or may not have understood the meaning of their experience…both circumstances where forgetting are common *Recovered memories are commonplace – when cued, we recover memories of long-forgotten events. What’s debated is whether the unconscious mind sometimes forcibly represses painful experiences & if so, whether these can be retrieved by certain therapist-aided techniques.

16. *Memories of things happening before age 3 are unreliable ppl don’t reliably recall happenings of any sort from their 1 st 3 years. The older a kid’s age when suffering sexual abuse & the more severe, the more likely it is to be remembered. *Memories “recovered” under hypnosis or the influence of drugs are especially unreliable *Memories, real or false, can be emotionally upsetting

17. Improving Memory How can an understanding of memory contribute to more effective study techniques?   Study repeatedly   Make the material meaningful   Activate retrieval cues   Use mnemonic devices   Minimize interference   Sleep more   Test your own knowledge, both to rehearse & help determine what you do not yet know.