1. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
I CAN
Describe and Distinguish the seven sins
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

2. Why Does Memory Sometimes Fail Us?
Most of our memory problems arise from memory’s “Seven Sins” – which are really by-products of otherwise adaptive features of human memory
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

3. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Memory’s “Seven Sins”
Transience
Absent-Mindedness
Blocking
Misattribution
Suggestibility
Bias
Persistence
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

4. Transience/Decay Theory
Long term memories gradually weaken over time
Biologically, we lose dendrites when LTM is unrehearsed
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

5. Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve
Percent retained 60 50 40 30 20 10
Days 5 10 15 20 25 30
Recall decreases rapidly, then reaches a plateau, after which little more is forgotten
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

6. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Absent-Mindedness
Forgetting caused by lapses in attention
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

7. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Blocking
Forgetting that occurs when an item in memory cannot be accessed or retrieved
Caused by interference
Proactive interference
Retroactive interference
Serial position effect
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

8. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Blocking (P.O.R.N.)
Proactive Interference:
Earlier learning interferes with memory for later information
Old memories move ‘forward’ in time to block your attempt at new learning
Example:
When you drive a new car, you still reach for where the radio was in your old car
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

9. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Blocking (P.O.R.N.)
Retroactive Interference:
New information interferes with memory for information learned earlier
New material reaches back into your memory to block old material
Example: After driving your Mom’s car that has no clutch, you forget to use the clutch when your drive you own car
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

10. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Blocking
Serial Position Effect:
Interference related to the sequence in which information is presented
…usually items in the middle of a sequence are remembered less than those first (primacy effect) or last (recency effect)
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

11. Serial Position Effect
1.00
.50
.00
Theoretically, the primacy effect represents recall from long-term memory and the recency effect represents recall from short-term memory.
Primacy Effect
Probability of Recall
Recency Effect
Serial Position of Item
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

12. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Next-in-line-Effect:
When you are so anxious about being next that you cannot remember what the person just before you in line says, but you can recall what other people around you say.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

13. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Misattribution
Memory fault that occurs when memories are retrieved, but they are associated with the wrong time, place, or person
The older the memory, the more likely it is to suffer misattribution.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

14. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Suggestibility
When external cues distort or create memories
Suggestibility refers to false memories that you develop because someone or something gives you some key information at the same time that you’re trying to retrieve a memory.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

15. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Imagine that you saw someone fleeing from a car as its antitheft alarm was blaring.
You didn’t get a good look at the thief, but another person on the street insisted that it was a man wearing a green plaid jacket.
Later, when the police show you photos of possible suspects, you’re confused until you see a man dressed in a green plaid coat.
Then you point to him.
Suggestibility
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

16. Misinformation Effect
Loftus and Palmer found in studies that after seeing two cars collide, responses depended heavily upon how the questions were worded….using the word ‘smash’ instead of ‘hit’
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

17. Misinformation Effects
A week later they were asked:
Was there any broken glass? Group B (smashed into) reported more broken glass than Group A (hit).
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?
Eyewitnesses reconstruct their memories when questioned about the event.
OBJECTIVE 23| Explain how misinformation and imagination can distort our memory of an event.
Depiction of the actual accident.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

18. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Fabricated Memories
Repressed or Constructed?
Some adults actually do forget childhood episodes of abuse.
False Memory Syndrome
A condition in which a person’s identity and relationships center around a false but strongly believed memory of a traumatic experience, which is sometimes induced by well-meaning therapists.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

19. Repressed Memories… The Return of Freud
The scientific concept of repression is extremely shaky. No evidence that it can happen.
In fact, the opposite seems to be true (PTSD)
It has been shown that very vivid memory can be implanted into the minds of both adults and children. The subjects can´t discriminate real vs. implanted memories.
The process of recovery (recovery therapy) is very similar to the process used for artificial implantation
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 19

20. Reconstructed Memories
Time, misattribution, suggestibility can lead to false -or- RECONSTRUCTED memories

21. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Bias
Feelings, beliefs, values, personality characteristics, etc can color a memory.
EX a particularly happy person will have happily colored memories
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

22. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Persistence
This failure of the memory system involves the unwanted recall of information that is disturbing
This “bad memory” won’t leave you alone
Associated with OCD, Depression, Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Phobias, and Suicide
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

23. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
CAN I?
Describe and Distinguish the seven sins
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

24. CAN I? Describe and Distinguish the seven sins
Transience
Absent-Mindedness
Blocking
Misattribution
Suggestibility
Bias
Persistence
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007