Psychology Chapter 8: Everyday Memory

Everyday Memory (Chapter 8)

• Autobiographical memory is a memory system for personal events influenced by beliefs, values, and emotions
• Encoding is taking in new info and storing it
• Storage is keeping info in memory over time
• Retrieval is bringing info back from memory
• Autobiographical memory helps us understand ourselves, make decisions, connect with others, and create a sense of self
• Transition points are periods of significant change marking different phases of development (childhood to adolescence, adolescence to adulthood, early adulthood to midlife)
• The reminiscence bump is better recall of adolescence and young adulthood (ages 15-25) compared to other life periods

Self-image Theory

• We remember events better from periods when we are forming our sense of self
• Events shape beliefs, values, and aspirations

Cognitive Theory

• The brain is better at storing and retrieving memories during adolescence and young adulthood due to full memory processing capacity

Cultural Life Script Theory

• Memories are influenced by expected life events and milestones of a culture

Role of Emotion in Memory

• Emotions affect how information is encoded, stored, and retrieved
• Emotional events are more memorable than neutral ones due to hormone release (adrenaline and cortisol)
• Emotional state during encoding affects memory recall
• Mood congruent memory - we tend to recall info that aligns with our current mood

Flashbulb Memories

• Vivid, detailed memories of significant events
• They feel like a snapshot in time, but are not always accurate

Constructive Nature of Memory

• Memories are not passive recordings of events, but are actively constructed and reconstructed each time they are recalled
• Filling gaps
• Integrating info
• Influenced by emotions
• Affected by schemas (mental frameworks)

Source Monitoring

• Process of determining the origin of memories (from real events, dreams, or imagined)

Cryptomnesia

• Unconscious plagiarism of someone else's work

Schemas and Scripts

• Schemas are general knowledge structures representing understanding of concepts, events, and situations
• Scripts are sequences of events within a particular situation

Prototype Approach

• Prototypes (best examples) of categories help us classify new items based on similarity

Exemplar Approach

• Comparing new items to existing examples (exemplars) for categorization

Semantic Networks

• Representing knowledge as a web of interconnected concepts (nodes) and relationships (arcs)

Cognitive Economy

• Brain's efficiency in using categories and schemas to process information quickly

Lexical Decision Task

• Psychological test to study how people process language by determining if a string of letters is a word or not

Spreading Activation

• When one concept is thought of, it activates related concepts in the mind, leading to a chain reaction of activation

Classical vs. Behaviorist vs. Cognitive Views of Language

• Classical view: Memorizing grammar rules and word meanings
• Behaviorist view: Learning through reinforcement and imitation
• Cognitive view: Complex mental representations + interaction with cognitive processes

Generative Aspect of Language

• The ability to create a limitless number of sentences using finite rules and words

Dynamic Aspect of Language Production & Processing

• Language processing occurs on multiple levels (phoneme → discourse)

Phoneme

• The smallest unit of sound that distinguishes one word from another

Morpheme

• The smallest meaningful unit in a language; free or bound

Discourse

• The process of using language in particular contexts (e.g., conversations, speeches, etc.)
• Considering relationships, setting, and overall purpose of communication

Categorical Perception vs. Continuous Perception

• Categorical perception: perceiving sounds in distinct categories
• Continuous perception: perceiving all variations
• Speech perception is unique because it uses categorical perception

Coarticulation

• Sounds in speech are not produced in isolation; influenced by preceding and following sounds

Dialects and Phonemes

• Dialects are variations and phonemes are the basic sounds

McGurk Effect

• Visual information influences perception of speech sounds
• Ex: Audio "ba" but visual "ga", perception blends to "da"

Phonemic Restoration Effect

• Brain fills in missing sounds based on surrounding context

Hierarchical Models

• Organizing language elements into a hierarchy (phoneme → discourse)

Syntax and Grammar

• Syntax: rules for combining words into phrases and sentences
• Grammar: broader construct that encompasses rules for construction and understanding language
• Word-chain grammar: simplistic view of language - each word determined by the preceding word

Surface vs. Deep Structure

• Surface: actual arrangement of words
• Deep: underlying meaning of a sentence

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

• Innate capacity to learn and understand language quickly

Specialized Language Production

• The different ways language is used in specific situations (e.g., specialized language, scientific presentation)

Critical Periods

• Specific time windows for learning certain skills (e.g., language skills)

Cooing, Babbling, One-Word Utterances, Two-Word Utterances (speech production stages)

Phoneme Specialization at Babbling Stage

• Babies start reflecting the specific sounds of their native language in babbling

Over-generalization

• Incorrectly applying grammatical rules in language

Perception Before Production

• Understanding language precedes producing language

Wug test

• Investigate children's understanding of grammatical rules

Bilingualism (single vs dual system hypothesis)

• Single system: Integrated language system
• Dual system: Separate language systems for each language

Pidgins and Creoles

• Pidgins: Simplified languages from multiple languages
• Creoles: Pidgin becomes native language - develops own grammar and vocabulary

Neuropsychology (Verbal vs Non-Verbal IQ)

• Verbal IQ: Language skills
• Nonverbal IQ: Other cognitive skills

Brain Lesions (left hemisphere)

• Damage to the left hemisphere can cause language impairments like aphasia

William's Syndrome

• Rare genetic disorder affecting many parts of the body (including the brain) associated with language, spatial reasoning challenges

Explore the intricacies of autobiographical memory as detailed in Chapter 8 of your psychology course. Understand how encoding, storage, and retrieval processes influence personal memory, especially during significant life transitions and the development of self-image. This chapter delves into how memories shape our beliefs and values, particularly in adolescence and young adulthood.