Psychology: Seven Sins of Memory

Seven Sins of Memory

• Transience, blocking, absentmindedness, and persistence are sins related to forgetting and remembering.
• Misattribution, bias, and suggestibility are sins that represent distortions of memory.

Definitions of Memory Failures

• Transience: Memory decay over time; forgetting the plot of a movie is an example.
• Blocking: Inability to retrieve information temporarily; an example is forgetting someone's name.
• Absentmindedness: Shallow encoding due to lack of attention; forgetting keys or appointments are common examples.

Amnesia Types

• Retrograde Amnesia: Loss of past memories and events.
• Anterograde Amnesia: Inability to store new memories.

Persistence in Memory

• Persistence involves unwanted memories resurfacing; a prominent example is PTSD.
• Emotional events are linked to amygdala activity, affecting memory persistence.

Memory Interference Concepts

• Proactive Interference: Old information hinders the recall of new information.
• Retroactive Interference: New information interferes with the recall of old information.

Reducing Persistence

• Propranolol, an HDAC inhibitor, and extinction during reconsolidation can help reduce persistence of traumatic memories.

Memory Distortions

• Misattribution: Incorrectly assigning a memory to the wrong source.
• Bias: Current knowledge influences the memory of past events, leading to alterations.
• Suggestibility: Memories can be influenced by misleading information.

Eyewitness Testimony

• Errors can stem from confirmation bias, police interview techniques, and difficulties in distinguishing between accurate and inaccurate witnesses.

Memory Formation and False Memories

• Imagining events can lead to confusion between imagined and real memories.
• Children are particularly susceptible to false memories, especially for unusual events.
• Repressed memories are controversial; some believe they resurface in therapy while others argue they may be fabricated.

Additional Memory Concepts

• Source Amnesia: Remembering an event but forgetting its source.
• Cryptomnesia: Recalling an old idea but believing it's new.
• Flashbulb Memories: Vivid memories tied to surprising or important events.

Contemporary Understanding of Memory

• The accuracy of recovered memories during therapy is debated, with concerns that false memories can be implanted by therapists.
• Factors contributing to eyewitness inaccuracies include confirmation bias and flawed investigative techniques.

Memory Distortion Examples

• False Fame Effect: Believing a familiar name indicates fame due to prior exposure.
• False memories can sometimes be hard to implant for highly unusual events.