Everyday Memory and Memory Errors PDF

Everyday Memory and Memory Errors Chapter 8 1 Autobiographical Memory  Autobiographical Memory Autobiographical Memories (AM): Memories we hold regarding ourselves and our relationships with the world around us Not a separate memory system D...

Everyday Memory and Memory Errors Chapter 8 1 Autobiographical Memory  Autobiographical Memory Autobiographical Memories (AM): Memories we hold regarding ourselves and our relationships with the world around us Not a separate memory system Depend upon both episodic & semantic memory systems Play an important role in our lives Are difficult to study experimentally because the lack of control over the learning situation  Autobiographical Memory (AM) Autobiographical Memories are multidimensional and have many different components, e.g., Spatial (where did an event occur) Emotional (how did I feel) Sensory (visual imagery, smells, etc.)  Brain Activity and AM Cabeza et al. (2004) used fMRI to compare brain activation caused by autobiographical memory and laboratory memory Participants viewed: Photographs they took (A-photos) Photographs taken by someone else (L-photos) Were required to indicate whether each photo was an A- photo or a never seen before L-photo Brain Activity for A- & L-photos during the memory test. Both the hippocampus (top) and areas in the parahippocampal gyrus (bottom) showed greater activation for the A-photos than the L-photos.  Brain Activity and AM A-photos elicited greater activation in brain areas associated with: Episodic memory recollection (hippocampus) Visual-spacial memory (parahippocampal regions) A-photos also activated brain areas associated with Processing info about the self (medial prefrontal cortex) AM can also strongly activate areas associated with emotions, such as, the amygdala.  Memory Over the Lifespan Not all time periods in a person's life are recalled equally well What events are remembered well? Significant events in a person’s life Highly emotional events Transition points Reminiscence Bump  Reminiscence Bump Participants over the age of 40 were asked to recall events in their lives Memory is high for recent events and for events that occurred in adolescence and early adulthood (between 10 and 30 years of age) Percentage of memories from different ages, recalled by a 55-year-old, showing the reminiscence bump. Hypotheses about the Reminiscence Bump  Hypotheses about the Reminiscence Bump Self-image hypothesis: Memory is enhanced for events that occur as a person’s self-image or life identity is being formed People assume identities during adolescence and young adulthood Many transitions occur between ages 10 and 30 Many “I am..” statements become relevant at this time e.g., “I am a parent”  Hypotheses about the Reminiscence Bump Cognitive hypothesis: Periods of rapid change that are followed by stability cause stronger encoding of memories Evidence from those who emigrated to the US after young adulthood indicates reminiscence bump is shifted  The reminiscence bump for people who emigrated at age 34 to 35 is shifted toward older ages, compared to the bump for people who emigrated between the ages of 20 to 24.  Hypotheses about the Reminiscence Bump According to the Cultural life-script hypothesis, each person has: A personal life story: Events that have occurred in the person's life A cultural life script: An understanding of culturally expected events and times Personal events are easier to recall when they fit the cultural life script  Hypotheses about the Reminiscence Bump Typical cultural life script events and times: First time falling in love: 16 years old Graduate from university: 22-24 years old Marriage: ~27 years old These events are highly memorable and typically fall within the reminiscence bump age range Memory and Emotions  Memory and Emotions Emotional events are remembered more easily and vividly Emotion related stimuli (e.g., words, pictures) are also more easily remembered Immediate 1 year Later Emotional Memory and the Amygdala The amygdala is an important brain structure for emotions and is also involved in processing emotional memories amygdala activity is higher when recalling emotional words relative to non-emotional words A patient, B.P., with amygdala damage does not show the enhanced memory for emotional parts of a story that typical people do Stress hormones enhance memory consolidation Stress hormone activity is also associated with increased amygdala activity Video: Remembering what matters (8.5 min.)  Flashbulb Memories Flashbulb Memories: Are memories for major events with an exceptional level of vividness and detail assassinations, natural disasters, terrorists attacks Are highly emotional Are more common when the rememberer is likely to be personally affected by the event e.g. more black than white individuals reported flashbulb memories for the Martin Luther King assassination Video: Flashbulb (4 min)  Flashbulb Memories Brown and Kulik (1977) argued that flashbulb memories arise from a mechanism that produces traces qualitatively different from typical memories Extreme emotion leads to near photographic record of the event and its physical context  Flashbulb Memories Although Brown and Kulik (1977) argued that flashbulb memories are more detailed and accurate than regular memories, their methodology could not determine this They had people recall events years later without any method of determining if the memories were accurate Confidence does not ensure accuracy  Repeated Recall The method of Repeated Recall is able to determine if memories change of time by testing participants repeated at different times after an event An initial description is obtained soon after the event to serve as a baseline Even this report is probably not 100% accurate Later reports obtained days, months or years later are compared to the baseline to determine if memory errors are being made  Flashbulb Memories Applying repeated recall to flashbulb memories has found that these memories can be inaccurate or lacking in detail Even though participants were very confident and the memories seemed very vivid Despite the name, Flashbulb memories are not like photographs Talarico and Rubin’s (2003) flashbulb memory experiment. (a) Details remembered was similar for memories of 9/11 and for memories of an everyday event. (b) Participants’ belief that their memory was accurate remained high for 9/11, but decreased for memories of the everyday event. Why Might Flashbulb Memories be Stronger? Flashbulb memories occur for emotional events Emotional events trigger the amygdala that is associated with better memory for emotional events Emotional events are usually important events It makes sense that the brain would develop mechanisms to improve memory for these events Why Might Flashbulb Memories be Stronger? Flashbulb events are important Important events are thought about and discussed They are viewed on TV, read about, etc. The Narrative Rehearsal Hypothesis states that Flashbulb memories are simply well rehearsed memories More “Remember” judgements for emotional pictures Better colour recall for neutral pictures Emotion may enhance general recall of events but not enhance details Emotional response may actually distract from processing details The Constructive Nature of Memory The Constructive Nature of Memory Like all of cognition, memories are constructed: What is encoded into memory The memories that are retrieved A person's memories are constructed from information that has been encoded plus: Knowledge (Semantic Memories) Experiences (Episodic Memories) Expectations  Bartlett’s “War of the Ghosts” Had participants attempt to remember a story from a different culture Repeated reproduction: Participants attempted to reproduce the story on a number of occasions separated by delays Over time, reproduction became shorter, contained omissions and inaccuracies Changed to make the story more consistent with their own culture  Bartlett’s “War of the Ghosts” These results provided some of the earliest insights into the constructive nature of memory It seems apparent that the participants used two sources of information in creating their reproductions Elements recalled from the actually story Elements drawn from their general knowledge about the world and fiction As memories from of story faded with time participants relied on their general knowledge  Source Monitoring Source Monitoring: Process of determining origins of our memories, knowledge or beliefs Source monitoring errors: Misidentifying source of memory Also called source misattributions  Source Monitoring Cryptomnesia: Unconscious plagiarism of another person's work Believing you have created something novel but actually creating a derivative of something you have encountered before “Becoming Famous Overnight” (Jacoby et al., 1989)  “Becoming Famous Overnight” (Jacoby et al., 1989) After 24 hours, some non-famous names were misidentified as famous Explanation: some non-famous names felt familiar, and the participants misattributed the source of the familiarity to fame Failed to identify the source of familiarity to the list that had been read the previous day  Fluency and Illusion of Truth Illusion of Truth Effect: Enhanced probability of evaluating a statement is true after repeated presentation A subset of the propaganda effect Fazio et al. (2015): Rate statements for “How interesting” they are Later, rate statements for truth (True/False judgements) Statements that were rated in the first stage were more likely to be rated as ‘True’ regardless of actual truth Previously seen statements are easier to process This fluency can be mistaken for truth  Making Inferences Memory is affected by inferences that people make based on their experiences and knowledge Memory often includes information that is implied by or is consistent with the to-be-remembered information but was not explicitly stated  Making Inferences Pragmatic inferences: Information presented leads the person to assume something not explicitly stated Assumed information is based on knowledge gained through experience  Bransford and Johnson’s (1973) Experimental Group: John was trying to fix a birdhouse. He was pounding a nail when his father came out to watch him and help him work. Control Group: John was trying to fix a birdhouse. He was looking for the nail when his father came out to watch him and help him work. Test Sentence: John was using a hammer to fix the birdhouse when his father came out to watch him and help him work. Schemas and Scripts  Schemas and Scripts Schema: knowledge about what is involved in a particular experience or environment Post office, ball game, classroom Script: conception of sequence of actions that occur during a particular experience Going to a restaurant; to the dentist Schemas and Scripts allow us to organize, interpret, encode and retrieve information  Schemas and Scripts Schemas and scripts influence memory Memory can include information not actually experienced but inferred because it is expected and consistent with the schema Office waiting room: books not present but participants often report remembering them The constructive nature of memory can lead to errors or “false memories” Memory Construction: Costs and Benefits  Construction of Memories Advantages: Allows us to “fill in the blanks” Cognition is creative Understand language Solve problems Make decisions  Construction of Memories Disadvantages: Sometimes we make errors Sometimes we misattribute the source of information Was it actually presented, or did we infer it? Video: True or False (9 min)  Power of Suggestion Misinformation effect: misleading information presented after a person witnesses an event can change how that person describes the event later Misleading postevent information (MPI): Inaccurate or suggestive information about an event that is presented at some time after the event  Loftus and Palmer (1974) Participants watched a multiple-car accident Then answered specific questions, e.g.: “How fast were the cars going when they _______ each other?” Hit Smashed into Those hearing “smashed” said the cars were going much faster than those who heard “hit”  Memory Construction A week later they were asked: Was there any broken glass? Group 2 (smashed into) were more likely to report remembering broken glass than Group 1 (hit). There was no broken glass! 50 40 32 30 lass?(%) 20 BrokenG 14 10 0 1 2 Verb 56 Hypotheses about the Misinformation Effect Source monitoring error: Both the original memories and the MPI remain intact and accessible Failure to distinguish the source of the information MPI is misattributed to the original source during the reconstruction of the event during recall  Source Monitoring Errors (Lindsey, 1990) Conditions that make source monitoring easier reduces the effects of MPI on memory performance False Memories  False Memories Not only can memories be distorted, it is possible for people to come to believe that they have experienced events that did not occur These memories can be very detailed They can contain much more information than the misleading information originally provided They are a natural consequence of a memory system that attempts to coherently interpret incomplete and noisy information False Memories (Hyman et al., 1995) Participants’ parents gave descriptions of childhood experiences Participant had conversation about experiences with experimenter; experimenter added new events When discussing it later, participant “remembered” the new events as actually happening Video: Creating False Memories (5min) Eyewitness Testimony  Errors in Eyewitness Testimony One of the most convincing types of evidence to a jury Assume that people see and remember accurately Especially true if the witness seems confident But, like other memory, eyewitness testimony can be inaccurate People often fail to perceive and encode the relevant information Constructive nature of memory can distort recall Errors in Eyewitness Testimony (Wells & Bradfield, 1998) Participants view an 8 second security videotape with gunman in view Asked to pick the gunman from a series of photos: Everyone identified someone as the gunman from photographs The actual gunman’s picture was not presented  Errors Due to Attention High levels of arousal can lead to a narrowing of attention and the failure to encode many important details Weapons Focus Effect: The tendency to focus attention on a weapon to exclusion of other details such as the perpetrators face Stanny and Johnson’s (2000) weapons-focus experiment. When a weapon was fired it lead to a decrease in memory about the perpetrator, the victim, and the weapon. Possibly because it attracted more attention.  Errors Due to Familiarity Eye witnesses will often believe that a person was involved in a crime because they generate a feeling of familiarity when they attempt to recall details of the crime e.g., mistaking an innocent bystander as the criminal This is due to source monitoring errors Errors Due to Familiarity (Ross et al.,1994) (a) Experimental Design. (b) When the actual robber was not in the photos, the male teacher was erroneously identified as the robber 60 percent of the time. (c) When the actual robber was in the photospread, the male teacher was erroneously identified less than 20 percent of the time.  Errors Due to Suggestion Suggestive questioning produces the misinformation effect “Did you see a white car?” “Which of these men attacked you?” Confirming feedback Any indication that the person has given the correct response can dramatically increase the person's confidence in their response at a later time  “Good You Identified the Suspect” Wells & Bradfield (1998) Participants viewed a video of an actual crime Identified the perpetrator from a photo-spread Participants were given: Confirming feedback: “Good you identified the suspect” Disconfirming Feed back: “Actually it was # ___” No Feedback After a delay the person's confidence was assessed  The type of feedback from the experimenter influenced the participants’ confidence in their identification, with confirming feedback resulting in the highest confidence.  What Is Being Done? Inform witness perpetrator might not be in lineup If witness assumes the perpetrator is in the lineup they are much more likely to select a person, even when unsure Use “fillers” in lineup that are similar to suspect Large decrease in incorrect identification of innocent Use sequential presentation (not simultaneous) Use a “blind” administrator & get immediate confidence rating Improve interviewing techniques Cognitive interview