Lecture 8: Cognitive Psychology (PSYC 5140) - Everyday Memory and Memory Errors

PSYC 5140 Cognitive Psychology Lecture 8: Everyday Memory and Memory Errors 2023 Instructor: Urs Maurer PSYC 5140 Cognitive Psychology Lecture 8: Everyday Memory and Memory Errors 2023 Instructor: Urs Maurer Perception of Memory • In a nationwide pole: – 63% agreed with: “Human memory works li...

PSYC 5140 Cognitive Psychology Lecture 8: Everyday Memory and Memory Errors 2023 Instructor: Urs Maurer PSYC 5140 Cognitive Psychology Lecture 8: Everyday Memory and Memory Errors 2023 Instructor: Urs Maurer Perception of Memory • In a nationwide pole: – 63% agreed with: “Human memory works like a video camera, accurately recording the events we see and hear so we can review and interpret them later” – 48% agreed with: “Once you have experienced an event and formed a memory of it, that memory does not change” (Simons & Chabris, 2011) • Everything that happens is not necessarily recorded accurately • What is recorded is subject to change Autobiographical Memory (AM) • Memory for specific experiences from our life, which can include both episodic and semantic components • Interaction of episodic and semantic memory: – Mental time travel: Images of the cake at a childhood birthday party (episodic) – Knowledge about when the party occurred (semantic) • Multidimensional – (see next slide) • We remember some events better than others Autobiographical Memory • AM is multidimensional: – Consist of sensory components, spatial aspects, thoughts, and emotions • Patients with loss of autobiographical memory (Greenberg and Rubin, 2003) – cannot recognize objects because of damage to visual cortex – Visual experience plays a role in forming and retrieving AM • Visual stimuli not available to serve as retrieval cues • But even AM memories not based on visual experience are lost Autobiographical Memory • Cabeza and coworkers (2004) – Comparing brain activation caused by autobiographical memory and laboratory memory – 12 Duke students took 40 pictures of specific campus locations (1st phase) – Participants viewed both (2nd phase) • Photographs they took (own-photos) • Photographs taken by someone else (labphotos) – After a few days (3rd phase) • S saw the pictures they has seen before, along with some other pictures • Task: own-photo, lab-photo, new photo? Autobiographical Memory • Both types of photos activated similar brain structures Episodic even ppt did not take the lab photos – Medial temporal lobe (MTL) (episodic) – Parietal cortex (processing of scenes) Autobiographical Memory • Both types of photos activated similar brain structures – Medial temporal lobe (MTL) (episodic) – Parietal cortex (processing of scenes) • Own-photos activated more of the – Prefrontal cortex (self-referential, information about self) – Hippocampus (recollection) Medial prefrontal Autobiographical Memory • Both types of photos activated similar brain structures – Medial temporal lobe (MTL) (episodic) – Parietal cortex (processing of scenes) • Own-photos activated more of the – Prefrontal cortex (self-referential, information about self) – Hippocampus (recollection) • Demonstrates the richness of autobiographical memories • Other studies have also found AMs can elicit emotions – More activation in the amygdala Memory Over the Lifespan • What events are remembered well? – Significant events in a person’s life • First date with someone you end up having a long-term relationship with – Highly emotional events • Birth of child – Transition points • Juniors and seniors were asked to recall the most influential event from their freshman year • Reported events happened during September of freshman year Reminiscence Bump • Participants over the age of 40 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) • Reminiscence bump: enhanced memory for adolescence and young adulthood found in people over 40 Reminiscence Bump • Why do reminiscence bumps occur? – Why are adolescence and young adulthood special times for encoding memories? one explanation: adolescent and adulthood is the time when you develop your self-identiy • 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 – Experiment: S with average age of 54, created “I am” statements that defined them as a person • “I am a psychologist” – Average age given to the origin of the statements: 25 Reminiscence Bump 2nd explanation: memory is better when there are rapid change, a lot of things change • Cognitive hypothesis – Encoding is better during periods of rapid change that are followed by stability – Adolescence and young adulthood: going away to school, getting married, starting a career ➔ rapid changes followed by stability – Evidence from those who emigrated to the US after young adulthood indicates reminiscence bump is shifted If people emigrate to the US in their 30s, they will have better memory of that shift Reminiscence Bump • Cultural life-script hypothesis – Each person has • A personal life story: events occurred in a person’s life • A cultural life script: culturally expected events that occur at a particular time in the life span – Personal events are easier to recall when they fit the cultural life script • List when important events in a typical person’s life usually occur (e.g. college at 22) • Large number of these events are within the period of reminiscence bump Reminiscence Bump • Hypotheses about the reminiscence bump: Memory for Emotional Stimuli Emotion helps with memory experiemnt • Emotions and memory are intertwined: Emotional events remembered more easily and vividly – Some empirical support: e.g., emotionally arousing words were better recalled than neutral words (LaBar & Phelps, 1998, Dolcos et al., 2005) immediate: after 1 year: ppt are better remember the emotional words • Brain activity in amygdala – fMRI experiments: amygdala has higher activity when recalling emotional words (Dolcos et al., 2005) – Patient with damage to amygdala: non-enhanced memory for emotional part of stimuli compared to non-brain-damaged participants Memory for Emotional Stimuli How emotion helps memory ? • Emotion improves memory consolidation – Animal research • Stimulants administered shortly after training can enhance memory for the task • Hormones such as the stimulant cortisol are released during and after emotionally arousing stimuli – Human research • S were shown neutral and emotionally arousing pictures • Stress group: immersed their arms in ice water (causes release of cortisol) • No-stress group: immersed their arms in warm water (doesn’t release cortisol) • A week later they were asked to describe the pictures Memory for Emotional Stimuli Significant difference between E and N for the Stress group Significant difference in E between Stress and No-Stress groups No significant difference between E and N for the NoStress group Memory for Emotional Stimuli emotion can impair or improve memory, change the selective memory • Emotions can also impair memory: can cause a focus of attention on important objects, and draw attention away from other objects • Weapons focus: tendency to attend to a weapon during a crime – Presence of a gun results in a decrease in memory for other details of the crime scene If there is a weapon, the eyewitness focus on the weapon and remember less details of the crime scene Famous kind of memories Flashbulb Memories We take a photo , camera flash, photo is like memory, take down • Memory for circumstances surrounding shocking, highly charged important events – 9/11/01 we remember what we are doing when we hear the event – Kennedy assassination – Challenger explosion characteristic: • 1 Where you were, and what you were doing • 2Highly emotional, vivid, and very detailed – These memories are special Flashbulb Memories • Brown and Kulik (1977): the day of President Kennedy’s assassination, “for an instant, the entire nation and perhaps much of the world stopped still to have its picture taken.” ➔ term flashbulb memories • They argued that there is something special about the mechanisms responsible for flashbulb memories – Not only they occur under highly emotional circumstances – They are remembered for long periods of time – Are specially vivid and detailed – “Now print” mechanism Flashbulb Memories • Flashbulbs are not “photograph” memories, as they can change with the passage of time • Brown and Kulik’s procedure is flawed: – Their S weren’t asked what they remembered until year after the events had Brown didn’t ask the students immediately after the event occurred to verify few more times after – No way to verify whether the memories were accurate • Repeated recall – Technique of comparing later memories to memories collected immediately – Initial description: baseline – Later reports compared to baseline Flashbulb Memories • The “Now Print” idea does not seem to hold. • People’s memories about flashbulb events change over time. • Results suggest that these memories can be inaccurate or lacking in detail • Even though participants report that they are very confident and that the memories seem very vivid Flashbulb Memories • I was in my religion class and some people walked in and started talking about it. I didn’t know any details except that it had exploded and the schoolteacher’s students had all been watching, which I thought was so sad. Then after class I went to my room and watched the TV program about it, and I got all the details from it. 2 ½ years later • When I first heard about the explosion I was sitting in my freshman dorm room with my roommate, and we were watching TV. It came on a news flash, and were both totally shocked. I was really upset, and I went upstairs to talk to a friend of mine, and then I called my parents. Flashbulb Memories ppt are asked to describe everyday event and the flashbulb memory • Many flashbulb memory researchers have expressed doubt that flashbulbs are much different from regular memories. • With both: S remember fewer details and make more errors over time People think flashbulb memoriesmemories are stronger andaccurate more • However, people’s belief that flashbulb were stays high over thisaccurate; time however, in reality there is no difference in accuracy between flashbulb and regular memories special in how confidence we remember something Talarico & Rubin (2003) about 9/11 flashbulb memory flashblub Everyday event Flashbulb Memories • Special nature of flashbulb memories may be in part due to the emotional nature of them • Emotions have been associated with enhanced memory, but also to decrease in memory in some situations • Emotions enhance the subjective sense of remembering – the vividness of the memory – Confidence that it is accurate – The sense of reliving an event – At the same time, causing a decrease in memory for the details Flashbulb Memories • Two other factors that potentially affect memory for flashbulb events are: rehearsal and media coverage • Narrative rehearsal hypothesis: flashbulb memories not because of a special mechanism, but because they get rehearsed after they occur – Repeated viewing/hearing of event Rehearse all the time • TV, newspaper, radio, talking with others • Could introduce errors in own memory The Constructive Nature of Memory We construct our memory, base on what actually happen, also influence by knowledge • Constructive nature of memory: what people report as memories are constructed based on: – What actually happened Example on the next slide – Person’s knowledge, experiences, and expectations • The mind constructs memories based on a number of sources of information memory undergo change over time The Constructive Nature of Memory • Bartlett’s “war of the ghosts” experiment – Had participants attempt to remember a story from a different culture – Repeated reproduction: remember the story at longer and longer intervals • Results – Over time, reproduction became shorter, contained omissions and inaccuracies – Changed to make the story more consistent with their own culture result: • Incorporated what they knew about from similar stories in their own culture when we construct memory Making Inferences • When in doubt about what we remember, we often (unconsciously) make use of what we know about the world • Memory can be influenced by inferences that people make based on their experiences and knowledge • Pragmatic inferences: based on knowledge gained through experience – Occurs when reading a sentence leads a person to expect something that is not explicitly stated or implied by the sentence – Memory often includes information that is implied by or is consistent with the to-be-remembered information but was not explicitly stated Schemas and Scripts • Schema: knowledge about some aspect of the environment – e.g., Post office, ball game, classroom – Are developed though our experiences in different situations – Brewer & Treyens (1981): • cover story: wait in an office so that the other S can finish up • 30 seconds later, taken to another location, and asked to recall the objects in the office • 30% indicated there were books, even though there were no books in the office Schemas and Scripts • Script: conception of sequence of actions that usually occurs during a particular experience – Going to a restaurant; playing tennis • Study by Bower et al. (1979): – S read a series of passages about some familiar activities – Then asked to recall – Recall included most of the original passages, plus additional material that wasn’t in the original story but was part of the script for the activity Constructive memory 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 mentioned in memory task – The constructive nature of memory can lead to errors or “false memories” Construction of Memories • Advantages – Allows us to “fill in the blanks” – Cognition is creative • Understand language Use language to solve problem and make decisions • Solve problems • Make decisions • Disadvantages – Sometimes we make errors – Sometimes we misattribute the source of information – Was it actually presented, or did we infer it reasons for memory error Source Monitoring • Source monitoring: process of determining origins of our memories, knowledge, or beliefs • Source monitoring error: misidentifying source of memory – Also called “source misattributions” • Cryptoamnesia: – Unconscious plagiarism of another’s work due to a lack of recognition of its original source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjdGtVQIGFQ • Source monitoring errors are important because the mechanisms responsible for them are also involved in creating memories in general Source Monitoring • Jacoby et al. (1989): “Becoming famous overnight” – All S read a number of made-up non-famous names – Another list was presented to them containing the original names, new nonfamous names and famous names – Just before test, they were reminded that the original list contained no famous person – Two groups: • Immediate test group: got the second list immediately after • Delayed test group: got the test 24 hours later Source Monitoring – Results: S in delayed test group identified some non-famous names as famous • Explanation: some non-famous names were familiar, and the participants misattributed the source of the familiarity – Failed to identify the source as the list that had been read the previous day 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) • Presenting MPI: – Present the stimuli to be remembered – The MPI is presented to one group, and not to a control group – Even when S are told that post-event information may be incorrect, presenting this information can still affect their memory to see from misleading post event information make more incorrect memory Power of Suggestion • Loftus and coworkers (1975) – See slides of traffic accident with stop sign Misleading information – Introduce MPI: yield signS • Control group: “Did another car pass the red car while it was stopped at the stop sign?” • MPI group: “Did another car pass the red car while it was stopped at the yield sign?” – MPI Participants remember what they heard (yield sign) not what they saw (stop sign) Power of Suggestion • Loftus and Palmer (1974) – Hear “smashed” or “hit” in description of car accident – Those hearing “smashed” said the cars were going much faster (41 mph) than those who heard “hit” (34 mph) ‘smashed’ -> faster, higher speed ‘Hit’ -> slower 32% of MPI S reported seeing broken glass, compared to 14% in the “hit” group Misleading information affect memory Power of Suggestion • How can MPI’s be explained? 1. they see a slide the late information interfere the early information • Retroactive interference – More recent learning interferes with memory for something in the past – Exposure to MPI could interfere with remembering what happened when you originally viewed a stimulus • Source monitoring error – Failure to distinguish the source of the information – MPI is misattributed to the original source Power of Suggestion • Lindsay (1990) – Heard a story from female narrator; two groups: • Difficult condition: heard a misleading narrative shortly after, same female narrator • Easy condition: heard the same misleading narrative two days later, male narrator – Some small details changed in misleading narrative (e.g., type of coffee) – Told to ignore changes in misleading story before taking test – Same voice for both stories created source monitoring errors – Changing voice (male to female) did not create as many errors Make more memory error False Memories • Hyman and coworkers (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 – Hearing about the event, and then waiting caused the event to emerge as false memory False Memories • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB2OegI6wvI • The fact that early childhood experiences can be created by suggestion has had serious implications Errors in Eyewitness Testimony • Testimony by an eyewitness to a crime about what he or she saw during the crime • One of the most convincing types of evidence to a jury – Assume the eyewitness could clearly see what happened – Assume that people see and remember accurately • But, like other memory, eyewitness testimony can be inaccurate – Mistaken identity – Constructive nature of memory Errors in Eyewitness Testimony • Wells & Bradfield (1998) – Participants view security videotape with gunman in view for 8 seconds – Everyone identified someone as the gunman from photographs afterwards – The actual gunman’s picture was not presented • Kneller et al. (2001) – 61% of S picked someone from a photo spread – Even though the perpetrator’s picture wasn’t included Errors in Eyewitness Testimony • Errors due to attention and arousal – Attention can be narrowed by specific stimuli – Weapons focus – Stanny and Johnson (2000) lower memory Errors in Eyewitness Testimony • Errors due to familiarity – Source monitoring – Ross et al. 1994: Pick the male robber the female teacher Errors in Eyewitness Testimony • Errors due to suggestion – Suggestive questioning • Misinformation effect – Confirming feedback • Post-identification feedback effect rate how confident they are after receive feedback • Problem for criminal justice system – Jurors influenced by confidence – Post identification feedback can increase witnesses’ confidence Wells & Bradfield (1998) What Is Being Done? • Inform witness perpetrator might not be in lineup • Use “fillers” in lineup similar to suspect • Use a “blind” lineup administrator A person should not the suspect so no feedback • Get an immediate confidence rating • Improve interviewing techniques – Cognitive interview – Help witness recreate the situation present at the crime scene, by having them place themselves back in the scene remember the scene more accurate – Decreases the likelihood of any suggestive input by the person conducting the interview Music-Enhanced Autobiographical Memories • Memories elicited by hearing music, – often accompanied by feelings of nostalgia – often experienced as being involuntary • Power of sensory experience to elicit autobiographical memories • Proust-effect (famous in literature by Marcel Proust) – eating a small lemon cookie (“Madeleine”) – taste and olfaction unlocked memories he hadn’t thought of for years • Music can activate memories of Alzheimer’s Disease patient – Documentary «Alive Inside»: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWn4JB2YLU Some Questions to Consider • What kinds of events from their lives are people most likely to remember? • Is there something special about memory for extraordinary events like the 9/11 terrorist attacks? • What properties of the memory system make it both highly functional and also prone to error? • Why is eyewitness testimony often cited as the cause of wrongful convictions?