memory errors

This set of flashcards covers essential vocabulary and concepts related to memory errors and metacognitive strategies as discussed in the lecture notes.

Metacognition

Awareness of one's own cognitive processes, often summarized as 'thinking about thinking.’

Seven Sins of Memory

Types of memory errors identified by Schacter

• Transience

• Absent-Mindedness

• Blocking

• Misattribution

• Suggestibility

• Bias

• Persistence

Cryptomnesia

Unintentional plagiarism that occurs when a person mistakenly believes an idea is original, resulting from source monitoring errors.

Bias

• Current beliefs and knowledge influence recall of past events.

  • Types of Bias:

    • Positivity Bias: Higher reported frequency of positive events than negative.

    • Rosy Retrospection: Memory of past events as more enjoyable than experienced.

    • Consistency Bias

    • Consistency Bias: Tendency to believe past and present attitudes are similar.

Types of Metacognitive Strategies

techniques that help individuals think about their own thinking, enabling them to regulate their learning processes and improve their understanding.

1. Planning

2. Monitoring

3. Evaluation

planning

1. Involves selecting learning methods and determining thought processes.

   • examples

     • Develop questions about topics before learning.

     • Allocate resources effectively.

monitoring

1. Concerned with tracking the information entering the mind.

   • examples

     • Assess level of comprehension during and after learning.

     • Filter and evaluate information based on learned topics.

evaluation

1. Focused on examining thought processes.

   • examples

     • Evaluate reasoning, set goals, and revise cognitive processes.

     • Reflect on successes and failures to identify knowledge gaps.

Effective Monitoring Strategies

• Flashcards/Practice Exams:  Useful for recalling information and pinpointing areas needing improvement.

• Pre-Learning Notes: Enhances understanding during lectures and improves focus.

• Summarization/Questioning: Helps to refine and reframe ideas for improved retention.

• Use of Mnemonics: Assists in organizing information for later retrieval.

• Teaching Information: Reinforces critical thinking and identifies areas lacking comprehension.

Absent-Mindedness

•  Forgetting often occurs due to failure to encode information.

• Examples: Common everyday occurrences exemplified by asking, "OK Google, where are my keys?" or “where did I park my car?”

persistence

•  Continuous recollection of information that one may wish to forget.

  • Amplifying Factors:

    • PTSD

    • Dysphoria

    • Rumination

misattribution

• Memory is associated with the incorrect context (time, place, person, etc.).

  • Source monitoring

  • Types of Misattribution Errors

    • Cryptomnesia

    • Sleeper Effect

    • Becoming Famous Overnight

    • Imagination Inflation

source monitoring

• Identifying a memory's source.

sleeper effect

The finding that an initially unconvincing message or fact presented with a discounting cue becomes more convincing over time. A type of misattribution error.

• Discounting cue = negative connotation or lack of credibility in the message

• “Spinning around in circles helps you remember”. This is not true.

Becoming Famous Overnight

• Non-famous names misidentified as famous after familiarity.

• study by Jacoby, Kelley, Brown, & Jasechko (1989)

Imagination Inflation

• Imagining an event makes one more likely to believe it actually occurred.

• Mazzoni & Memon (2003)

positivity bias

• Higher reported frequency of positive events than negative.

rosy retrospection

•  Memory of past events as more enjoyable than experienced.

consistency bias

• Tendency to believe past and present attitudes are similar.

transcience

The tendency for memory for facts and events to diminish over time, often illustrated by the forgetting curve.

blocking

A temporary inability to access information that is learned, often referred to as the 'tip-of-the-tongue' state (TOTS).

suggestibility

The incorporation of new information into memory, which can lead to inaccuracies.

misinformation effect

When recall of an episodic memory becomes less accurate due to the addition of misleading post-event information (MPI)

• ex: Eyewitness questioning