Cognitive psyc: ch 8 textbook

Constructive Nature of Memory

Memory is constructed using what actually happened combined with our knowledge, experiences, and expectations. This can cause distortions or false memories.

Why is memory considered constructive?

Our brains do not record experiences exactly as they happen. Instead, we reconstruct memories using information from different sources.

Schema

Knowledge about what is typically involved in a particular experience or situation.

Script

A type of schema describing the usual sequence of actions during an experience.

Schema vs. Script

A schema represents general knowledge about a situation, while a script represents the typical sequence of events.

How do schemas affect encoding?

Things that are unusual or inconsistent with a schema may receive more attention and become more memorable.

How do schemas affect retrieval?

People may falsely remember typical details because they expect those details to have been present.

What happens when something conflicts with a schema?

Unexpected information may stand out and be remembered better, while irrelevant details may receive less attention.

Office Schema Experiment (Brewer & Treyens)

Participants waited in an office and later recalled what they saw. Some falsely remembered books that were not present because books fit their expectations of an office.

Script Experiment (Bower et al.)

Participants read stories about familiar activities and later remembered actions that were part of their usual scripts but never mentioned in the stories.

Serial / Repeated Reproduction

A memory demonstration in which information is reproduced repeatedly, showing how memories change over time.

Bartlett's War of the Ghosts Experiment

Participants read an unfamiliar story and recalled it at later intervals. Their memories became shorter, omitted details, and changed to fit their cultural expectations.

What did Bartlett's experiment demonstrate?

People remember the general meaning or gist but reconstruct details using existing knowledge and cultural expectations.

Omission Errors

Leaving out information when recalling an event.

Normalization Errors

Changing remembered information to make it more familiar or consistent with cultural expectations.

Making Inferences

Using existing knowledge and experiences to draw conclusions about information that was not directly presented.

Pragmatic Inference

Remembering an implied event or detail as though it was explicitly stated.

Pragmatic Inference Experiment (Brewer)

Participants sometimes remembered inferred meanings rather than the actual wording of sentences, such as remembering that something "melted" when the sentence only said it "vanished."

What do inference experiments demonstrate?

Existing knowledge helps us understand information but can also cause us to remember things that were never stated.

Source Monitoring

The process of determining where our memories or information originally came from.

Source Monitoring Error

Incorrectly identifying the source of a memory.

Cryptomnesia

Unconscious plagiarism in which someone mistakenly believes another person's idea or work is their own.

False Fame Effect

Mistaking a previously encountered non-famous name for a famous name because it feels familiar.

False Fame Experiment (Jacoby et al.)

Participants read non-famous names and later identified famous names. After a delay, some mistakenly classified previously seen non-famous names as famous.

What did the false fame experiment demonstrate?

Familiarity can lead to source monitoring errors when people forget why something feels familiar.

Illusory Truth Effect

Repeated information is more likely to be judged as true, even if it is false.

Why does the illusory truth effect occur?

Repetition increases processing fluency, making information feel familiar and believable.

Fluency

The ease with which information is processed, which can influence judgments of familiarity and truth.

False Memory

Remembering something that never actually happened.

False Recall vs. False Recognition

False recall involves remembering information never presented; false recognition involves incorrectly identifying something as previously encountered.

Word-List False Memory Experiment (DRM)

Participants studied related words such as table, rocking, recliner, and sofa but sometimes falsely remembered the related word "chair," which was never presented.

What does the word-list experiment demonstrate?

Strong associations between concepts can cause people to falsely remember information they never encountered.

Childhood False Memory Experiment

Participants discussed real childhood experiences mixed with invented events. Some later developed memories of events that never happened.

What does the childhood false memory experiment demonstrate?

Suggestion and familiarity can lead people to develop convincing false memories.

Hot Air Balloon Experiment (Wade et al.)

Participants viewed a manipulated childhood photo showing themselves on a hot air balloon ride that never happened. By the third interview, 50% remembered something about the invented experience.

What does the hot air balloon experiment demonstrate?

Manipulated photographs, imagination, and repeated questioning can create false autobiographical memories.

Bugs Bunny at Disneyland Experiment

Participants exposed to an advertisement showing Bugs Bunny at Disneyland were more likely to falsely remember meeting him there, even though Bugs Bunny is not a Disney character.

Infantile Amnesia

The inability to remember experiences from infancy and very early childhood.

Why might early childhood memories be inaccurate?

Memories may come from photographs, stories, videos, or later suggestions rather than direct experience.

Eyewitness Testimony

A person's memory-based account of an event they witnessed, often used as evidence in legal cases.

Why can eyewitness testimony be unreliable?

Memories can be distorted by suggestion, familiarity, perception, attention, and source monitoring errors.

Why is eyewitness testimony important in wrongful convictions?

Jurors may find eyewitness accounts convincing even when the witness has incorrectly identified someone.

Eyewitness Memory Activity

Demonstrated that people may struggle to recall clothing, physical characteristics, and other details even without emotional stress.

Misinformation Effect

Misleading information presented after an event can change how a person later describes or remembers it.

Post-Event Misleading Information (MPI)

Incorrect information introduced after witnessing an event that can distort later memory reports.

Car Accident Wording Experiment (Loftus & Palmer)

Participants watched a car crash and estimated speed using different wording. Those asked how fast the cars "smashed" into each other estimated higher speeds than those asked using "hit" or "contacted."

Broken Glass Experiment

Participants who heard "smashed" were more likely to falsely report seeing broken glass, even though none appeared in the video.

What do the car accident experiments demonstrate?

The wording of questions can influence people's judgments and later memories of an event.

Post-Identification Feedback Effect

Feedback given after identifying a suspect can influence a witness's confidence.

Post-Identification Feedback Experiment (Wells & Bradfield)

Participants who received confirming feedback after identifying someone reported greater confidence than participants who received no feedback or disconfirming feedback.

What does the feedback experiment demonstrate?

Confidence can increase because of feedback, even when the identification is incorrect.

How does reconsolidation relate to eyewitness errors?

When memories are retrieved, they may become vulnerable to new information or suggestion before becoming stable again.

Eyewitness Errors Due to Familiarity

Mistakenly identifying a familiar person as the perpetrator because the witness confuses where they previously saw that person.

Eyewitness Familiarity Experiment (Ross et al.)

Participants saw an innocent teacher before witnessing a robbery. Those who previously saw the male teacher were more likely to mistakenly identify him as the robber.

What does the familiarity experiment demonstrate?

Familiarity can cause mistaken identification when a witness confuses the source of recognition.

Eyewitness Errors Due to Perception and Attention

Errors occur when witnesses do not clearly perceive an event or focus attention on certain details while missing others.

Weapon Focus Effect

Attention becomes focused on a weapon, reducing memory for other aspects of an event.

Weapon Focus Experiment (Stanny & Johnson)

Participants watched a simulated crime in which a gun was fired or not fired. Those who saw the shooting recalled fewer details about the perpetrator, victim, and weapon.

What does the weapon focus experiment demonstrate?

Attention directed toward a threatening weapon can reduce memory for other important details.

Lineup Procedures

Methods designed to reduce eyewitness identification errors.

How can lineup procedures be improved?

Tell witnesses the perpetrator may not be present, use similar-looking fillers, use a blind administrator, and obtain an immediate confidence rating.

Lineup Fillers

People included in a lineup who resemble the suspect so that the suspect does not stand out.

Blind Lineup Administrator

A person conducting the lineup who does not know which individual is the suspect.

Immediate Confidence Rating

Asking a witness how confident they are immediately after identification, before feedback can influence their confidence.

Why should witnesses be told the perpetrator may not be present?

It reduces pressure to choose someone when the actual perpetrator is absent.

Cognitive Interview

An interviewing technique designed to improve eyewitness memory by encouraging uninterrupted recall and mental recreation of the event.

Two main cognitive interview techniques

Allow the witness to speak without interruption and help them recreate the situation and emotions associated with the event.

False Confession

Admitting to a crime that a person did not actually commit.

What factors contribute to false confessions?

Social pressure, guided imagery, and the presentation of false evidence.

Guided Imagery

Mentally imagining an event, which can contribute to false memories when used suggestively.

False Confession Experiment

Participants were pressured to imagine committing a crime years earlier. After 1–2 weeks, 70% confessed to a crime they had never committed and provided details.

What does the false confession experiment demonstrate?

Suggestion, imagination, and pressure can lead people to confess to events that never occurred.

False Evidence

Presenting fabricated evidence can pressure someone into believing or admitting they committed a crime.

Central Park Five Case

Illustrates how false confessions can occur in criminal investigations and contribute to wrongful convictions.

Recovered Memories and Suggestion

Suggestive techniques such as hypnosis or guided imagery can sometimes create inaccurate or false memories.

Amnesia

A condition involving memory loss or impairment.

Anterograde Amnesia

Difficulty or inability to form new long-term memories after brain injury or trauma.

How does anterograde amnesia affect memory?

Short-term/working memory may still function, but forming new long-term memories is impaired.

Retrograde Amnesia

Loss of memories formed before brain injury or trauma.

How does retrograde amnesia affect memory?

Previously stored long-term memories become difficult or impossible to retrieve.

Anterograde vs. Retrograde Amnesia

Anterograde affects the formation of new memories; retrograde affects the retrieval of older memories.

Dementia

An umbrella term describing cognitive decline involving more than just memory loss.

Dementia vs. Amnesia

Dementia affects multiple cognitive abilities, such as memory, language, and reasoning. Amnesia primarily affects memory.

Why might perfect memory not be beneficial?

Remembering every detail could interfere with forgetting irrelevant information, reasoning, and focusing on important experiences.