Lecture 18 - Memory Discrimination

Be able to describe the CogLab False memory

View list of words, all related to “target word”, identify which words shown

What were the results and conclusions of the False memory Coglab experiment?

often identify target lure as part of list when it was not (false memory). Memories are manipulated, automatically generate extra info when encoding given word/item. (given bumpy, makes you think of road/rough).

Be able to explain how the effect of false memory in the coglab is related to memory discrimination and source monitoring.

Source monitoring problem - hard to discriminate memories from physical stimuli vs. internal process

Memory Discrimination

Many cognitive tasks require you to discriminate between events/stimuli, (is this a real smile? Is this fruit ripe?)

Retroactive interference

new information prevents recall of old info. Overwriting, New phone number makes it hard to remembr old one.

Proactive interference

prior learning prohibits new learning. Cultural customs and memory involved discriminating new info from old. (US: keep hands in lap at dinner, Germany: keep hands above/on table)

Understand how proactive interference (PI) might cause subjects in a memory experiment to do worse on later trials.

Previous trials make memory discrimination more challenging. Gets harder and harder as you add more items to the trials making it harder to determine your target. (item: building, given more building pictures in later trials) makes it harder to differientiate.

Be able to explain how proactive interference would be shown in the data and also why it might happen.

CogLab Serial Position: proportion correct for first item decreases accuracy in each subsequent trial, gets harder to discriminate, build up of proactive interference

Know what release from proactive interference is. Be able to give at least one example.

Brown-Peterson Experiment/Trigram, if 1st of 3 (1st through 3rd trials) trigrams, build up of proactive interference, if 4th round of trigram is numbers, PI is released, not hard to discriminate numbers from letters. Change content so encoded differently.

Be able to explain what kind of interferences operate in the phonological loop and whether they influence storage or retrieval.

Proactive interference might prevent items from being stored and make them unrecallable (storage limit, box full).

-Storage interference hypothesis for phonological loop

-By blocking ACP rehearsal within phonological store, (articulatory suppression), when items sound familiar (phonological similarity effect), both of these interference types block the storage of items (fall out).

Be able to describe the experiment (indoor vs. outdoor sports) that demonstrates that proactive interference operates at memory recall rather than memory storage

Change instructions after list is presented

-Subjects don’t notice 4th item is indoor sport (Football, Soccer, Baseball, Wallyball)

-Group told difference at time of test show release from proactive interference.