Schemas, Memory, and False Memory

Schemas

Cognitive structure in long-term memory that help us perceive, organize, process, and understand information

What do schemas do?

Guide our attention as we sort through complex information

Types of Schemas

• person schemas

• social schemas

• self-schemas

• event schemas

How can schemas get us in trouble?

can lead to prejudice - some are grounded in stereotypes

“Seven sins” of memory

• Inference

• Blocking

• Absentmindedness

• Persistance

• Misattribution

• Bias

• Suggestibility

Interference

• forgetting due to learning new information

• either forgetting the new info, or forgetting the old info

  • proactive and retroactive

Proactive inference

When old information makes it difficult or impossible to access new information

Ex of proactive interference

Publix gets remodeled and you keep going to the old location for pub subs instead of new location. Old location interferes with you ability to remember the new location

Retroactive interference

When new information interferes with the ability to access old information

Example of retroactive interference

After learning a new tennis serve technique, might be hard to remember how you served before

Blocking

• temporary inability to remember something

• “tip-of-the-tongue”

• Self-cuing can help

Example of blocking

You see someone at a party and you know you have met before but you can’t seem to come up with their name

Absentmindedness

Inattentive or shallow encoding of events

Example of absentmindedness

not paying attention to where you set your phone and having to ping it from you watch

Persistance

continual reoccurrence of unwanted memories

Misattribution

• source remembering

  • remembering where you encountered information

• source amnesia/misattribution

  • misremember when you encountered the info

Bias

• memory bias

• memories change to become consistent with current beliefs or attitudes

Suggestibility

development of biased memories due to misleading information

Example of suggestibility

smashed vs. hit

Suggestibility - developing false memories

• “remembering” events that did not happen

• Memories can be distorted, or even implanted, by false information

  • imagining an event might lead to confusion of the mental image with a real memory

Suggestibility - implanting false memories

• people tend to fill in the blanks

• Use suggestive language

• creating vivid narratives

• trigger emotional responses

• gradually change details

What is eye-witness testimony?

• When a witness of a crime later recalls to the court the details of the event

• accuracy is sketchy at best

Research on eyewitness testimony

• suggests that eyewitness testimony is likely the more persuasive form of evidence

• can lead to wrongful conviction

• faulty eyewitness testimony implicated in at least 75% of DNA exoneration cases

Identifying perpetrators

• eyewitnesses often need to properly identify perpetrator

• lineups often used

What are factors that lead to identification errors

• poor vision conditions, stressful witnessing experiences, delay between crime and identification, ID perpetrator from race other than their ow, rushed to decide