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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
