PSY 324 - Unit 9 - Memory Systems - Complex Memories

Exam 2 - Spring 2025

flashbulb memories (and the role of personal impact)

remembering (or thinking you do) where you were and what you were doing during a massive event (9/11); research suggests these memories aren’t extremely accurate; you’re more likely to remember more accurately when you have a personal connection to the event 

misinformation effect

 if you’re receiving misleading information, it might affect eyewitness account; might influence ability to recall information correctly; suggests that eyewitness testimony is vulnerable to this 

reconstuctive memory

goes with schemas, incorrectly remembering things (mixing things up because they’re similar); schemas of athens and rome are so similar that specific memories from each get mixed up 

relationship of understanding and memory

it is a codependent relationship; the way we understand things influences how we remember things and the way we remember things influences how we understand things

repression

a unconscious process (without deliberate interaction the brain will block access to a memory as a protective measure);

suppression

a conscious process (we act on our own to block a memory)

schemas

concepts; the way that we remember episodic memories is done partly through organizing memories into schemas