CORRECT Ch.8 - reconstruction

Amygdala

brain structure associated with emotion and emotional memory – autobiographical memories with intense emotions activated the amygdala more strongly

Childhood amnesia

lack of memories from the first 4–5 years of life due to an immature memory system – adults over 40 had very few memories from early childhood

Cognitive hypothesis

idea that rapid change followed by stability strengthens memory consolidation – people who emigrated in their mid-30s showed a later reminiscence bump around ages 34–35

Cognitive interview

eyewitness interview technique based on memory retrieval principles that minimizes suggestion – witnesses recreated emotions and perspectives from the crime scene and reported more correct details

Constructive nature of memory

idea that memories are built from actual events plus knowledge

Critical lure

word strongly associated with presented words that is falsely remembered – participants falsely remembered “sleep” after studying words like bed

Cryptoamnesia

unconscious plagiarism caused by a source monitoring error – George Harrison unknowingly reused the melody from “He’s So Fine” in “My Sweet Lord”

Cultural life script

culturally expected timeline of important life events – people commonly expected falling in love at 16

Cultural life script hypothesis

idea that memories are easier to recall when they fit culturally expected life events – many positive memories from adolescence and young adulthood matched common cultural milestones

DRM paradigm

false-memory method using related word lists to study memory distortions – participants falsely recalled the word “sleep” after hearing related words

Eyewitness testimony

memory reports given by witnesses about crimes or events – Ronald Cotton was wrongly convicted based on confident eyewitness identification

Flashbulb memory

vivid memory for the circumstances in which a person learned about a shocking public event – people confidently remembered where they were when they heard about 9/11

Misinformation effect

memory distortion caused by misleading information presented after an event – participants later remembered a “give way sign” instead of the original stop sign

Misleading post-event information (MPI)

incorrect information given after witnessing an event that changes later memory – asking about a “give way sign” altered memory for a stop sign

Narrative rehearsal hypothesis

idea that repeated rehearsal and media exposure strengthen memories for major events – constant TV replay of 9/11 footage may have reinforced memories about the attacks

False memory

memory for something that never actually happened – participants remembered seeing broken glass in a crash film even though none appeared

Orienting response

attention automatically drawn to novel or informative stimuli – a weapon or feather duster captured attention more than a wallet in eyewitness experiments

Post-identification feedback effect

increase in eyewitness confidence after confirming feedback – witnesses became more confident after hearing “Good

Pragmatic inference

expectation created by a sentence that goes beyond what was actually stated – people remembered “the baby cried all night” instead of “stayed awake all night”

Reminiscence bump

enhanced memory for adolescence and young adulthood – 55-year-olds remembered many events from ages 10–30

Repeated recall

method of comparing memories over time to an initial baseline report – Challenger explosion memories became less accurate years later

Repeated reproduction

Bartlett’s method of repeatedly recalling material over long intervals – participants increasingly distorted “War of the Ghosts” over time

Retrieval induced forgetting

remembering some information causes forgetting of competing information – practicing one category item weakened recall for related non-practiced items

Retroactive interference

newer information interferes with memory for older information – misleading “give way sign” information interfered with memory for the stop sign

Schema

knowledge structure about an aspect of the world that guides memory and expectations – participants falsely remembered books in an office because books fit their office schema

Script

schema for the sequence of actions in familiar activities – participants added “Bill checked in with the receptionist” to the dentist story even though it was absent

Self-image hypothesis

idea that memories are strongest while personal identity is forming – “I am” statements such as “I am a mother” were linked to events around age 25

Source misattribution

assigning a memory to the wrong source – some people believed they had seen non-existent footage of Princess Diana’s crash

Source monitoring

determining the origin of memories or knowledge – people judged whether they heard information from a trustworthy or untrustworthy reporter

Source monitoring error

mistake in identifying the source of a memory – participants thought unfamiliar names were famous in the “Becoming Famous Overnight” study

Unconscious transference

misidentifying a familiar but innocent person as the perpetrator – a ticket agent mistook a sailor for a robber because he had seen him before at the station

Von Restorff effect

finding that distinctive or unexpected information is remembered better – unusual or distinctive details were recalled more easily because of their distinctiveness

Weapon focus effect

tendency to focus on a weapon at the expense of other details during a crime – witnesses remembered fewer details about the perpetrator’s face when a gun was present