Human memory final exam

valence

how positive or negative an emotion is

arousal

how activated or physiologically alert a person feels

Broaden-and-Build hypothesis

positive emotions broaden attention and promote creativity/exploration

Weapon focus effect

tendency for witnesses to focus on a weapon, reducing memory of peripheral details

Arousal/Threat hypothesis

stress and threat narrow attention to central information

Unusualness hypothesis

unexpected items draw attention because they violate expectations

Flashbulb memory

highly vivid, long-lasting memories of learning about surprising, important public events not directly experienced

reconsolidation

retrieval makes a memory malleable and alters it when stored again

Misinformation effect

distortion of memory caused by misleading information presented after an event

retroactive interference

new information disrupts memory for previously learned information

proactive interference

old information disrupts memory for new information

implanted memory

a false memory created through suggestion and imagination

Accuracy-Confidence correlation

weak link between eyewitness confidence and identification accuracy (r=.37-.40)

Confidence inflation

after confirming their choice, eyewitnesses later believe they were always confident

Confirmation bias

expectancies distort perception and memory

Schema

mental representation of typical events'; used to fill gaps in memory

Schema distortion

memory error due to schema-driven expectations

Liberal response criterion

tendency to choose someone from a lineup even when uncertain

Source monitoring errors

difficulty determining where a memory came from (increases with age)

simultaneous lineup

all faces shown at once; promotes relative judgement (“Who looks most like the culprit?”)

sequential lineup

faces shown one at a time; promotes absolute judgment (“Is this the culprit or not?”)

Cognitive interview

interview method using: mental reinstatement of environment, recall every detail, recall in different orders, different perspectives

rapport building

creating a comfortable environment to improve recall

featural processing

encoding individual facial features

configural prcoessing

encoding spatial relationships among features; leads to better face recongition

verbal overshadowing effect

describing a face impairs face recognition

face composite interference

creating or viewing a composite harms recognition

cross-race effect/own-race bias

better recognition for faces of one’s own race

cross-age effect/own-age bias

better recognition for faces of one’s own age

prospective memory

remembering to perform intended actions in the future

retrospective memory

remembering past information or events

time-based PM

remembering at a specific time

Event-based PM

remembering when a specific cue occurs

implementation intentions

“If X happens, I will do Y” plans that strengthen cue-action links

habit capture

automatic habits interfere with new intention

PRMQ (Prospective and Retrospective memory questionnaire)

self-report measure of memory failures

Intention formation/retention/retrieval/excecution

four stages of prospective memory (Kvavilashvili & Rummel model)

metamemory

knowledge about one’s own memory abilities

checking behavior

repetitive checking that reduces memory confidence

positivity bias

tendency to recall more positive than negative memories

planning fallacy

underestimating time needed for future tasks despite past failures

readiness potential

neural activity preceding conscious awareness of an intention to move

reminiscence bump

enhanced recall for ages 10-30 later in life

life narrative

coherent story of one’s life guiding autobiographical memory

cultural life script

shared cultural expectations about typical life events

Infantile amnesia

inability to recall events from before ~3 years old

object permanence

understanding that objects exist even when hidden

impossible event method

infants look longer at events that violate physical expectations

conjugate reinforcement (mobile task)

infant kicks to move mobile; used to test memory and retention

deferred imitation

reproducing an observed action after a delay; indicates explicit memory

traditional model

infants lack declarative memory until ~1 year due to immature hippocampus

ecological model

infants can learn broadly early in life due to immobility, with later learning becoming more selective

episodic memory decline

age-related decline in recall of events

processing capacity

ability to process and manipulate information; decreases with age

fluid intelligence

ability to reason and solve new problems; decline after ~25-30

crystallized intelligence

knowledge accumulated over time; remains stable or improves

environmental support

external cues that aid retrieval (recognition>cued recall>free recall)