Psych Multiple Choice Quiz Preparation

Hermann Ebbinghaus

• Studied memory using nonsense syllables.

• Conducted experiments on himself.

• Discovered the forgetting curve.

• Memory declines rapidly at first, then the rate of forgetting slows.

• Relearning information is faster than learning it the first time.

Operationalizing memory

• Ebbinghaus helped establish that memory could be defined, measured, and studied scientifically.

• A broad construct like “memory” needs to be specifically defined before researchers can measure it.

Frederic Bartlett

• Used the story “The War of the Ghosts.”

• Found that people don't simply reproduce memories exactly.

• People reconstruct memories using their prior experiences and knowledge.

• Example: people remembered a canoe as a boat because “boat” was more familiar to them.

Memory is reconstructive

• Memory isn't like opening a file and replaying it.

• We fill in missing pieces using prior knowledge, expectations, and experiences.

• This can cause memory distortions.

False memories

• Researchers can sometimes cause people to believe events happened when they didn't.

• Suggestions, stories, and even altered photographs can contribute to false memories.

Loftus & Palmer

• Studied how leading questions affect eyewitness memory.

• Different words such as “contacted,” “bumped,” and “smashed” changed people's estimates of car speed.

• People were also more likely to “remember” broken glass even though there was none when more forceful wording was used.

Imagination can distort memory

• Repeatedly imagining an event can make people more likely to believe they actually experienced it.

• This effect was stronger when the imagined event was plausible/familiar.

Vivid ≠ necessarily accurate

• A person can have a very vivid or confident memory that is still inaccurate.

• Memory is reconstructed, so confidence alone doesn't prove that an event happened exactly as remembered.

Stereotype threat

• Older adults may worry about having poor memory because of negative stereotypes about aging.

• That anxiety itself can hurt performance on memory tests.

• Reducing the threat can improve performance.

How to improve memory

• Practice testing/retrieval: close your notes and force yourself to recall information.

• Spacing: spread studying out rather than cramming.

• Sleep: memory consolidation occurs during sleep.

• Memory palace: connect unfamiliar information to a familiar location/path.

• Associations and unusual imagery can make information easier to remember.

Forgetting curve-

Ebbinghaus

Reconstructive memory-

Bartlett

Leading questions-

 Loftus & Palmer

False memories-

 suggestion/imagination/photos

Memory palace-

 familiar locations + associations

Practice testing-

 retrieval improves retention

Spacing-

better than cramming

Sleep-

memory consolidation

Stereotype threat-

anxiety about memory can impair performance