Ch 8 - Memory Accuracy

Memory is best for periods of transition in life​

Reminiscence Bump​

• Reminiscence bump: enhanced memory for adolescence and young adulthood

• Explanations of the reminiscence bump

  • ​Self-image hypothesis: major aspects of the self-image are formed during this period​

  • Cognitive hypothesis: periods of rapid change that are followed by relative stability lead to enhanced memory (settle into groove, fewer changes)​

  • Cultural life script hypothesis: important culturally expected events tend to occur during this period ​

Flashbulb Memory​

• Flashbulb memory: vivid recollection of emotionally significant event​

  • Not necessarily more accurate than other memories​

• Repeated recall: having the participant recall the event on multiple occasions​

  • Studies using repeated recall demonstrate that memories, including flashbulb memories, change over time

• Narrative rehearsal hypothesis: flashbulb memories may be more vivid because we recall them so many times

  ​

Constructivist Approach​

• Constructivist approach: we are constantly constructing memory, rather than recalling an earlier recording​

• Source misattribution: when an individual forgets where they heard something​

• Source monitoring: trying to identify the source of a memory​

• Reality monitoring: trying to determine if a remembered event really occurred or was imagined​

• Cryptomnesia: unconscious plagiarism​

• Schema: generalized, well-integrated knowledge about something​

• Stereotypes: beliefs about the attributes of a group of people

  • ​Memories may be inaccurately recalled in a way that is more consistent with stereotypes (Ex: “Pat was at the shooting range” may lead to a memory of a male, even if we are told Pat is a female)

  • People may falsely recall that they saw things that are schema-consistent (books in the office)​

    ​

• Script: simple, well-structured series of events in a specified order​

  • (Ex: Going out to eat follows the script of…

    1. seated by hostess

    2. drink orders

    3. appetizers

    4. main course

    5. dessert

    6. bill)​

  • Memories may include false, but script-consistent, details

  • not the same​

• Memory integration: each person’s set of schemas are different, depending on unique experiences, and this leads individuals to interpret ambiguous information differently​

  • Schemas, stereotypes, and scripts are more likely to affect memory​

    • After a delay​

    • When we are distracted​

    • When the original information was ambiguous ​

• Repeated reproduction: participants try to remember a story at longer and longer intervals​

  • Research indicates that people misremember and add details ​

• Abstraction: storing the meaning of a message, rather than verbatim: the exact words​

• Pragmatic inference: when reading a sentence leads the reader to expect or remember something that is not explicitly stated​

  • Ex: “The newborn stayed awake all night” leads people to remember that the newborn was crying

• Boundary extension: our tendency to remember having viewed a greater portion of a scene than we actually saw

  •  

    

    ​

  • 

•  Consistency bias: we tend to exaggerate the consistency between our past feelings and beliefs and our current viewpoint​

Eyewitness testimony​

• Has major consequences​

• Is often inaccurate, even when the witness if very confident​

• Is susceptible to social pressure​

• The older the memory is, the less accurate it tends to be​

​

• Post-event misinformation effect: misleading information given after the fact can alter memories​

  • May be caused by retroactive interference or source missatribution​

• Weapon focus: the presence of a weapon decreases memory for other details in a situation​

• Recovered-memory perspective: people repress memories, which may later be recovered​

• False-memory perspective: most “recovered” memories are actually false memories of events that did not actually occur, which are formed as the result of suggestion, social pressure, or therapy that uses hypnosis or other techniques known to cause false memories

  ​

  • Bystanders may be misidentified as perpetrators of a crime because they look familiar to eyewitnesses​

• Post-identification feedback effect: if people are told they picked the suspect out of a line up, they become much more confident in their memory of the individual

  ​

  • Recommendations about lineups​

    • Inform the witness that the perpetrator may not be in the line-up​

    • Use fillers that are similar to the suspect​

    • Present individuals in sequence rather than simultaneously​

    • The person administering the lineup should not know who the suspect is​

  ​

• Cognitive interview: letting the witness talk with a minimum of interruption, minimizing suggestions

  ​

  • The presentation of altered photographs, video, or audio can implant false memories

    ​

• Own-ethnicity bias: people are usually more accurate at identifying members of their own ethnic group than other ethnic groups​

  • People are not very good at recognizing faces they have only been exposed to a few times

    ​

  • The eyewitness testimony of young children is especially unreliable​