PSYC 144: Memory and Amnesia (Midterm 2)

Conscious recollection of the event, including retrieval contextual information; slow, attention-demanding

Acontextual sense of familiarity of
the stimulus; fast, automatic

Idea that if something is poorly recognized as old when old, will be poorly recognized as new when new, and vice versa

Subjects are asked to determine whether an old word was either remembered (ie its occurence in test is known) or if they know it (ie that they remember the word was in the test but not when it occured)

Ability to judge between two (old/new) distributions ... a measure of recognition accuracy

At varying retention intervals, subjects tried
to recall events in response to particular
retrieval cues:
Time
Location
Both time & location
Thoughts
Action
Characteristics of recalled events:
Rich in sensory detail, emotions and thoughts; unique,
exciting events

Retrieve a personal memory in response to
cue word. MEDAL
Write down a phrase to remind you of the
personal memory that you retrieve.
Next, try to date each memory.

Recall personal memories in response to specific event cues
E.g.,
Your 1st week of college
Hearing the news of 9/11

In realistic social settings, when one recounts an event from memory, the goal of such storytelling is often to entertain (or to project a certain image of oneself). Accuracy is not of foremost importance; we take liberties with the actual event, embellish details, etc.

Using current status as reference point, reconstruct the past based on whether changes should have occurred over time. Subjects who took a bogus study skills course
misremembered their prior skills as having been worse than they actually were (Conway & Ross, 1984).

The way we remember personal events is driven in part
by how we are motivated to see ourselves, our need for
a cohesive life narrative, and our ideas about what
should have happened.

– Interference

Previously learned information interferes with new information

Newly learned information interferes with old information

Simliarity