Module 27 Forgetting, Memory

Construction, and Improving Memory

Inattentional Blindness

We only notice what we attend to:

Visual Cognition Lab

Forgetting

Forgetting as encoding failure Information never enters long-term

memory

Externalevents

Sensorymemory

Short-term

memory

Long-term

memory

Attention

Encoding

Encoding

Encodingfailure leadsto forgetting

Forgetting

Penny Activity

Forgetting

Forgetting as encoding failure

Which penny is the real thing?

Forgetting

Ebbinghaus forgetting curve over 30 days-- initially rapid, then levels off with time

12345 10 15 20 25 30

10

20

30

40

50

60

0

Time in days since learning list

Percentage oflist retainedwhen relearning

Retrieval Forgetting can result from failure to

retrieve information from long-term memory

Externalevents

Attention

Encoding

Encoding

Retrieval failureleads to forgetting

Retrieval

Sensorymemory

Short-termmemory

Long-termmemory

Retrieval

T-O-T = Capital Cities

Forgetting as Interference

Learning some items may disrupt retrieval of other information Proactive (forward acting)

Interference disruptive effect of prior learning on

recall of new information Retroactive (backwards acting)

Interference disruptive effect of new learning on

recall of old information

In this demonstration, you’ll see three words at a time. Try to remember the three words.

After you see the three words, you’ll see a 3-digit number.

Count backwards, by 3’s from this number until you see the instructions to “WRITE DOWN THE WORDS” fifteen seconds later.

Let’s practice counting backwards by 3’s from the number 99 before we begin.

CAT ELEPHANT COW

368

WRITE DOWN THE WORDS

ZEBRA HORSE LION

576

WRITE DOWN THE WORDS

PIG DOG TIGER

862

WRITE DOWN THE WORDS

BULL LEOPARD BIRD

549

WRITE DOWN THE WORDS

DOCTOR BARBER LAWYER

748

WRITE DOWN THE WORDS

WHAT WERE THE WORDS ON THE FIRST LIST YOU SAW?

WHAT WERE THE WORDS ON THE SECOND LIST YOU SAW?

List 1: CAT ELEPHANT COW

List 2: ZEBRA HORSE LION

List 3: PIG DOG TIGER

List 4: BULL LEOPARD BIRD

List 5: DOCTOR BARBER LAWYER

Forgetting as Interference

Forgetting

Forgetting can occur at any memory stage

As we process information, we filter, alter, or lose much of it

Forgetting- Interference

Motivated Forgetting people unknowingly revise

memories Repression

defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

Memory Construction

We filter information and fill in missing pieces

Misinformation Effect incorporating misleading information

into one's memory of an event Source Amnesia

attributing to the wrong source an event that we experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined (misattribution) Was it a dream or real?

Memory Construction

Eyewitnesses reconstruct memories when questioned

Depiction of actual accident

Leading question:“About how fast were the carsgoing when they smashed intoeach other?”

Memoryconstruction

Book Example

Memory Construction

Memory Construction

Source Amnesia is linked with - Memories of Abuse

Repressed or Constructed? Child sexual abuse does occur Some adults do actually forget such episodes

False Memory Syndrome condition in which a person’s identity and

relationships center around a false but strongly believed memory of traumatic experience

sometimes induced by well-meaning therapists

Piaget’s Story

Creating False Memories

Schemas sometimes drive memories

Memory Construction

Eyewitness Identification / Recall –60 Minutes – Picking Cotton (Part I), Bunny Effecthttp://www.cbsnews.com/stories/

2009/03/06/60minutes/main4848039.shtml60 Minutes – Part II (line ups and identification)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4V6aoYuDcg

https://www.psychology.iastate.edu/~glwells/theeyewitnesstest.html

Memory Construction

Infantile Amnesia

Most don’t remember much prior to 4th birthday

Competing hypotheses as to why: Decay Freudian argument of regression Intellectual development

Schematic framework is different State/context dependent learning

Remember difference between semantic and episodic memory

Memory Construction

Most people can agree on the following: Injustice happens Incest happens Forgetting happens Recovered memories are commonplace Memories recovered under hypnosis or

drugs are especially unreliable Memories of things happening before age 3

are unreliable Memories, whether false or real, are

upsetting

Improve Your Memory

Study repeatedly to boost recall Spend more time rehearsing or

actively thinking about the material Make material personally

meaningful Use mnemonic devices

associate with peg words--something already stored

make up story chunk--acronyms

Cognition Demos

Improve Your Memory

Improve Your Memory

Activate retrieval cues--mentally recreate situation and mood

Recall events while they are fresh-- before you encounter misinformation

Minimize interference Test your own knowledge

rehearse determine what you do not yet

know