Quizlet: https://quizlet.com/_22w3gj

Consolidation

  • Consolidation: a process by which immediate memories become lasting (or long-term) memories

  • The medial (middle) temporal lobes may be responsible for coordinating and strengthening the connections among neurons when something is learned and play an important role in the formation of new memories

  • Actual storage occurs in the particular brain regions engaged during the perception, processing, and analysis of the material being learned (e.g. sound is stored in the areas involved in auditory perception)

  • Remembering something seen or heard involves reactivating the cortical circuits involved in the initial seeing or hearing

  • Once the connections are strengthened sufficiently, the medial temporal lobes become less important for memory

    • Once you have something solidly in long term memory, it's not likely to be 


    Forgetting is the inability to retrieve memory from long-term storage


    The ability to forget is as important as the ability to remember


    Normal forgetting helps us remember and use important information


    Basic approaches


    Decay theory: information (memory) fades if not used or accessed often


    • Replacement: New information replaces old information


    Interference

    • proactive interference

    • retroactive interference

       

    Cue-dependent forgetting

    • Cue-dependent forgetting

    • other processes

      • state-dependent memory

      • mood-congruent memory



Amnesia

  • Pervasive deficit in retrieval from long-term memory

    • Results from disease, breain injury, or psychology trauma

    • skills vs. information

  • Two basic types:

    • Retrograde amnesia

    • Anterograde amnesia

Memory Distortion

Memory Bias

  • Memory bias: the changing of memories over time so that they become consistent with current beliefs or attitudes

    • Groups’ collective memories can seriously distort the past


    • Most societies’ official histories tend to downplay their past behaviors that were unsavory, immoral, and even murderous

    • Individuals also tend to remember events as casting them in prominent or favorable roles

      • Thinking about you were the one in charge in situations you are involved in

Flashbulb memories

  • Vivid memories of surprising or emotionally arousing event

    • “Where were you when…?”

  • Distinguished from persistence

    • Not recurring, unwanted memories

  • Tend to be inaccurate, although they are reputed to be super-accurate

    • Highly detailed: Who, what, when, where, etc.

      • Doesn't make it right

  • 9/11/2001

    • People claim to have seen live video of first plane 


      • Not shown live on the news

      • People feel like they know that they saw it


Source missatributions

  • Source misattribution

    • Memory distortion that occurs when people misremember the time, place, person, or circumstances involved with a memory 

  • Confabulation 

    • Confusing an event that happened to someone else with one that happened to you

    • Belief that you remember something when it actually never happened

False memories


  • Can be created by suggestibility

    • Development of biased memories from misleading info

  • Influenced by wording of questions

  • Witness a accident

    • How fast were the cars going when they…

      • “Smashed into each other”

      • “Collided into each other”

    • Smashed = faster

Eyewitness accounts

  • One of the most powerful forms of evidence

  • Prone to error: not paying attention to right details

    • Change blindness

    • Memory bias

      • Reconstruct memories to be consistent with current believes and attitudes

    • Cross-ethnic identification

      • White witness  will recognize White faces 

      • White witness will not recognize Black faces


Picking cotton

  • Jennifer Thompson was raped

    • Studied rapist’s face

  • Identified Ronald Cotton as attacker

    • Sentenced to life

    • DNA = not guilty

    • 11 years served

  • Actual rapist = Bobby Poole


Vocab

forgetting the inability to retrieve memory from long term storage
decay theory
 The idea that information fades from memory if not used or accessed often
replacement

When new information replaces old information

proactive interference
 prior information inhibits learning new information (studying for anthropology makes you forget what you studied for psychology)
retroactive interference

new information inhibits learning old informatin

cue-dependent forgetting
 the inability to retrieve information storedin memory because of insuffiecient cuesfor recall
state-dependent memory
 Able to remember certian information when in the same physical or mental state you learned it (study drunk; take test drunk)
mood-congruent memory

tendency to remember experiences that are consistent with one's current mood and overlook or forget experiences that are not (camp is awesome because you forget you have to sleep outside)

retrograde amnesia lose past memories (most portrayals of amnesia)
anterograde amnesia
 lose ability to form new memories
memory bias
 the changing of memories over time so that they become consistent with current beliefs or attitudes
flashbulb memories
 vivid memories of surprising emotionally arousing event (challenger exploding. Tend to be innacurate)
misattribution

Memory distortion that occurs when people misremember the time, place, person, or circumstances involved with a memory 

confabulation

Confusing an event that happened to someone else with one that happened to you

suggestibility development of biased memories from misleading info
Ronald cotton Sentenced to life for rape by white victim (dna showed he was not guilty after he served 11 years)