Memory in everyday life

Reading: finish reading Chapter 8

and one journal article for the seminar
 Today:
Quick pop quiz on Memory
Memory in everyday life (Applied Psychology):

Flashbulb memories
State-dependent memory
Eye-witness testimony
Amnesia
 Memory pop quiz!

What can you remember from last

weeks Memory lecture: Part 1!?
 What is memory?
Which of the following is NOT an ability of Memory?
Memory is the ability to

A. perceive information
B. code information
C. store information
D. retrieve information
 Some definitions:
Encoding (or registration)
receiving, processing and combining of received information

Storage
creation of a permanent record of the encoded information

Retrieval (recall or recollection)

calling back the stored information in response to some cue for
use in a process or activity
Learning how to ride a bike is classified as
what type of memory?

A. Episodic memory
B. Procedural memory
C. Factual memory
D. Semantic memory

Which 2 are typical in STM?

Answer: Procedural and factual
Miller (1956) tested the capacity of STM. What
did he find? STM has a capacity of
A. 6 (+/-2)
B. 7 (+/-2)
C. 6 (+/-3)
D. 7 (+/-3)
 STM: Encoding strategies

What is a mnemonic?

Can you give me a definition? An example?

Knucklemnemonic
 In the following diagram where are the
primacy and recency effects?
The Serial Position Curve

100

80
Proportion Recalled

60

40

20
0
1 5 10 15 20 25 30
Position of Words on List

A. Recency effect on the left, primacy effect on the right

B. Recency effect on the right, primacy effect on the left
C. Both in the middle
 Atkinson and Shriffin (1968)
The Serial Position Curve

100

80

Proportion Recalled
60

40

20
0
1 5 10 15 20 25 30
Primacy Effect Position of Words on List Recency Effect

Which way round?

A. Primacy=STM and Recency=LTM

A. Primacy=LTM and Recency=STM

A record of life experiences (like an autobiography)
is an example of which type of memory?

A. Episodic memory
B. Procedural memory
C. Factual memory
D. Semantic memory

Which 2 are typical in LTM?

Answer: Episodic and semantic

 Match up the following types
of forgetting:
Definition:
Name:
A. Disruptive effect of new
A.Encoding failure learning on recall of old
information
B.Retrieval failure
B. Information is not
C.Proactive interference recovered from LTM

D.Retroactive interference C. Information never enters

the long-term memory
D. Disruptive effect of prior
learning on recall of new
information
 Which model of memory is this?
Rehearsal

A. Multistore model
B. Working memory model
C. Levels of processing model
Who proposed the Multistore model?

A. Craik & Lockhart (1972)

B. Baddeley & Hitch (1974)
C.Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
 Tip!
Remember the models in this order:

Multistore Working Levels of

processing

Atkinson Baddeley & Craik &

and Shiffrin Hitch (1974) Lockhart
(1968) (1972)
 How did you do?
Remember, make a quick note of things you didnt
quite remember.

Dont worry, they just need a little extra revision time!

Memory in everyday life
Where were you when you
heard about 9.11?
Or the London
bombings
Can you remember when/where
you heard that MJ or Robin
Williams had died?
 These are examples of:
Flashbulb memories
Memory of an event that is personally/socially
important, novel, unexpected, vivid and has
major long-term consequences.

People can often recall exactly where they

were and what they were doing when news of a
significant event breaks
 Brown & Kulik (1977)
Coined flashbulb memories by Brown & Kulik
(1977) when they studied pts. recollections of
the assassination of Martin Luther King and
JFK.

the memory has a live quality that is almost

perceptuallike a photograph
Operate via a different mechanism to other
types of memory (they are special!).
 However, Wright (1993)
Argued that flashbulb memories do not have a
special mechanism.

UK pts. to recall memory of 2 events:

Resignation of Margaret Thatcher
Hillsborough disaster
 Wright (1993)
12% of the sample has vivid recollections of
MTs resignation.
9% vivid recollections of Hillsborough.

MUCH lower than previous research! Possible

reasons why?
Age? Lack of interest in politics?
 Flashbulb memories
Critique:

NO CONTROL GROUP! To address this

Talarico & Rubin (2003) tested students recall of 9.11
compared to everyday events on 9.12 (the next day,
therefore a similar time=control).

Results: Recall declined for both types across 1 week, 6

weeks and then 32 weeks later. BUT Flashbulb
memories were recalled in a more coherent way.
 Flashbulb memories
Critique:

Research now suggests they may not be special. May

be memorable, but not for the reasons put forward
originally.

Research suggests that:

Emotional state (arousal)

Triggers rehearsal of the event
Strengthens memory!
 Context-dependent memory
Last week we talked about context-dependent memory
as a result of physical cues (e.g. under water/on land,
by Godden & Baddeley, 1975).
 State-dependent memory
Research suggests that memory is better when
peoples moods or emotional states match that of
when they learned the material.

This can be done by:

1. Manipulating a persons mood by hypnosis
2. Through using drugs
Eich et al. (1994) Experiment
Part 1: Pts. Shown common words (e.g. walk) and
asked to generate specific autobiographical memories
for each word. Mood measured.

Part 2: 2-3 days later pts. Asked to free recall the event
memories they generated in the experiment. Mood
again measured.

Results: Successful recall of events was higher when

their mood at testing matched the mood when
generating.
 Context/state-dependent
memory
Critique:

Effects could be due to other factors (e.g. pre-existing

mood could have cued an original event).

Meta-analysis (statistical analysis which looks at lots of

studies!) found context-dependent memory to be very
reliable (Smith & Vela, 2001).
 However, cues can also lead
to inaccuracies
Recognition experiment

Lets give it a go!

 Malleability of memory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMn8Es5cPCE
This vulnerability or susceptibility has
significant consequences for important areas of
life
Especially those that have important (life-
changing) repercussionssuch as eyewitness
testimony!
 Loftus & Palmer (1974)
Experiment 1:

Pts. Shown clips of a car accident. Asked to estimate

the speed of the cars involved.

When they either:

contacted/hit/bumped/collided/smashed
 Loftus & Palmer (1974)
Results:
Speed estimated were predicted by the force of the
impact suggested by the verb used
 Loftus & Palmer (1974)
Experiment 2:

Similar exp. Shown clip. Then 1 week later pts. were

asked Whether they saw any broken glass at the scene?

as you can see there was none

 Loftus & Palmer (1974)
People in the smashed group were most likely to say
yes!
Conclusions:
Strong influence of leading questions!
Two types of information: original info. and additional
info. after the event one memory.
Imp. Implications for EYE WITNESS TESTIMONY!
Good storyboard of Loftus and Palmers work:
http://www.pixton.com/uk/comic/m3sx5b43
 Eyewitness testimony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSzPn9rsPcY

Recollection of events may not be infallible (Loftus,

1997).
Effect of leading questions/false information
Stress at encoding impairs performance
Effect of feedback on confidence
We dont encode every detail into LTM
Gaps are filled by common experiences
 Reconstructive recall
Complex events not able to encode everything
When we recall, we often RECONSTRUCT
What happened to the hijacker/car accident story?
Loss of detail
Accentuation of detail
Story aligned with our schemata and stereotypes
 Eyewitness identification
In a review of 205 cases of wrongful arrests, Rattner
(1988) found that just over half (52%) were associated
with mistaken eyewitness testimony.

How well will you do?

 Planting memories

Interview with Elizabeth Loftus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RLvSGYxDIs&feature=fv
w
 Amnesia
Damage to parts of the brain can permanently impair
the ability to form new memories into LTM, or retrieve
old memories from LTM. 2 types:

Anterograde Retrograde
Impairment in the ability to Impairment in the ability to
form new memories retrieve old memories

Generally memory is
intact from before the
brain damage.
 Brain damage
Brain damage can be due to a variety of
causes:
For example:
Alcoholism, malnutrition, stroke, disease, head
trauma (injury) or surgery etc.
 Case studies
Anterograde amnesia:
1. Patient HM
2. Clive Wearing
 Patient HM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mvx-mAUJL8
Henry Molaison (HM): One of the most famous case of
anterograde amnesia (Corkin et al, 1981).

At 27yrs HM underwent surgery to remove part of his

temporal lobe (hippocampus) to treat his epilepsy.

Result: Cured epilepsy, but caused anterograde amnesia.

STM intact, but had an inability to store new
information.
 Clive Wearing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwigmktix2Y

On March 27, 1985, Clive Wearing (then an

acknowledged expert in music at the height of his
career with BBC Radio 3) contracted a herpes simplex
virus at attacked his Central Nervous System
anterograde amnesia.
Thanks for your
attention

Memory seminar