autobiographical memory
memories of one’s own life events (episodic+semantic)
multidimensional memory
consists of various sensory information, spatial information, emotions + thoughts
reminisce bump
better autobiographical memory for events associated with adolescence and young adulthood (15-25 years old)
self-image hypothesis
events that helps form one’s identity or self-image are better remembered
cognitive hypothesis
- rapid life changes followed by stability are encoded more strongly because they are more salient
- i.e. going from not driving to driving, no job to first job
cultural life script hypothesis
- easier to recall life events that fit one’s cultural script knowledge of important life events
- proposes that we have a learned idea from tradition and culture of expectations of life events
- i.e. graduate from high school, get license, go to uni, get married, have kids
youth bias
tendency to think that important life events happen when one is young
memory and emotion
- better memory for emotionally arousing words and pictures (i.e. “love/terror” vs. “chair/book”)
- greater brain activity in amygdala for emotionally arousing words
- stress hormones released after emotional experiences increases consolidation
flashbulb memories
vivid memory for circumstances associated with hearing a shocking event
characteristics of flashbulb memories
- riddled with error and lack detail
- people are confident in the accuracy in their flashbulb memory
- narrative rehearsal hypothesis
narrative rehearsal hypothesis
rehearsing the events in one’s mind makes the memory vulnerable to being modified
memory as a reconstruction
- based on knowledge, experiences and expectations
- i.e. schemas and scripts
schemas
- knowledge of a scene/environment
- can lead to false recall and recognition
script
knowledge of the sequence of actions that regularly occur in a certain situation
the illusory truth effect
- repeated presentation of a statement increases the probability of it being judged to be true
- increases the fluency (rate of remembering the statement)
barlett (memory as a reconstruction)
- presented folklore “war of the ghosts”
- asked participants to recall the story after various delays (repeated reproduction technique)
- longer delay = reproduction of the story was shorter (omissions) and inaccurate
- often reflected their own culture
misinformation effect
misleading postevent information (MPI) can impact memory
hyman jr. et al. (false memories)
- proposed that familiarity and source misattribution can result in false memories
- participants were provided with false information about a childhood event
- 2 days later, participants incorporated the information into memory
errors in an eyewitness testimony
- where attention was directed (i.e. weapon focus when a weapon is used)
- source monitoring error (mistaking bystander as perpetrator)
- misleading postevent information
improving eyewitness testimony
- inform that lineup might not contain perpetrator
- use high-similarity lineups
- blind lineup administrator
- rate confidence in selection immediately after selection
cognitive interview increases correct details (eyewitness testimony)
- reinstates context of the crime
- asks to report everything
- recall events in different order
- recall incidents from different perspectives
eliciting false confessions (eyewitness testimony)
- often involves presentation of fake evidence to suggest guilt
- social pressure and instructions for guided imagery
