3/20/2014

Seven Sins of

Memory Retrieval 2

Seven Sins of Memory

 Dan Schacter (Harvard)  Compared seven common memory errors to deadly sins  If you avoid these you are rewarded with good memory  But, sinning is not all bad and serves a purpose  How good is everyday memory?  Shepard (1967)  Shepard (1983)  Patterson and Baddeley (1977)

Seven Sins of Memory

 The sins  Transience  Absent Mindedness  Blocking  Misattribution   Bias  Persistence  Each sin tells us something about how memory works

1 3/20/2014

Transience

 Deterioration of memory  Hermann von Ebbinghaus (1885)  Studied meaningless, nonsense syllables ( wuj )  Tried to syllables  curve

Absent Mindedness

 Lapses of resulting in poor  Change blindness  Inattentional blindness  Simons & Chabris (1999)  Hyman, et al. (2010), “ Did You See the Unicycling Clown?... ”

Blocking

 When trying to retrieve memory, something blocks access  Examples  Proactive interference  Retroactive interference  Release from PI shows we can unblock  phenomenon  von Restorff effect

2 3/20/2014

Blocking

 Tulving and Pearlstone (1966)  Related to von Restorff effect  As number of memorized items per category increases, memory for individual items decreases  Subjects studied lists of 12, 24, or 48 words  For each length the number of items/category was 1, 2 or 4  vs. category cued recall

Blocking

 Tulving and Pearlstone (1966) Results  Number of items/category influenced cue effectiveness  More distinct a cue = better memory

36 Cued Recall Free Recall 32

28

24

20

16

12 Mean # Words Recalled # Words Mean

8

4 1 2 4 1 2 4 1 2 4 12 Items 24 Items 48 Items List Length and Number of Items Per Category

Blocking

 Retrieval induced forgetting  Anderson, Bjork & Bjork (1994)  Intervening test of some items inhibits memory for other items  Three phases to the experiment Study Phase Practice Phase Test Phase Condition Drink Unpracticed-unrelated item (NRp) Vodka --- Drink _____ Unpracticed-unrelated item (NRp) Rum --- Drink _____ Unpracticed-unrelated item (NRp) Gin --- Drink _____ Unpracticed-unrelated item (NRp) Bourbon --- Drink _____ Unpracticed-unrelated item (NRp) Ale --- Drink _____ Unpracticed-unrelated item (NRp) Whiskey --- Drink _____ Unpracticed-unrelated item (NRp) Fruit Tomato --- Fruit _____ Unpracticed-related item (Rp-) Strawberry --- Fruit _____ Unpracticed-related item (Rp-) Banana --- Fruit _____ Unpracticed-related item (Rp-) Orange Fruit Or_____ Fruit _____ Practiced Item (Rp+) Lemon Fruit Le_____ Fruit _____ Practiced Item (Rp+) Pineapple Fruit Pi______Fruit _____ Practiced Item (Rp+)

3 3/20/2014

Blocking

 Anderson, Bjork & Bjork (1994)  Memory better for NRp items than Rp- items  Suppression or “inhibition” of unpracticed category items 100

80 FRUIT DRINK

60

40

20 orange banana vodka whiskey % Correct % Correct Recall 0 Rp+ Rp- NRp Rp+ 81% Rp- 40.3% NRp 56% NRp 56%

Misattribution

 Assigning memory to the wrong source  Bystander effect  Attributing the actions of one person to another  Not the same bystander effect as in social  Memory conjunction error s  Combining/blending information from two sources  Study:  spaniel  varnish  Retrieve: Spanish

Misattribution

 Payne, Jacoby and Lambert (2004)  Examined influence of stereotypical black names versus white names on memory for occupations  of events are not isolated and independent

4 3/20/2014

Suggestibility

 Tendency to incorporate information (often misleading) into our recollections  Leading questions by attorneys  Coercive questioning by police  “That was a nice blue shirt Bob was wearing.”  Loftus and Palmer (1974)   Video of car accident  “About how fast were the cars going when they _____ each other ?”  hit, smashed , collided, bumped , or contacted

Suggestibility

 Loftus and Palmer (1974) Results  Speed estimates were influenced by the verbs “severity”

45 43 41 39 37 35 33 31 29 27

Mean Mean Estimate Speed (mph) 25 Contacted Hit Bumped Collided Smashed Verb Used in Question

Suggestibility

 Loftus and Palmer (1974) Results  Question wording also causes us to think something was present  “Was there any broken glass in the accident? ”

Verb Used in Sentence “Smashed” “Hit” Saw Broken Yes n = 16 n = 7 Glass? No n = 34 n 43

5 3/20/2014

Bias

 Feelings, beliefs, and worldview distort memory for events  (hindsight is always 20/20)  “Feel like we knew something all along”  Bryant and Brockway (1997)  Examined hindsight bias of the OJ Simpson verdict  Asked about likelihood of guilt 2-hours before and 2-days after  Ronald Regan as the ‘deficit and unemployment fighter’  PLEASE don’t get me started on this…I BEG YOU!!!!

Persistence

 Remembering things we wish we could forget  White bear phenomenon  Associated with post-traumatic disorder

False Memory

 Encoding items related to a critical item/event can lead one to falsely remember seeing that item/event  Deese, Roedigger & McDermott (DRM) Effect  Study a list of words related to a critical lure  Recall or recognize the list items  Studied item  Critical lure  Non-studied associate

Studied Item Non-Studied Associate Critical Lure 65% 14% 41%

6 3/20/2014

False Memory

 Activation/source-monitoring account  Associates activate the lure during encoding  During retrieval, subjects have difficulty determining the source of activation of the critical lure

snooze pillow

night rest

dream wake

7