Transcript May14
Cognitive Processes PSY 334 Chapter 7 – Human Memory: Retention and Retrieval May 14, 2003 Interference vs Decay Less forgetting during sleep than when awake. Occurs because material is retained better when learned at night. Night is period of highest arousal. Forgetting functions may reflect interference from unknown sources. Decay theories do not specify any mechanism for decay. Effects of Redundancy Interference occurs only when learning multiple memories that have no relationship to each other. Bradshaw & Anderson – compared relevant and irrelevant fact learning: Irrelevant facts interfere. Relevant facts aid memory compared to single fact learning. Retrieval and Inference Much of memory is inference at the time of recall – not actual recall of facts. Bransford et al. -- inference can lead to incorrect recall: Turtles resting on or beneath log. Subjects were most confused by sentences whose meaning was implied by the studied sentences. Inference-Based Intrusions Sulin & Dooling – subjects add details not present during learning: Carol Harris vs Helen Keller “She was deaf, dumb and blind.” 5% Carol Harris but 50% Helen Keller subjects falsely recognized the sentence. Inferences are made at test-time. More inferential errors occur with delay. Plausible Retrieval Reder – much of recall is plausible inference not actual recall. Darth Vader inferred to be evil, not remembered to be evil. Heir to hamburger chain story – subjects asked to recall exact details and make plausible inferences. After a delay, plausible inference is faster and does not decay as much as exact memory, with no fan effect. Inference and Elaboration Elaboration leads to more inferences. Information added as a “theme” to a story results in better recall of studied material and more inferences. Intruded inferences are not necessarily “errors” but help guide our thinking and behavior. Listerine court case – false inferences, not just false statements, not permitted. Memory Errors When exact memory is needed, inferences and reconstructive processes can be misleading. Loftus -- additional details and suggestion can change what is recalled. John Dean’s recall vs what Nixon recorded – gist was right but not details. False memory syndrome – memories that never happened can be “planted.” Structure and Retrieval Memory is helped by prompts that are closely associated with what is to be recalled. We prompt ourselves when trying to recall. Organized material is easier to learn because it provides a structure for prompting recall: Trees for minerals, animals, clothing, transportation. Mnemonics Method of Loci – place items in a location, then take a mental walk. Peg-word System – use peg words as a structure and associate a list of items with them using visualization. Create acronyms for lists of items. Convert nonsense syllables (DAX, GIB) into meaningful items by associating them with real words (e.g., DAD).