Transcript Encoding Failure

Are You A Good Eyewitness?
Forgetting

1.
2.
3.
Forgetting is a result of
either:
Encoding Failure
Storage Decay OR
Retrieval Failure
Forgetting As Encoding Failure
 Information
system
never enters the memory
Encoding Failure: Which Penny is the
Real Deal?

Forgetting As Interference
Learning some items may disrupt retrieval of
other information.
 Sometimes new memories interferes with
storing old memories – teachers often forget
names of former students as they learn the
names of their current students
 Sometimes old memories interfere with new
memories – Cable channel lineup changes

Storage Loss: Amnesia
 Amnesia
refers to the
loss of memory.
 Amnesiac patients
typically have losses in
explicit memory.
Types of Amnesia

Anterograde Amnesia: type of memory loss where
patients are UNABLE TO FORM ANY NEW
MEMORIES. Can’t remember anything that has
occurred AFTER a traumatic head injury.

Retrograde Amnesia: type of memory loss where
patients are UNABLE TO REMEMBER PAST
EVENTS. May forget everything that happened
BEFORE a traumatic head injury.
Revisiting Terms: Retrieval
Failure
 Tip
of the Tongue phenomenon: when
we are certain we know something yet we
are unable to recall it.
 Relates to retrieval failure, usually priming
or external cues will help you recall the
information you are looking for.
Motivated Forgetting
 Motivated Forgetting is the idea that
people unknowingly revise their
history. Ex: I broke up with her; she
didn’t break up with me.
 What purpose might motivated
forgetting serve?
Motivated Forgetting As A Freudian
Concept

Repression: idea put forth by
psychoanalytic theorists like
Freud which states anxiety
arousing thoughts, feelings, and
memories can be banished from
consciousness.

Ex: child abuse, rape, incest
may be repressed and not be
able to be actively recalled.
Freud believed Repression was a
Defense Mechanism

Freud argued individuals often “forgot”
traumatic incidents to protect their self concepts
and to minimize external anxiety.

Freud argued “Forgotten” incidents are
banished the “unconscious.”

The incidents may cause you to have
unexplained phobias or problems, that wont be
helped until you uncover the incident.
Repression and Controversy of Child
Abuse

In the late 1980’s a book came out called “The
Courage to Heal” which encouraged people to
recover memories of abuse.

Following the book, “Recover Memory
Therapists” arose in great numbers and many
people began reporting incidents of “repressed”
abuse.

Sometimes “repressed memories” were used
as evidence against individuals in court cases.
Defining Memory Construction

Memory Construction refers to the idea that
memories are NOT objective recordings of the
actual events we experience.

Our memories are often affected by our preexisting schemas and involve information
filtering and interpretations.

We can have real memories of events that
never took place or that are filled with
inaccuracy because we fill in memory gaps with
plausible guesses.
Loftus Videos
The Bunny Effect
 Lost in a Mall

Misinformation Effect and Memory
Construction
 Misinformation
Effect:
incorporating misleading
information into one's
memory of an event.
 Children are most
susceptible to the
misinformation effect.
Memory Construction Continued

Source Amnesia:
attributing to the wrong
source an event that we
experienced, heard about,
read about, or imagined
(misattribution)
 Ex:
Reagan’s story about
WWII gunner was actually
from a movie he saw.
I
am going to show you a list of words.
 Your
task is to memorize the list.
 When
I am finished I will ask you to
recall the words by writing them down
on a half sheet of paper.
Bed
Clock
Dream
Night
Turn
Doze
Mattress
Snooze
Nod
Tired
Night
Artichoke
Insomnia
Rest
Toss
Night
Yawn
Alarm
Nap
Snore
Pillow
Remember as many words
as you can. Write them
down on your half sheet of
paper.
Recall as many words as you can.
Primacy effect
Distinctiveness
Recency effect
Semantic Organization
Repetition /Rehearsal
1.
Bed
8.
Snooze
15. Toss
2.
Clock
9.
Nod
16. Night
3.
Dream
10. Tired
17. Yawn
4.
Night
11. Night
18. Alarm
5.
Turn
12. Artichoke
19. Nap
6.
Doze
13. Insomnia
20. Snore
7.
Mattress
14. Rest
21. Pillow
Did you remember the word sleep?
FALSE MEMORY!!!!