Transcript memory - Centerville Public Schools

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Recall / Recognition
-- Forgetting
Identify
several memory
retrieval processes.
Explain
the processes
involved in forgetting.
The brain has a tremendous
capacity for storing and retrieving
information
 But…stored info is useless unless it
can be retrieved
 Problem: memory stores thousands
of items in such a way that you
can find it when you need it

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
Has to be organized in a way that it’s
easily retrieved
Memory is efficient so even though
Psychologists don’t know how it is
organized, they study of the
processes of retrieval for clues.
Memory retrieval in which a
person identifies an object, idea,
or situation as one he or she has
or has not experienced.
 We can retrieve info pretty
easily.

Like a name or answer to a question
 Has to be recognized in the memory
though

Ex: We can recognize the sound
of a musical instrument no
matter what tune is being played
 Ex: Multiple Choice tests

 Memory
retrieval in which a
person reconstructs previously
learned material
 More difficult than recognition
 Involves more searching and
finding in the memory
 Involves knowledge, attitude,
expectations, and attention
 Remembering is an active
process guided by cues we
receive from the environment
 Ex: Essay questions
Conceptual framework a person uses to
make sense of the world
 Sets of expectations about something that
is based on past experiences or knowledge.
 Schemas affect that way that people
“remember” things or information
 Adults have more defined schemas so their
“remembering” may be altered where as
children have more eidetic memory
 Photographic memory that can recall very
specific details.
 Adults rarely have photographic memory
b/c their memory is based largely on
their schemas

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A person recollections of his or her own life experiences
Researchers have discovered that adults tend to remember
more from the second and third decades of their lives
 Probably b/c many novel experiences happen in this time
Complex and seem to contain unending strings of stories
and snapshots
 Usually organized in three levels
1. Life time periods: something generic about high school
2. General events: trip you took after graduation
3. Event-Specific knowledge: event that happened on that
trip
Usually include reality and myth
 Less about the facts and more about the meaning of the
“stories”
Remembering life experiences usually
involves some level of emotion
 The role of emotion in memory plays a
considerable interest to research and
the public
 FLASHBULB MEMORIES: emotionally
charged, significant events that people
often recall with more accuracy and
more vivid imagery than everyday events
 Ex: September 11, 2001
 People are usually pretty confident
about the memories
 Usually more accurate than everyday
memories

Memory is not a perfect
reflection of reality
 Distortions of memory is
particularly important when a
person is called on to report
what they saw or heard in
relation to a crime
 Eyewitness testimony may
contain errors
 Not often dramatic or traumatic
for the person witnessing the
crime

Not an emotional memory
 Sensory memory is used in most
cases (last for seconds)

 Memory
is imperfect
 Not unusual for 2 people to
remember different things about one
event
 Forgetting: failure to recall
information
 Why do we forget?


Encoding failure: occurs when the info
never reaches long term memory
Retrieval failure: include problems with
storage, effects of time, brain’s
condition
Theory: people forget, not
because memories are lost from
storage but because other
information gets in the way of
what they want to remember
 Proactive: when old interferes
with new information
 “forward in time”
 Retroactive: when new
interferes with old info
 “backward in time”
 Retrieval can get overloaded
and people tend to forget

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sh
ows/dna/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mfUGWif6
pQ
 1)
Describe the circumstances that lead to
the wrongful conviction of Ronald Cotton.
 2) 177 out of 230 wrongful convictions were
because of eye-witness testimony. What are
some factors that contribute to the
unreliability of eyewitness testimony.
 3) What are some things that policing
agencies have done to combat the difficulty
identifying suspects?