The Seven Sins of Memory

Transience Losing access to information across time because of forgetting, interference or retrieval failure.

Absent- Failure to remember information and activities Mindedness because of lack of attention during encoding.

Blocking Temporary retrieval failure, e.g., tip-of-the tongue state.

Misattribution Remembering a fact correctly but attributing it to incorrect source. Suggestibility Incorporating information provided by others into your own recollections. Bias Distorting recollections to reflect particular

knowledge, beliefs and feelings.

Persistence Inability to forget traumatic memories.

TYPES OF MEMORY

SensoryMemory

Short-term(Secondary,Working)

Long-term(Primary)

Declarative(knowing what)

Procedural(knowing how)

Episodic Generic

Semantic Generic non-verbal

Encoding Specificity

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Encoding specificity

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Massed vs. Distributed Practice

Retroactive Interference

Experimental Group: Original Interpolated Test: learning: learning:

Task A Task B Task A

Control Group:Task A Rest Task A

Proactive Interference

Experimental Group: Prior learning: Learning: Test:

Task B Task A Task A

Control Group:None Task A Task A

Proactive Interference from Previously Learned

Lists

Effect of Learning Prior Lists on Learning a New List (Proactive Interference)

APPROXIMATIONS TO ENGLISH (MILLER & SELFRIDGE)

Zero order (random selection from dictionary): Betwixt trumpeter pebbly complication tipple careen obscure attractive consequence expedition gene unpublished prominence chest sweetly basin photographer ungrateful

First order (dictionary selection weighted by relative frequencies of words): Tea realizing most so the together home and for were wanted to concert I posted he her it the walked

Second order (Successive people given one word): Sun was nice dormintory is I like chocolate cake but I think that book is he wants to school there

APPROXIMATIONS TO ENGLISH (MILLER & SELFRIDGE) 2

Third order (Successive people given two words): Family was large dark animal came roaring down the middle of my friends love books passionately vary kiss is fine

Fourth order (Successive people given three words): Went to the movies with a man I used to go toward Harvard Square in Cambridge is mad fun for

Fifth order (Successive people given four words): Road in the country was insane especially in dreary rooms where they have some books to buy for studying Greek

Seventh order (Successive people given six words): Easy if you know you to crochet you can make a simple scarf if they knew the color that it

Prose text: More attention has been paid to diet but mostly in relation to disease and to the growth of young children

COLEMAN EXPERIMENT

First subject (original passage):

“about war good-looking way and treating made of that a him the quiet youngster nice he manners a them girlswild go with”

16th subject:

“he was a youngster nice quiet with manners good-looking and a way of treating them that made the girls go wild about him”

Bartlett’s “The War of the Ghosts

One night two young men from Egulac went down to the river to hunt seals, and while they were there it became foggy and calm. Then they heard war-cries, and they thought: “Maybe this is a war-party.” They escaped to the shore, and hid behind a log. Now canoes came up, and they heard the noise of paddles, and saw one canoe coming up to them. There were five men in the canoe, and they said:“What do you think? We wish to take you along. We are going up the river to make war on the people.”One of the young men said: “I have no arrows.”“Arrows are in the canoe,” they said.“I will not go along. I might be killed. My relatives do not know where I have gone. But you.” he said turning to the other, “may go with them.”So one of the young men went, but the others returned home.And the warriors went on up the river to the

And the warriors went on up the river to a town on the other side of Kalama. The people came down to the water, and they began to fight, and many were killed. But presently the young man heard one of the warriors say: “Quick, let us go home: The Indian has been hit.” Now he thought: “Oh, they are ghosts.” He did not feel sick, but they said he had been shot.So the canoes went back to Egulac, and the young man went ashore to his house, and made a fire. And he told everybody and said: “Behold I accompanied the ghosts, and we went to fight. Many of our fellows were killed, and many of those who attacked us were killed. They said I was hit, and I did not feel sick.”He told it all, and then he became quiet. When the sun rose he fell down. Something black came out of his mouth. His face became contorted. The people jumped up and cried.He was dead.

15 minutes later:

Two young men from Egulac went out to hunt seals. They thought they heard war cries, and a little later they heard the noise of the paddling of canoes. One of these canoes, in which there were five natives, came forward to them.

Questions about robbery:•What was the shopkeeper doing when the robbers entered the store?•Did the robber in trainers enter the store first?•How old were the robbers?

•What weapon did the second robber use when he hit the male shopper?•Did the shopkeeper shout for help before or after the cash register was opened?•At what stage did the witness lose his glasses?

•In what direction did the robbers turn to make their getaway?

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How fast were the cars going when they ******* each other?

Contacted

Collided into

BumpedHit

Smashed into

0

10

20

30

40

50

Loftus: Speed estimates for the different verbs used in the witness question

32mph34mph

38mph39mph 41mph

Estimated Speed

SmashedContacted Hit BumpedCollided

Loftus and Pickrellasked 24 subjects, 18 to 53, to try to remember childhood events provided by a parent, an older sibling or another close relative.

Three paragraphs related events that had actually happened to the subject A fourth paragraph related an event of being lost in a mall that had not occurred but was constructed using information about a plausible shopping trip provided by a relative. The relative also verified that the participant had not in fact been lost at about the age of fiveThe false event involved being lost for an extended period, crying, aid and comfort by an elderly woman and, finally, reunion with the family.

68% recall of the true memories, 29% of subjects remembered the false memory

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Do you remember the time you spilled the lunch bowl at Aunt Sally’s wedding?

The man on the left, Ron Cotton, who spent 11 years in prison for the rape of Jennifer Thompson. The man on the right is the rapist. During the assault, Thompson made careful effort to remember her rapist's facial features. Nonetheless she generated a composite and then picked out from a police lineup innocent man. Her memory of the perpetrator's face was changed by these activities without her awareness. She was confident that she was identifying the person who raped her.

MISTAKEN IDENTITY BY AN EYE-WITNESS

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Eye witness testimony (Loftus)

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Showed subjects a video in which there was a car accident at a stop sign.

Eye witness testimony (Loftus)

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Half the subjects later asked a question about a yield sign (“how fast was the blue car going when it went past the yield sign?”)Those who heard the misleading question were more likely to later remember the video as having a yield sign.