Evidence for Repression?
Childhood amnesia?
Psychogenic amnesia?
Perceptual defense?
NO
MAYBE
NO
Other studies
Slips of the Tongue
Does repressed material come out in
slips? (Freudian slips)
“It is my great pleasure to prevent . . .
I mean present our leader.”
Baars et al. (1992) slips created in the lab
(1) Do dieters make more slips related to food?
“ig pout” spoken as “pig out”
NO (didn’t work)
(2)
Do male speakers who score high on
a “sex-guilt” questionnaire make more slips
related to sex?
“bine foddy” spoken as “fine body”
There was a tendency for more slips from the
subjects who felt guilty about sex
Studies of Collections of Real Speech Errors
No evidence for hypothesis that slips express
repressed material
Conclude:
Evidence is not strong for “Freudian
slips”
Dreams and Repression
Why do some people remember dreams more
than others?
Some people dream less?
probably not
Some people wake up differently?
probably this does account for some
difference
Repression
Hypothesis
You repress
your dreams
and so you only
remember
“harmless” ones.
Salience
Hypothesis
What matters is
intensity. If you
don’t remember
dreams, it’s
because they are
not intense.
Cohen & Cox (1975) found
•A “repression” test did not correlate with dream
recall
•more intense dreams more likely to be reported
Remembering Dreams
Are dreams “real”?
•REM - rapid eye movements
 period of REM sleep is correlated
with the length of dream
 content of sleep talking consistent
with reported content
•Lucid dreaming
 becoming aware that you are
dreaming while you are dreaming
You can be trained to make an overt response
as soon as you’re aware you are dreaming.
Return of Repressed Memories?
Painful
Memory
...
Memory
is Gone
...
Memory
Returns
Example
return of memory for a murder
Are the memories real?
False memories can be created by suggestions,
misleading information
Loftus & Coan “Shopping Mall Experiment”
How easy is it to plant false memories in
children?
“Sam Stone” experiment
Ceci, Leichtman & White
3-6 year olds
(1) told about Sam Stone who is clumsy
(2) “Sam” visits and is not clumsy
(3) next day, shown a ripped book and
asked if Sam did it
•almost no one said Sam did
•25% said he could have done it, though, but
they didn’t see him do it
(4) each child is interviewed 5 times over the
next 10 weeks
During interviews
“I wonder whether Sam Stone was
wearing long or short pants when he
ripped the book?
(6) New interviewer asked children what
happened when Sam visited
•72% of 3-4 year olds said Sam ruined
something
•45% “saw” him do it
•only 11% of 5-6 year olds “saw” him do it
A control group who wasn’t told Sam was
clumsy in phase (1) made fewer false claims
Conclude:
Repeated interviews create false
memories more in younger children
•Expectations matter
Repression
•“Everyday repression”
•Taboo word effect
•Psychogenic amnesia
•Slips of the tongue
•Return of repressed
memories
•Childhood amnesia
•Poor dream recall
lots of evidence
not repression
repression is
possible explanation
not caused by
repression, but one
study (Motley &
Baars) does
suggest it can
happen
possible, but
memories may be
false
not repression
no evidence for
repression
Sleep and Memory
Jenkins & Dallenbach (1924)
% recall of syllables
100%
|
1
|
|
2
4
retention interval (hours)
Why?
•Less interference?
•Time of day effect?
•Maybe sleep actually improves memory
|
8
Folkard & Monk (1978)
Subjects read 1500-word passage
Then answer questions
morning is best
115Score on 100questions
evening
is worst
85-
|
8
morning
|
11
|
2
|
5
time of day
|
8
|
11
Benson & Feinberg (1975)
morning
afternoon
Group A
learn
8 hours
nonsense
syllables
Group B
learn
nonsense
syllables
....
morning
test
24 hours
SLEEP
Group B is better!
Sleep enhances memory?
or
time of test?
test
Idzikowski (1984
serial anticipation learning
NID
GAK
LIG
FES
PAF
TUD
KEL
BOJ
Idzikowski Experiment Conditions
Subjects are re-tested and % savings is computed
Group
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
learn
test
morning  afternoon
(8 hours)
morning  evening
(16 hours)
morning  morning
(24 hours)
morning  morning
(24 hours with SLEEP)
evening  morning
(8 hours with SLEEP)
evening  afternoon
(16 hours with SLEEP)
evening  evening
(24 hours with SLEEP)
% savings
Idzikowski Experiment Conditions
Subjects are re-tested and % savings is computed
Group
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
learn
test
morning  afternoon
(8 hours)
morning  evening
(16 hours)
% savings
65%
73%
morning  morning
(24 hours)
morning  morning
(24 hours with SLEEP)
68%
evening  morning
(8 hours with SLEEP)
evening  afternoon
87%
(16 hours with SLEEP)
evening  evening
(24 hours with SLEEP)
86%
84%
84%
Idzikowski - Experiment2
Does sleep enhance memory or does being
sleep deprived hurt memory?
learn
test
%
saving
1. evening SLEEP … SLEEP
(33 hours)
morning
83%
2. evening SLEEP … all nighter...
(33 hours)
morning
84%
The important thing is to sleep after learning.
Being sleep deprived doesn’t hurt as long as you
slept after the learning.
•Which phases of sleep are important?
possibly REM sleep
•Are dreams necessary for memory?
possibly
•Is dreaming a kind of house cleaning of your
mind?
Context Dependence
Your ability to remember an event is better
if the “context” at encoding matches the
“context” at time of retrieval.
Word contexts
Fisher & Craik
study
item
damp - LAMP
context
test
damp - ?
damp is a better retrieval cue for LAMP than
light is
Environmental Contexts
Material learned in one place is best recalled
in the same place.
•Room effects are very weak
•Godden & Baddeley (1925)
Recall while
Dry
Wet
Learn
while
Dry
Wet
13.5
8.6
8.4
11.4
Number
of
words
recalled
Drug-related State-dependent Retrieval
Material learned under a particular drugged
state is best retrieved in the same state.
A complete state-dependence experiment
Group
Learning
State
Testing
State
1
Placebo
Placebo
2
Drug
Drug
3
Placebo
Drug
4
Drug
Placebo
Drug-related State-dependent Retrieval
Material learned under a particular drugged
state is best retrieved in the same state.
A complete state-dependence experiment
Group
Learning
State
Testing
State
1
Placebo
Placebo
good performance shows state-dependence
2
Drug
Drug
3
Placebo
Drug
4
Drug
Placebo
Drugs showing state dependence
Marijuana (THC)
barbiturates
amphetamines
alcohol
Dosage must be high enough to change
perceived state of consciousness.
Eich et al. (1975)
Effect of cues on state dependence
Drug was THC (marijuana)
Four groups of subjects
Test
Drug
Drug
Placebo
same
diff.
diff.
same
Study
Placebo
Study
categorized lists
Furniture … Animals …
LAMP
LION
SOFA
BEAR
.
.
.
.
TEST
Free Recall
Found large effect of state dependence
Cued Recall
(give category names as cues)
Found no effect of state dependence!!
WHY?
When do you get State Dependence?
Eich (1980) examined 57 studies
Type of test
State Dependence
Free Recall
Serial Recall
yes
yes
Cued Recall
Recognition
no
no
You get S.D. when memory is tested by a
method with no cues
Why are Cues Important?
1. Changing the state changes your “inner”
context.
2. Context provides cues that guide the initial
search through memory.
3. When context is different (when drug state is
different) the search is in the wrong place.
4. Cued recall - explicit cues help search get to the
right place.
Recognition tests - very little search is required.
So you get no state dependence with cued
recall and recognition.
Moods are like internal states
Bower (1981)
8070-
60-
learn when sad
50|
Sad
|
Happy
Recall State
Are these phenomena all due to state
dependence or environmental context
dependence?
Failure to Recall Dreams?
could be state dependence
Hypnotic Amnesia?
probably not state dependence alone
Failure to Recall Memories From Mania
States in Manic-Depressive Psychosis?
probably is very similar to drugrelated state dependence
Getting Older
The bad news
•you slow down
•you have trouble searching LTS
The good news
•you know a lot more
Memory and Aging
•More difficulty with LTS than STS
Young
Free
Recall
Old
Serial Position
Teacher Recall
•Remote childhood memories don’t get easier to
retrieve with age (Schonfield, 1969)
.7.6.5.4|
20-29
|
30-39
|
40-49
Age
|
50-59
|
60-69
|
70+
Search phase, rather than the decision phase, of
retrieval is disrupted with age.
1.
Schonfield & Robertson (1966)
20Recognition
more
search
needed
15-
|
20-29
2.
|
30-39
|
40-49
|
50-59
|
60+
Vocabulary tests
“Hemoglobin means what?”
NO DECLINE WITH AGE
“Red pigment in blood that takes up
oxygen is called what?”
GETS WORSE WITH AGE
more search needed
Processing Speed
Sternberg Memory Scanning Paradigm
Recognition
Test
7
Study
yes
trial
3 9 7
set size = 3
no
trial
2
1
3
4
5
520Each
additional
item in
set adds
about
35 msec
to RT
490RT
460430400|
1
|
2
|
3
Set Size
|
4
|
5
9
1
5
1
5
6
2
8
3
7
5
9
6
Main Results
1. RT increases linearly with set size
2. “Slope” of line is the same for yes and no
responses (each additional item adds
about 35 msec to RT)
Interpretation
Items are held in STS
•Test item is compared with items in memory
one at a time
(serial, not parallel, comparison)
•The comparison is done exhaustively (all items)
not in a self terminating fashion
600 –
RT
yes
500 –
College
Students
35 msec/item
400 –
|
1
|
2
Set Size
|
3
|
4
If selfterminating
RT
slope for “no”
twice as big
as for “yes”
Set Size
If exhaustive
RT
slope for
“no” =
slope for
“yes”
Set Size
Data shows that it’s exhaustive
600 –
RT
yes
500 –
College
Students
35 msec/item
400 –
|
1
|
2
Set Size
|
3
|
4
Memory scanning rate is not slower, but overall
RT is (could be perceptual or motor processes)
600 –
RT
yes
500 –
College
Students
35 msec/item
400 –
|
1
|
2
Set Size
|
3
|
4
800 –
Retardation
from brain
damage
111 msec/item
Mentally
Retarded
adults (no
brain damage)
66 msec/item
700 –
600 –
RT
yes
500 –
College
Students
35 msec/item
400 –
|
1
|
2
Set Size
|
3
|
4
Burke et al. (1991)
Old subjects have more Tip-of-the-Tongue
experiences.
“What is the proper name for a tidal wave?”
“Oh … wait! I know … It’s …
... on the tip of my tongue”
Number of TOTs in a diary study
7-
Number
of TOTs
in a month
65-
43-
young
middle
old
Experimental Study
Asked about famous people
“What is the last name of the man who
said “I regret that I have but one life
lose for my country?”
4-
Mean
# of
TOTs
321Young
Old
Supports the idea that old subjects have
difficulty retrieving information from LTS
Where do TOTs come from?
Connections in LTS (semantic memory)
Concepts
pigment
blood
iron
hemoglobin
Words
Sounds
h
e
m
o
g
l
o …..
You are in the TOT state when you have
activated the word node, but not the sound
nodes
Why are there more TOTs as you get older?
Connections in the LTS network get weaker,
so activation spreads more slowly.
(Burke et al.)
Knowledge is still there, but it is weakened.
Hence it sometimes can’t be retrieved.
Conclusions
1. Aging affects the search phase of retrieval
from LTS
•Recall is bad; not recognition
•TOTs increase
2. General processing speed is slower
The slow processing speed may be the cause
of the search deficit