Memory Construction
Period 3
#10
How do misinformation, imagination, and source amnesia influence our
memory construction? How real seeming are false memories?
Vocabulary:
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Misinformation effect:
incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an
event
Source Amnesia: or (misattribution): Retaining the memory of the event, but not the
context in which we acquired it.
Misinformation effects:
eyewitnesses similarly reconstruct their memories when later
questioned.
Discerning True and False memories:
Because memory is reconstruction as
well as reproduction, we can't be sure whether a memory is real by how we feel.
Children’s eyewitness recall: Children are especially accurate when they have not
talked with involved adults prior to the interview and when their disclosure is made in a first
interview with a neutral person who asks non leading questions.
Examples:
● Source amnesia: Authors and songwriters sometimes suffer source
amnesia. they think an idea came from their own creative imagination,
when in fact they are unintentionally plagiarizing something they earlier
read or heard.
● Children’s eyewitness recall: In experiments with adults, suggestive
questions(“In fresh water, do snakes swim upside down for about half the
time?”) are often misremembered as statements.
● Misinformation and imagination affects: Older adults are more susceptible
than younger adults to false memories. This makes older adults more
vulnerable to scams.
Anecdotes:
● Misinformation Effect: In a study by Elizabeth Loftus, people were shown a
film of a traffic accident and then quizzed about what they saw. When
suggestively asked “How fast were the cars going when they smashed into
each other?” the speeds given were much higher than those who were
asked “how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?”. In
addition, those who had the question using the word smashed, had
reported they did see glass fragments when there was no broken glass in
the film.
Anecdotes:
● Children’s eyewitness recall: In one study, Stephen Ceci had a child choose
a card from a deck of possible happenings and an adult read from the card.
For example, the adult would ask the child if certain events had occurred to
them and whether or not they remembered it. After 10 weekly interviews, a
new adult asked the same questions. 58 percent of preschoolers produced
false stories regarding one or more events they had never experienced.
● Source amnesia: Debra Poole and Stephen Lindsay designed an experiment
among preschoolers who joined “Mr. Science” in various scientific activities and
experiments. Three months later, for three days in a row, parents read their
children stories about some activities the children did, as well as ones they did
not. After asked “Did Mr. Science have/do _____?”, 40% of the children
spontaneously had a memory of him doing what only happened in the story.
REVIEW QUIZ:
1. The misinformation effect is when people misremember things after they are exposed to subtle
misinformation. True or False.
2. People commonly reconstruct memories of events based on how the event was described to
them. True or False.
3. What is the term used to explain when you retain the memory of the event but not the context in
which it was acquired?
a. Source Amnesia
b. Misinformation effect
c. Interference
d. deja vu
4. We can judge a memory’s reality by its persistence and how real it feels. True or False.
5. When can children’s eyewitness accounts be trusted?
a. Never
b. Always
c. Only when questioned using neutral words they understand
d. Only when using suggestive questions
REVIEW QUIZ CONTINUED:
6. The most confident and consistent eyewitness testimonies are the most accurate. True or False.
7. People tend to recall memories closer to how they feel today rather than how the events actually
occurred. True or False.
8.Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event is an example of Source
amnesia? True of False.
9. What people are more susceptible to false memories?
a. White People
b. Only adults
c. People with damaged frontal lobes and children
d. Only children
10.Recalling a yield sign as a stop sign is an example of the Misinformation Effect ? True or False.
Review Quiz Answer Key
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
True
True
A.
False
C.
False
True
False
C.
True