Agenda
1. Bell Ringer: What are the types of Memory?
2. Notes: Forgetting (25)
3. What is on a Penny? Activity (10)
4. Deception, can you describe him? (10)
5. The Seven Sins of Memory, Group Explanation (20)
Forgetting
An inability to retrieve
information due to:
Encoding failure
Storage decay
Retrieval failure
Motivated forgetting
Forgetting
Encoding failure
 If you don’t use what you learn you
will forget it.
 Ex. 2nd languages need to be practiced
or you will forget a lot of it.
 Forgetting curve: after a while you
what is left in your memory for that
2nd language will be remembered.
Storage Decay
Storage Decay
Retrieval Failure
Tip-of-the-tongue
Phenomenon
Cues:
 Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: can’t quite put
your finger on it. Can’t retrieve.
 Interference: learning sometimes may prevent
retrieving information especially when the
information is similar.
 Proactive interference: something we learned
earlier disrupts recall of something experienced
later (ex. You have a new phone number but
you keep remembering the old one)
 Retroactive interference: disruptive effect of
new learning on recall of old info. (ex. Try and
remember an old address)
Retrieval Failure
Interference
Retro Pro
Old
New
Sleep prevents retroactive interference.
Therefore, it leads to better recall.
Schacter’s 7 Sins of Memory
Three Sins of Forgetting
1. Absent-mindedness: inattention to
details leads to encoding failure
2. Transience: storage decay over time
3. Blocking: inaccessibility of stored info
(tip-of-the-tongue)
Schacter’s 7 Sins of Memory
Three Sins of Distortion
1. Misattribution: confusing the source of
information learned. (putting words in
someone else’s mouth, confusing a
movie with a personal memory)
2. Suggestibility: leading
questions/suggestions from others.
3. Bias: beliefs that impact our memories
Example of misinformation
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSzPn9rsPcY&safe
ty_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active
Schacter’s 7 Sins of Memory
Intrusion
Persistence:
haunted by
memories
Motivated Forgetting
Motivated Forgetting:
People unknowingly
revise their memories.
Repression: A defense
mechanism that banishes
anxiety-arousing
thoughts, feelings, and
memories from
consciousness.
Sigmund Freud
Confabulation – by Elizabeth Loftus
 Filling in the gaps of memory by
combining or substituting memories
from other events.
Elizabeth Loftus
Misinfo & Imagination
Misinformation Effect:
incorporating misleading
information into one’s memory of
an event.
Imagination: creating false
memories through nonexistent
actions.
Elizabeth Loftus
Misinformation
Group A: How fast were the cars going
when they smashed into each
other?
Group B: How fast were the cars going
when they hit each other?
Confabulation
Memory Construction
A week later they were asked: Was there any
broken glass? Group B (smashed into) reported
more broken glass than Group A (hit).
Broken Glass? (%)
50
40
32
30
20
14
10
0
Group A (hit)
Group B (Smashed into)
Verb
Source Amnesia
Attributing an event to the
wrong source that we
experienced, heard, read, or
imagined.
(AKA: Source Misattribution or
Misattribution Error)
True & False Memories
False Memory Syndrome
A condition in which a person’s
identity and relationships center
around a false but strongly
believed memory of a traumatic
experience, which is sometimes
induced by well-meaning
therapists.
Children’s Eyewitness Recall
Children’s eyewitness recall can be
unreliable if leading questions are
posed. However, if cognitive interviews
are neutrally worded, the accuracy of
their recall increases. In cases of
sexual abuse, this usually suggests a
lower percentage of abuse.
Memories of Abuse
Are memories of abuse repressed or
constructed?
Many psychotherapists believe that
early childhood sexual abuse results in
repressed memories.
However, other psychologists question
such beliefs and think that such
memories may be constructed.
Consensus on Childhood Abuse
Leading psychological associations of the world agree
on the following concerning childhood sexual abuse:
Injustice happens.
Incest and other sexual abuse happens.
People may forget.
Recovered memories are commonplace.
Recovered memories under hypnosis or drugs
are unreliable.
6. Memories of things happening before 3 years
of age are unreliable.
7. Memories, whether real or false, are
emotionally upsetting.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Improving Memory
1. Study repeatedly to boost long-term recall.
2. Spend more time rehearsing or actively
thinking about the material.
3. Make material personally meaningful.
4. Use mnemonic devices:
 associate with peg words — something
already stored
 make up a story
 chunk — acronyms
Improving Memory
5. Activate retrieval cues — mentally
recreate the situation and mood.
6. Recall events while they are fresh —
before you encounter misinformation.
7. Minimize interference:
1. Test your own knowledge.
2. Rehearse and then determine what
you do not yet know.