The Seven Sins of Memory
Transience
failure.
Losing access to information across time
because of forgetting, interference or retrieval
AbsentMindedness
Failure to remember information and activities
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
Sensory
Memory
Short-term
(Secondary,
Working)
Long-term
(Primary)
Declarative
Procedural
(knowing what) (knowing how)
Generic
Episodic
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
learning:
Interpolated Test:
learning:
Task A
Task B
Task A
Rest
Task A
Control Group:
Task A
Proactive Interference
Experimental Group:
Prior learning:
Task B
Learning:
Test:
Task A
Task A
Task A
Task A
Control Group:
None
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attractive consequence expedition gene unpublished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?
How fast were the cars going when
they ******* each other?
Contacted
Hit
Bumped
Collided into
Smashed into
Loftus:
Speed estimates for the different
verbs used in the witness question
50
Estimated Speed
40
38mph
32mph
39mph
41mph
34mph
30
20
10
0
Contacted
Hit
Bumped Collided
Smashed
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 five
The 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
Do you remember the time you spilled
the lunch bowl at Aunt Sally’s wedding?
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TIFF (LZW) decompressor
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MISTAKEN IDENTITY
BY AN EYE-WITNESS
The man on the left, Ron Cotton,
spent 11 years in prison for the ra
Jennifer Thompson. The man on
the rapist. During the assault, Tho
made careful effort to remember h
facial features. Nonetheless she g
a composite and then picked out f
police lineup innocent man. Her m
the perpetrator's face was change
these activities without her aware
was confident that she was identif
person who raped her.
Eye witness testimony (Loftus)
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TIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Showed subjects a
video in which there
was a car accident at
a stop sign.
Eye witness testimony (Loftus)
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TIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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.