University:
Eastern Kentucky University
Course:
PHY 317 | Cognitive Psychology
Academic year:

2021
Views:

159

Pages:

2
Author:

folclord7m

Cognitive Psychology Notes Module 4: Memory 3 Autobiographical Memory  Memory of events from your own life. Flashbulb Memories  Definition: Memories for dramatic or important events, remembered vividly.  Key details remembered: o Informant (who told you) o Ongoing activity (what you were doing) o Emotional state o Personal consequences  Reality: o Not as special as they seem; can be forgotten or distorted. o People are often overconfident in their accuracy. Reminiscence Bump  Older adults remember events from their teens/early adulthood (ages 1530) better than other periods.  Two types: o Word-cued: Memories triggered by keywords. o Important events: Recalling key life moments (e.g., love, marriage).  Cultural differences: o Chinese culture: Collectivist; more focus on social memories. U.S. culture: Individualist; more focus on personal memories.  Life scripts: o Cultural expectations of important life events. o Often exclude negative events. Depression and Autobiographical Memory  Self-Memory System Model: Memories reflect personality and self-worth.  Depression impacts: o More negative memories. o Fewer positive memories. o Overgeneral memories. o Altered relationship with emotions.  Intervention: o Memory Specific Training (MEST) helps reduce biases, lowering depression levels. Eyewitness Identification  Mistaken identification: A leading cause of wrongful convictions (Innocence Project).  Types of lineups: o Simultaneous lineups: Viewing all suspects together.  Leads to relative judgement (comparing suspects).  Higher chance of misidentification. o Sequential lineups: Viewing suspects one at a time.  Leads to absolute judgement (yes or no for each suspect).  Reduces errors. o Weapon Focus Effect (WFE)  Definition: Attention on a weapon can distract witnesses, reducing memory for other details.  Worse when: Weapon presence is unexpected.  Impact: Harder to identify the culprit accurately. Face Recognition in Eyewitnesses  Accuracy: About 40% in real-world cases.  Confidence: More confidence generally means more accuracy.  Common effects: o Unconscious transference: Mistaking a familiar face for the culprit. o Own-age bias: Recognizing faces of the same age better. o Other-race effect: Better at recognizing faces of one’s own race. Misinformation Effect  Definition: Memory can be distorted by misleading information after an event.  How it works: o Loftus (1992): Original memory remains, but new information gets accepted. o Source monitoring: Difficulty in identifying whether a memory is from the event or from an external source.