Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Memory

3 Key excerpts on "Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Memory"

• 

  No longer available |Learn more

  Essential Psychology

  • Philip Banyard, Christine Norman, Gayle Dillon, Belinda Winder, Philip Banyard, Christine Norman, Gayle Dillon, Belinda Winder(Authors)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  The levels of processing model suggest that it is the depth of processing (in particular, pro- cessing meaning) that influences how well material is remembered. The phenomenon of context-dependent memory demonstrates that the cues available at encoding aid retrieval; it is thought this is because they are stored along with the material being encoded. What causes us to forget has been examined, and there is relatively little evidence that memory is discarded per se. Although decay may occur and memory loss may result from what McGeoch (1932) called ‘deterioration of the organic correlate’, we can explain most (possibly all) of forgetting in terms of the effects of interference or the matching of retrieval cues to what was originally encoded. If memories compete for recall – the essence of most interference theories – then learning new information inevitably carries a cost. Forgetting thus occurs because it is necessary to keep memory efficient (e.g. see Anderson & Schooler, 2000). Memory is unreliable. It is a constructive process in which we interpret what has been experienced in light of our expectations, which in turn are based on existing mental rep- resentations (schemata) about the world. Memory has also been demonstrated to be influ- enced by later events that interfere with earlier memory traces. Psychological investigation of such misinformation effects has been influential in our understanding of the accuracy of memory and has made a significant contribution to real-world issues like eye-witness testimony and the phenomenon of false memory. 118 COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Anderson and Schooler (2000) suggest that it is puzzling, in evolutionary terms, why intention to learn has so little effect on what we remember. But this finding is less puzzling if we think of memory in terms of transfer-appropriate processing.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Cognition

  • Thomas A. Farmer, Margaret W. Matlin(Authors)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  The misinformation effect can be at least partly traced to faulty source monitoring (Davis & Loftus, 2007; Schacter et al., 1998; Zhu et al., 2010). For instance, in the study by Loftus and her colleagues (1978), the post-event information in the inconsistent-information condition encouraged people to create a mental image of a stop sign. During testing, they had trouble deciding which of the two images—the stop sign or the yield sign—they had actually seen in the original slide series. The research on the misinformation effect emphasizes the active, constructive nature of memory. As Theme 1 points out, cognitive processes are active, rather than passive. The constructivist approach to memory emphasizes that we construct knowledge by integrating new information with what we know. As a result, our understanding of an event or a topic is coherent, and it makes sense (Davis & Loftus, 2007; Mayer, 2003; Pansky et al., 2005). In the case of the study by Loftus and her colleagues (1978), many peo- ple in the inconsistent condition made sense of the event by concluding that the car had probably paused at the stop sign. Notice, then, that the consistency bias is one component of the constructivist approach. In short, mem- ory does not consist of a list of facts, all stored in intact form and ready to be replayed like a DVD. Instead, LONG-TERM MEMORY 100 we construct a memory by blending information from a variety of sources (Davis & Loftus, 2007; Hyman & Kleinknecht, 1999). Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony As you can imagine, a variety of factors influence whether eyewitness testimony is accurate. We have already mentioned three potential problems in eyewitness testimony: (1) People may create memories that are consistent with their schemas; (2) people may make errors in source monitoring; and (3) post-event misinformation may distort people’s recall.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Real World Psychology

  • Karen R. Huffman, Catherine A. Sanderson(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  Many people (who haven’t studied this chapter or taken a psychology course) believe that when they’re recalling an event, they’re remembering it as if it were a kind of instant replay. However, as you know, our memories are highly fallible and filled with personal constructions that we create during encod- ing and storage. Research on the misinformation effect shows that information that occurs after an event may further alter and revise those constructions. For example, in one study, participants com- pleted an interview in one room and then answered questions about it in another room (Morgan et al., 2012). Participants who received neutral questions like “Was there a telephone in the room?” answered accurately for the most part, making errors on only 10% of the questions. However, other participants were asked questions such as “What color was the telephone?” which falsely implied that there had been a telephone in the room. Of these respon- dents, 98% “remembered” a telephone. Other Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon Feeling that specific informa- tion is stored in your long-term memory but being temporarily unable to retrieve it. Misinformation effect A memory distor- tion that results from misleading post-event information. V oices from the Classroom “False Daughter” Memories One of the co-authors of this book, Karen Huffman, is a dear friend of mine and we’ve co-taught intro psych for many years. During our times together in the classroom, we’ve often told stories about our own children to provide real-life examples of various psychological principles. Ironically, in the chapter on memory, we sud- denly realized that some of the stories we were currently telling our stu- dents about our respective daughters were becoming blended in our own minds.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book