PSYCH 1X03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Eyewitness Testimony, Mnemonic
14 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
Psychologists have demonstrated that memories can be distorted. Incoming sensory information --> encoding --> storage --> retrieval. If any one of these processes fails, memory will fail. Attention helps us select which incoming thing we will pay attention to so we can encode it. If you want to really remember something, think about how distinct it is. Web, spider, tarantula, creepy, animal, ugly, insect, bug, fly, crawl: also encode assumptions and prior biases from any prior experiences into a memory challenged. Storage of memories occurs through consolidation of neural changes: every time we try to retrieve a memory, we recreate it and every time we recreate it, we have biases once again. Retrieval access storehouse of knowledge to apply to present needs. Storage of memory is vulnerable to retention error: may not be good at recalling specific details. Encoding interacts with attention to select items for memory. Practice testing is better for long-term memory.
