PHL 104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Metamemory, Method Of Loci, Eyewitness Memory

• School: University of Alabama
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHL 104
• Professor: Adam Arico

Document Summary

All intelligent systems have the ability to learn and remember. These abilities play a crucial role in success and survival. All thinking skills are inextricably tied to the ability to remember. Characteristics of information can affect how well we remember that information. Info that is salient or vivid more easily comes to mind and is more easily recalled. Hazards that are unusually memorable (scary events, disasters) distort perceptions of risk. Most people rate dramatic causes of death as more likely than they actually are, while less memorable causes of death are underestimated. Memory is like a video recorded in your brain. Experiences are stored like recorded video files. Everything in the scene is recorded equally well. How we remember things is exactly how we experienced them. Memory is not like a video file. Memories can be bent or changed after an event. It"s more like a the highly-edited, post production film. Some bits are highlighted, others dimmed or omitted.