PSYCH 240 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Eyewitness Identification, Eyewitness Testimony, Intellectual Disability
Lecture 14 Reading Notes
Pgs. 228-244
Memory retrieval isn’t just reconstructive, involving the use of various strategies to
retrieve the original experiences as a basis for retrieval
Memory is also constructive, in that prior experience affects how we recall things and
what we actually recall from memory
Autobiographical memory: refers to memory of an individual’s history; constructive
One remembers one’s construction or reconstruction of what happened rather than
exactly what happened
These memories are generally accurate but are subject to distortions
They are differentially good for different periods of life; middle aged adults usually
remember things from their earlier periods of adult life than recent past events; one
way to study this is through diary studies
A typical memory curve shows substantial forgetting over short time intervals and
then a slowing in the rate of forgetting over longer time intervals
Research has shown the importance of self-esteem in the formation and recall of
autobiographical memory; people w/ positive self-esteem remember more positive
events while people with negative self-esteem remember negative
When people misremember they usually remember the central characteristics
correctly but tend to be wrong with regard to minor and marginal aspects
Flashbulb Memory: a memory of an event so powerful that the person remembers the
event as vividly as if it were indelibly preserved on film
The emotional intensity of an experience may enhance the likelihood that we will
recall the particular experience
A related view is that memory is a flashbulb memory under 3 circumstances: the
memory trace is important to the individual, is surprising, and has an emotional effect
on the individual
Some investigators suggest that flashbulb memories may be more vividly recalled
because of their emotional intensity; others think it is because of rehearsal; others
think that flashbulb memories may be perceptually rich
Emotional reactions elicited by the flashbulb memory are not as well remembered as
nonemotional features
For memories, the rate of forgetting is faster in first year and then slows down
Studies show that people experience their flashbulb memories more vividly
This leads them to believe the flashbulb memories are more accurate
People’s feelings of a certain topic predicted their confidence in the correctness of
their flashbulb memories
The more a person is emotionally involved an event, the better the person’s memory
is for that event
Memory for the event degrades over time
Distortions illustrate the constructive nature of flashbulb memories
The factors that influence encoding and retrieval are one such as elaboration and the
frequency of rehearsal; the medial temporal lobe is crucially involved in the recall of
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