PSYA01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7.3: False Memory, Guided Imagery, Repressed Memory
Module 7.3: Constructing and Reconstructing Memories
How Memories Are Organized and Constructed
The Schema: Active Organization Process
- Schemas: orgaized lusters of eories that ostitute oe’s koledge aout eets, ojets ad
ideas
- When we encounter familiar events or objects, these schemas become active, and they affect what we
expect, what we pay attention to and what we remember
- Constructive memory: process by which we first recall a generalized schema and then add in specific
details
Memory Reconstruction
- False memory: remembering events that did not occur, or incorrectly recalling details of an event
Perils of Eyewitness Testimony
- Question wording plays a role on memory retrieval providing police with important information on need
for caution when questioning witnesses
- Information that is encoded after event has occurred can alter memories of an event
- Misinformation effect: when information occurring after an event becomes part of the memory for that
event
Imagination and False Memories
- Imagination inflation: increased confidence in a false memory of an event following imagination of the
event
- More readily and clearly we can imagine events the more certain we are that the memories are accurate
- Guided imagery: technique used to help people recover details of events; can be used to alter memories
for actual events but can also create entirely false memories
Creating False Memories in Laboratory
- Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) procedure: participants study a list of lightly related words called
semantic associates
- Critical lure: word that would be the most obvious member of the list that is missing
- Intrusion: when individuals recall critical lure; because a false memory is sneaking into an existing memory
Danger of False Remembering
- (False) Recovered memory: a memory of traumatic event that is suddenly recovered after blocking the
memory of that event for a long period of time
- Repression: suppression traumatic memories
- Recovered memory controversy: heated debate among psychologists about validity of recovered
memories
o One side: clinical mental health workers who attempt to recover memories they suspect have
been repressed
o Opposing side: psychologists who point out that the techniques that might help recover a
memory bear a striking resemblance to those that are used to create false memories in
laboratory research
o How can this be resolved?
▪ Use brain imaging to differentiate true and false memories (true causes brain to become
more active, false is less active)
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Document Summary
Schemas: orga(cid:374)ized (cid:272)lusters of (cid:373)e(cid:373)ories that (cid:272)o(cid:374)stitute o(cid:374)e"s k(cid:374)o(cid:449)ledge a(cid:271)out e(cid:448)e(cid:374)ts, o(cid:271)je(cid:272)ts a(cid:374)d ideas. When we encounter familiar events or objects, these schemas become active, and they affect what we expect, what we pay attention to and what we remember. Constructive memory: process by which we first recall a generalized schema and then add in specific details. False memory: remembering events that did not occur, or incorrectly recalling details of an event. Question wording plays a role on memory retrieval providing police with important information on need for caution when questioning witnesses. Information that is encoded after event has occurred can alter memories of an event. Misinformation effect: when information occurring after an event becomes part of the memory for that event. Imagination inflation: increased confidence in a false memory of an event following imagination of the event. More readily and clearly we can imagine events the more certain we are that the memories are accurate.
