Memory Final- Book- Autobiographical

Front 1

describe autobiographical memory

Back 1

covers events, situations, & other info that can span a lifetime. the memories that make us unique.

Front 2

difference between autobiographical mem & episodic mem

Back 2

episodic memories are generally confined to a single event. autobiographical are more intergrative & often span multiple events.

Front 3

how do people report autobiographical memories. what insight does this give?

Back 3

start with general info followed by specific details. suggests that auto mem are organized around more general pieces of info. can contain a variety of levels of detail.

Front 4

what are the levels of autobio mem, from broad to specific

Back 4

Lifetime periods- theme-based portions of a persons life.
General events- extended sequences or repeated series of events, often sharing a common component.
Event specific- specific, individual events. most closely correspond to episodic mem.

Front 5

describe event-specific memories. how can they be created? (4 ways-TAGA)

Back 5

most specific level of autobio mem. contains perceptual & contextual details. events need to have a special quality.
1. memories of a Turning point (life plans are suddenly redirected).
2. Anchoring events that serve as the basis for a major belief system.
3. have a lot of Goal-relevant memories that follow them (sets you on a life path).
4. Analogous events that people use to guide their future behavior.

Front 6

describe general-event memories. what are the types mentioned in the book? (2 types)

Back 6

the intermediate level of autobio mem. unified smaller events with common themes.
1. sequence of specific events that form a larger episode.
2. repeating events.

Front 7

describe lifetime period memories. how are these involved in retrieval of autiobio mem?

Back 7

highest (broadest) level of autobio mem. long periods of life that are organized along some common theme.
if people recall beyond a single event, they're likely to confine their retrieval to a given theme of their life.

Front 8

what is the neurological support for the hierarchy of autobio mem?

Back 8

some people with dense amnesia can recall lifetime period & general-event info, but not specific event memories. this shows a dissociation of the levels.

Front 9

how are autobio memories 'life narrative' memories?

Back 9

they follow a general human tendency to organize our experiences into some sort of narrative structure. info is accessed by basic narrative components: people, places, activities, & other thematic info (as opposed to semantic info). retrieval tends to reflect the temporal order of a script.
note: narrative structure is not ALWAYS observed.

Front 10

describe field memories

Back 10

memories experienced from the original perspective; the same perceptual field of view. memories of intense emotion tend to be field mem.

Front 11

describe observer memories

Back 11

memories experienced from a different perspective than the original situation. older memories and memories in which a person is more self-aware are more likely to be observer mem.

Front 12

what are the 3 factors that will generally determine field memories vs observer memories?
how are these mem types involved with work on PTSD?

Back 12

1. age of the memory (older=observer)
2. emotionality (intense emotion=field)
3. self-awareness (more self-aware=observer)
engaging in a field memory of the traumatic event is more likely to incite emotional reaction, causing anxiety. taking an observer perspective helps reduce anxiety.

Front 13

describe the Schema-Copy-Plus-Tag model. what are the consequences of this type of representation?

Back 13

when encountering a new event, people activate the appropriate schema. they then make tags of the schema-inconsistent things involved in the memory, making it unique.
it is difficult for people to distinguish between schema-consistent parts that were actually present vs those that were not. also, since the tag is part of the memory trace, it's easy to remember what was odd about the event.

Front 14

how do schemas & tags relate to item-specific & relational processing?

Back 14

schemas provide the relational processing. tags serve as item-specific processing.

Front 15

how does the Pollyanna Principle & the forgetting curve apply to autobio mem? what are the deviations from the standard forgetting curve?

Back 15

people remember pleasant events better than unpleasant ones, w/the emotional intensity of negative events being tempered over time.
people remember recent events better than older events. the deviations from the standard forgetting curve are 1. the unusually poor memory of infancy, & 2. very good memory for experiences around 20 years of age (+/-5yrs).

Front 16

when do the earliest autobio memories start?

Back 16

18-24 months

Front 17

what is infantile amnesia and what are the different explanations for infantile amnesia? (SMELPN)

Back 17

the absence of early childhood memories.
(Sans MEmory of Life Pre Nineteen months)
-Schema organization view
-Multicomponent development
-Emergent self view
-Language development view
-Psychodynamic view
-Neurological view

Front 18

describe the psychodynamic view of infantile amnesia

Back 18

according to Freud, infants go through a period of sexual desire for their opposite-sexed parent. after later learning that incest is taboo, we unconsciously block these memories to protect ourselves from shame. there are few people who accept this view today.

Front 19

describe the neurological view of infantile amnesia

Back 19

memory development follows neurological development. the hippocampus is a major player in memory & is relatively undeveloped at birth. also, infants have a less developed frontal lobe, which is needed for binding contextual factors in memory.

Front 20

describe the schema organization view of infantile amnesia

Back 20

infants have underdeveloped schemas to understand how the world works. b/c of this they can't organize information that would become memories.

Front 21

describe the language development view of infantile amnesia

Back 21

the time when infantile amnesia lifts is also the time when language develops. due to the need to share experiences with others in our social context, autobio mem is developed to organize the experience information.

Front 22

describe the emergent self view of infantile amnesia.

Back 22

removal of infantile amnesia is a function of a person developing a sense of self as a unique & identifiable entity. the subjective 'I' & the objective 'Me'.

Front 23

describe the multicomponent development view of infantile amnesia.

Back 23

there are a number of memory abilities or components that emerge to bring about autobio mem. these include
-development of an episodic memory system
-development of language & narrative skills
-understanding of how adults think about the world & the passage of time
-how the person understands themselves.

Front 24

describe the reminiscence bump. what are the explanations for this? (CIN)

Back 24

memories of a person's life tend to be dominated by events from around the age of 20.
-Cognitive view
-Identity formation view
-neurological view

Front 25

describe the cognitive view of the reminiscence bump

Back 25

events in a person's life are easier to remember if they are the first of that type (similar to primacy effect). age 15-25 is a time when there is a lot of change & many new experiences. also, 'life scripts' provide expected major transitions that occur during this time (college, marriage, first love, etc.)

Front 26

describe the neurological view of the reminiscence bump

Back 26

the period of the reminiscence bump is during the neurological & cognitive peak. the nervous system is neither maturing or declining & people are at their best capacity to encode & store memories.

Front 27

describe the identity formation view of the reminiscence bump

Back 27

occurs during a period when a person is making a number of decisions about preferences, ideologies, vocation, etc. b/c of this increased interconnectivity, memories for this time are stronger.

Front 28

what are flashbulb memories?

Back 28

highly detailed memories for surprising events. not only details of the event itself, but for the context in which it was learned.

Front 29

what are some explanations for flashbulb memories?

Back 29

some suggest that flashbulb memories are simply normal memories for important events b/c they can contain errors, become distorted, & be forgotten over time.
flashbulb memories may also reflect a belief in the accuracy of memories that emerge from emotional reactions of surprising events, rather than actual accuracy.

Front 30

what are the criteria for & factors in creating flashbulb memories?

Back 30

1. the event must be novel.
2. event must be surprising, causing a greater degree of elaborative processing to make sense of it.
3. must have significant consequences for the person.
4. must cause an intense emotion reaction. intense emotional reactions can override the novelty & surprise components.
5. the person's opinions & beliefs prior to the event can trigger greater elaborative processing
6. if people discuss the event w/others, this can serve as overt rehearsal. the memory traces are reinforced & strengthened & can cause overlearning.