Term
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Definition
Memories for the events in one’s life. Ones life narritave. Involves interpretive knowledge. A person’s life story, constructed from: places, people, causal connections, goals, activities. The type of memory that forms our life story. Covers events, situations, and other knowledge about one’s life span. It is related to episodic memory, except that it spans over many many memories rather than just focusing on one. Takes much longer to retrieve. 2 to 15 seconds. Remember pleasant ones better than the unpleasant memories. There is a forgetting curve over time, we remember the ones that are most recent.
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Term
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Definition
Events are comprehended and stored in reference to schemas already in memory. Memories often contain schema inconsistent information. Autobiographical memory is structured as a life narrative. Autobiographical memories serve as our life stories. It is the human tendancy to organize events into some kind of narrative structure.
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Term
| schema-copy-plus-tag model |
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Definition
Schemas can be used to help organize and complete information in autobiographical memory. Schema copy plus tag model is a reference to a particular schema along with tags that denote idiosyncratric aspects. Peopole use schemas to help reconstruct autobiographical memories that are incomplete. The older the memories are, the more schema-consistent people’s reports are likely to be. Schemas guide the information of our memories and influence how and what we remember. The model represents both schematic and unique aspects of an event. When you retrieve the schema, it will help reduce the need to actively think about and process every detail.
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Term
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Definition
The inability to remember life events before the age of 2-3.5 years. The absense of early childhood memories. This time does not have the ability to remember previous events in our life that occur during this time.
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Term
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Definition
people tend to recall more personal events from adolescence and early adulthood (10-25 years) than personal events from other lifetime periods. There is an oddity in that tthere is a bump in the curve around the age of 20 with people recalling more information from this period of their lives than would be expected in a normal forgetting curve.
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Term
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Definition
Highly detailed memories for the content and context in which surprising news was heard. Many include information about: who you were with, who told you, where you were, what you were wearing. Though to be highly resistant against forgetting. Very vivid with great deal of detail, and are resistant to forgetting. Ex. Princess diana’s death or the September 11 attacks. It is if the mind had taken a picture of the events that were occurring when the surprising information was learned.
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Term
CC field memories and observer memories
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Definition
Both are perspectives of Autobiographical memory.
Observer memories: Other’s perspective. Older memories, less emotional, more self-awareness
Field memories: own perspective. Newer memories, more emotional, less self awareness
Field Memories: The memory from our original perspective in the situation, with the same perceptual field of view.
Observer Memories: In contrast at the other times, we view the situation from outside of ourselves and may even see ourselves in that situation.
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Term
| CC item-specific processing and |
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Definition
relational processing
Both are types of autobiographical memory processing. Schemas provide rational processing. Tags provide item specific processing
Memory for event information in terms of the schema and tags can further be influenced by how the information is learned. |
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Term
List and describe the three levels of autobiographical memory.
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Definition
1)event-specific memories
Memories for individual experiences. Most closely aligned with episodic memory. Contain a lot of contextual (internal and external) and perceptual detail information. Ex: life events
Specific, continuous periods of time that involve a common activity occurring at a particular place. what something looked or sounded like, as well as info about time and space. Most are lost over time.
2) general events
Two types: sequence of events and repeated events of a kind. Cover general time period beyond individual events. Require integrative and interpretive processing. Ex: home address. A sequence of specific events that form a larger episode. The other type of general event is the repeating event. For both types of general eventsthere is often some personal goal that is being affected.
3) lifetime periods
Cover several general events. Organized around a common theme. Provide structure to a lifetime narrative. Often provide unifying information about a person’s goals or preferences. The higest level of hierarchy. Long periods of life that are organized along a common theme such as “early childhood”
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Term
What does it mean to say that autobiographical memories are recursively structured?
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Definition
| A memory can belong to many different levels in the hierarchy. This is because information may be divided up into many subcomponents at the different levels. A general event may be broken down into other general events. Thus there is a recursive quality to autobiographical memories in which smaller and smaller parts can be nested into a larger description. |
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Term
Summarize the evidence for a hierarchical structure in autobiographical memory.
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Definition
Includes lifetime periods organized according to work and relationship themes, general events, and event specific knowledge. Many cases it is unclear at what level a given memory belongs to. Event specific memories, general-event memories and Lifetime period memories all are part of the hierarchy of autobiographical memories. The most basic level is event-specific, followed by the intermideiate level of general-even memories, and then the highest level of the hierarchy are lifetime periods. The hierarchy is supported by studies of the effectiveness with which people retrieve memories at different levels as well as neurological evidence from patients who appear to be suffering memory problems at one level but not the other.
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Term
What is the age range in which most people can accurately recall their first memory?
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Definition
20 (15-25). Often observed with Galton’s free association task (responding with a memory when given a word)
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Term
| Be familiar with the six explanations for why infantile amnesia occurs. |
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Definition
1)Psychodynamic (Freudian) –
memories are repressed to protect the ego from threatening psychosexual content. When we are infants we go through a period of sexual thinking and wishing. During this time we learn that the inesutal thoughts that we are having are taboo. To protect ourselves from this knowledge, our unconscious blocks from consciousness all memories from this time.
2) Neurological-
the hippocampus and frontal lobes aren’t fully developed during infancy. The ability to lay down new memories would be hindered, contributing to infantile amnesia.
3) schema organization view –
understanding the world and interests change. Infants are trying to understand how the world works and still developing how to use schemas. They focus on inappropriate aspects of events because of this.
4) language development view –
Memories become more language influenced. Inability to organize information into a coherent life narrative, which can then be used to help retrieval.
5) development of the self(emergent self view) –
The offset of infantile amnesia is the inverse of the onset of autobiographical memory. Newborns lack a sense of self as a separate entity from the environment. Once the sense of self is established, autobiographical memory can be constructed around it.
6) multicomponent development –
Many factors account for infantile amnesia . different cultures experience different offset ages for infantile amnesia. There are a number of memory abilities or components that emerge to bring about this new type of memory. Greater focus of self in western cultures, so less infantile amnesia.
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Term
| Be familiar with the three explanations for why the reminiscence bump occurs. |
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Definition
1) cognitive –
Many of the events of this time are novel. Ex: for the first time
Events in a persons life are remembered better if they were the first ones of that type. Because there are so many firsts, it is not surprising that these memories are easier to recall than others.
2) neurological –
Neural processes are at their peak, neither maturing nor declining
When a person is at her cognitive peak. When her nervous system is neither maturing nor declining. People are at their best capacity to encode and store memories. Thus memories are more efficient at these times than any other.
3) identity formation –
A person’s identity is formed. Ex: socially, vocationally, and ideologically.
A person ismaking a number of decisions about who they are. More decisions are made during this time. Increased interconnectivity, memories from this time are more available than normally.
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Term
Are flashbulb memories special? Why and why not?
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Definition
Yes, but they do show some forgetting. Incorrect information may come from a number of sources and become part of a memory. They hold information longer than normal memories. When something surprising happens, it stores everything in great detail. It is especially important for rare events when memory is critical.
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Term
What are the factors that influence the likelihood that a person will form a flashbulb memory?
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Definition
Novelty, surprise, importance, emotional reaction, affective attitude (opinions and beliefs), rehearsal surprising events, important events that are very vivid. It is critical to remember information that had an impact on our lives but not to remember more trivial information.
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