Autobiographical Memory

I. Approaches to studying memory

A. the experimental approach
1. e.g., Ebbinghaus

2. but does it capture what it means to remember?

B. the ecological approach
1. e.g., Bartlett
a. used the method of serial remembering

b. found that one's prior experience affected what was recalled

c. distortions were present


II. Schemata (plural of schema)

A. general knowledge about the world + information about particular events
  1. larger than a concept
  a. can be likened to plays with settings, characters, and actions


2. connected with other schemas

3. both fixed parts and variable parts, some with default values

4. are active and exist at all levels of abstraction
 

 B. scripts  
1. particular types of schemas for routine events
  a. e.g., restaurant script

b. allow inferences to be made
 

 C. text & story recall
  1. Rubin (1995)
  a. asked 50 people to recall the Preamble

b. individuals who recalled the same # of words recalled the same words
 

 2. Noice (1992)  
a. studied verbatim recall in actors

b. rarely used rote memorization
 

1. analyzed meaning & motivation


3. however, typically more focus on gist
 

a. Bower et al.(1979) found that stories presented scrambled tended to be recalled in scripted order & filled in non-mentioned script information

b. Owens et al. (1979) found further evidence for script-related intrusions

 III. Autobiographical memories: Everyday events
A. validation of facts r=.88; r=.43 emotions/attitudes (Field, 1981)

B. Linton's diary study & forgetting

1. recorded 2003 daily events & tested 3006

2. memory as constructive: used problem-solving strategies

3. gradual, though not great, loss in recognition memory

4. unrecalled items

a. some she simply could not remember

b. others were similar to other memories

1. creation of an "event schema"

2. blurring of similar episodes (e.g., John Dean)

C. Barsalou (1988) 1. recollections as summarized or extended events rather than specific information

2. memory for gist information

 D. Brewer (1988)
1. used the "beeper" method: most memorable event & event at the time of the "beeping"
IV. Autobiographical memories: Flashbulb events
A. defined as "a vivid memory of an historical event" 1. live quality of memory for events with consequentiality
  a. details about who was present, informant, ongoing event, setting, affect in others, affect in self

b. coined by Brown & Kulik (1977)

 
1. suggest a physiological mechanism
  a. activation of the amygdala?


2. "Now Print"

  2. stronger emotional reactions -> more detailed memories B. an alternative explanation (Neisser, 1982)
1. want to link themselves with history

2. retellings their story many times

a. distort with info from other sources & elaborations

b. become more "storylike"

C. the evidence 1. Bohannon (1988) studied memories for the Challenger disaster
  a. tested at either 2 weeks or 8 months after

b. evidence for both explanations
 

1. stronger reactions -> more details, as did more retellings


2. but, some evidence for their inaccuracy and their similarity to other memories

3. Weaver (1993) compared memory for a significant event (meeting one's roommate) with a flashbulb event (US attacking Iraq)
a. filled out questionnaire soon after event, 3 months later, & 1 year later

b. recall showed an Ebbinghaus pattern of forgetting for both memories
 

1. but, greater confidence was associated with the flashbulb
V. Eyewitness Testimony
A. confidence in eyewitness testimony may be unfounded

B. Loftus & Palmer (1974) and others

1. had participants "view" an accident

2. asked leading questions, e.g., "Did another car pass the red Datsun while it was stopped at a the stop sign?"

3. results: 75% correct with consistent picture/question; only 41% with inconsistent picture/question

 C. distortion for both tangential and essential information
1. e.g., barns and broken glass
D. memory as a constructive & reconstructive process
1. Bransford & Franks (1971)
a. integrated and stored ideas from different sentences into one idea
  2. as an explanation for Loftus' findings VI. false and recovered memories
A. memory can be recovered
1. encoding specificity and cue reinstatement
B. criticisms 1. characteristics of someone with repressed memories are vague and non-specific
  a. symptoms include: low self-esteem, depression, sexual dysfunction, suicidal/self-destructive thoughts, deja vu C. evidence
1. Loftus & Pickrell (1995)
a. asked 24 college students about 3 true events and 1 false event

b. describe own recall of the event, and then retested two weeks later, and two weeks later again
 

1. 68% recalled true events, 29% recalled the false event 2. Pezdek et al. (1997) suggests false memories can occur where "script-relevant" information is available   a. tested 29 Catholic and 32 Jewish participants

b. false memories based on Jewish vs. Catholic scripts
 

1. 24% of Catholics & 10% Jews falsely recalled the script-relevant event

2. only one Catholic and no Jews falsely recalled the script irrelevant event

 VII. Conclusions
A. memory errors arise through different mechanisms
1. errors through "generic knowledge"
a. prior to encoding (see above)
2. errors from new knowledge "mis-information effect"
a. post event information
1. i.e., leading and misleading questions
B. but, how fallible is memory especially for traumatic events?

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