PSYC2300 Lecture 7: PSYC2300: Lecture 7: Memory P2
27 Jul 2018
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Lecture 7: Memory 2
How does context facilitate memory?
Providing additional retrieval cues
Why doesn’t it help recognition?
Strong cues are already present (the to-be remembered item
Outshining Hypothesis
Context effects the strongest in recall because relatively few experimental cues are available (to-be-remembered
item is absent)
Context effects are reduced in recognition due to availability of strong experimental cues (copy cues) at test (to-
be-remembered item is present)
Contextual cues are outshone
Outshining hypothesis predicts that a decrease in strength of the item cut will increase the relative contribution of
the contextual cues
Support for hypothesis: context effects with shallow encoding but not deeper encoding
Novel stimuli --> low item strength
Familiar stimulus --> high item strength
Theoretical Implications
Support for outshining hypothesis if we assume novel stimuli have low strength; good copy cues at test
Weak context cues at test are outshone by strong copy cues for familiar items
Weak context cues at test are not outshone by less strong copy-cues for novel items
Retravel Failure
Why do we forget?
Ebbinghaus on Memory 1885
Forgetting is more likely to happen straight after learning within first 24 hrs, after there it tends to stay
Law of Disuse Thorndike 1911
Disuse leads to trace decay over time
Interference Theory Mcgeoch 1942
Forgetting due to activity between learning and retrieval
Two types: retroactive: interference of new learning on old learning, proactive: what you already know can
interfere with what your encoding in your memory
Interference doesn’t occur when memories facilitate understanding
Bradshaw & Anderson 1982
1. Learned a single fact (control)
Mozart made a long journey from Munich to Pairs
2. Learned with two relevant facts
Mozart wanted to leave Munich to avoid a romantic entanglement
Mozart was intrigued by musical developments coming out of Paris
3. Learned with two irrelevant facts
Mozart wrote an important composition when he was 14 years
Mozart's father was critical of his marriage
New material can interfere or enhance, depending on whether or not it will be integrated
Repression
Freud (1915)
• The essence of repression lies simply in the function of rejecting and keeping something from consciousness
• Threatening or anxiety provoking material unable to gain access to conscious awareness
Andrews et al (1999) 108 therapists; 236 patients
• Some recovered memories may be genuine
• 41% supported by corroborative evidence
• 22% recovered before therapy started
• 28% recovered during therapy
Lief and Fetkewicz (1995): 40 patients who had retracted memories of abuse
• Influence of the therapist: in 80% of cases, therapist made direct suggestions of abuse and in 68% recovery
from hypnosis
• 40% patient had read numerous books on abuse
Amnesia
Anterograde amnesia
Reduced ability to remember information acquired after the onset of amnesia
Retrograde amnesia
Problems in remembering events occurring prior to the onset of amnesia
Causes
Bilateral stroke, closed head injury (most common), Korsakoff's syndrome, Alzheimer's disease
Document Summary
Strong cues are already present (the to-be remembered item. Context effects the strongest in recall because relatively few experimental cues are available (to-be-remembered item is absent) Context effects are reduced in recognition due to availability of strong experimental cues (copy cues) at test (to- be-remembered item is present) Outshining hypothesis predicts that a decrease in strength of the item cut will increase the relative contribution of the contextual cues. Support for hypothesis: context effects with shallow encoding but not deeper encoding. Support for outshining hypothesis if we assume novel stimuli have low strength; good copy cues at test. Weak context cues at test are outshone by strong copy cues for familiar items. Weak context cues at test are not outshone by less strong copy-cues for novel items. Forgetting is more likely to happen straight after learning within first 24 hrs, after there it tends to stay. Forgetting due to activity between learning and retrieval.
