PSYC 3610 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Autobiographical Memory, Episodic Memory, Working Memory
20 Jun 2018
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CHAPTER 7 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY
Views of Memory
• Systems view
o Declarative vs implicit
o Episodic vs declarative
o Procedural
• Modal view
o Information processing – working/short-term memory and long-term
memory
• Unitary view
o Working memory is within the long-term memory
Autobiographical memory
• Autobiographical memory: the specific memories and self-knowledge
o Combines information from episodic event and semantic knowledge
• It does not define a system of memory, but rather a function of memory:
representing our individual lives in memory.
• Episodic events include important and less important events.
• Semantic knowledge includes highly self-relevant knowledge and knowledge
about yourself that you only know indirectly.
Conway’s Theory of Representation in
Autobiographical Memory
1. Episodic or specific events
o It is an episodic memory of a particular event at a particular time.
2. General events
o There is a script that can be used to fill in details.
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3. Lifetime periods
4. The working self
• The model focuses on how autobiographical memories are represented at the
cognitive level.
• These levels create an interacting but hierarchical representation structure in
our memory system.
o Specific events are organized into general events, which in turn are
organized into cohesive units as lifetime periods.
o During retrieval, people can access a lifetime period, which should
unlock a host of general events and specific events associated with
that lifetime period.
Event-Specific Memories
• Event-specific memories: individual events stored in episodic memory; the
vast reservoir of episodic memories that we accumulate over our lifetimes
• Instant events and extended events – both refer to particular and unique
events
o E.g., instant – you sat down on your aunt’s glass coffee table
Extended – first date with spouse
o Differ in the extent to which they last
• Some researchers find that the term episode is too vague, as it can either
mean and isolated instant or an extended event.
• Linton (1986) suggested that any particular event can be broken down into
elements called details.
o Details refer to precise moments in time, whereas events refer to
extended but continuous memories.
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General Events
• General events: include combined, averaged, and cumulative memory of
highly-similar events
o Similar repetitive events may be mixed together to form a generic
representation of that kind of event.
o Over time, the specific events blend into one schema-driven
representation – when you attempt to retrieve an event, it may be
impossible to recall any specific event.
• Second form of general events is an extended event
o Long sequence of connected episodic events
o Different from averaged in that it is the memory of a single sequence
of event that occurred only once.
o Similar in that it requires integrative processes to join the units
together into a coherent schema
• Robinson (1992) studied a pattern of general memories called “mini-histories”,
which are the integrated sequence for activities with a straightforward goal
and timeline.
o E.g., learning to drive a car
Lifetime Periods
• Lifetime periods: idiosyncratic, personal ways in which we organize our
autobiographical past
o Usually organized by a common theme and may overlap on the time
periods that they cover
o E.g., “before I came to college”, “after my relationship started with X”
• Used to organize our autobiographical memories
o Both event-specific and general events
• It is possible that the lifetime period “when I was in college” coincides with
“before I get married” but each is associated with different sets of specific and
general events.
Document Summary
Views of memory: systems view, declarative vs implicit, episodic vs declarative, procedural, modal view, information processing working/short-term memory and long-term memory, unitary view, working memory is within the long-term memory. Autobiographical memory: autobiographical memory: the specific memories and self-knowledge, combines information from episodic event and semantic knowledge. Event-specific memories: event-specific memories: individual events stored in episodic memory; the vast reservoir of episodic memories that we accumulate over our lifetimes. Instant events and extended events both refer to particular and unique events: e. g. , instant you sat down on your aunt"s glass coffee table. It is possible that the lifetime period when i was in college coincides with. Childhood amnesia: childhood/infantile amnesia: the observation that adults have almost no episodic memories from the first three to five years of their life. The offset of childhood amnesia: childhood amnesia is a difficult topic to investigate from an experimental point of view, researchers can rarely verify the accuracy of the memories.
