PSYC 2501 Lecture Notes - Lecture 27: Source-Monitoring Error
26 Apr 2018
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Everyday memory and memory errors
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
12:32 PM
• Constructive nature of memory
o Memories need time to be stabilized, but they are a work in progress
• They are constantly being updated, reconstructed, and remodeled in
response to new learning
o Memory is not like a photograph
• It is not an exact copy of what we experience
• Memory is not even like a faded photograph
• Our memories are reconstructions of the actual events
o Bartlett's war of the ghosts experiment
• Read story about war
▪ Most participants found it extremely difficult to recall the story
exactly
▪ Participants changed aspects of the story to reflect their own
culture
o Source monitoring error
• Misidentifying the source of an error
• Becoming famous overnight experiment
▪ Acquisition
• Read list of non-famous made-up names
▪ Immediate test
• Recognition test
• Which are famous?
▪ Delayed test
• Recognition test
• Same as immediate test
▪ Experiment showed that familiarity with the names led people to
believe that they were famous
▪ This is a form of source monitoring error
o Real world knowledge can lead to memory errors
• We make inferences
▪ Experiment
• Read passage about baseball event where a player scored
• Ask if the sentence "the batter was safe at first" was in the
passage
• People who don't know much about baseball said no
• People who did know a lot about baseball said yes
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