Cognitive psychologyLesson 2 of 2 in the course Memory

Amnesia, Memory Distortion, and Forgetting

5 flashcards · 5 quiz questions · 5 match pairs · 5 fill-in sentences · English

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Summary

Memory can feel reliable, but illness, injury, and psychological trauma can disrupt it. This lesson introduces amnesia and distinguishes two major forms based on whether memories from before or after an injury are affected.

Amnesia is the loss of long-term memory resulting from disease, physical trauma, or psychological trauma. Its effects vary: a person may lose memories of the past, have difficulty forming new memories, or experience both.

All flashcards

What is amnesia?
Loss of long-term memory associated with disease, physical trauma, or psychological trauma.
What is memory reconstruction?
Bringing a past memory to mind, potentially combining remembered details with later information.
What is suggestibility?
The influence of external information that can contribute to false memories.
What is encoding failure?
Failure to store information in memory in the first place.
What is proactive interference?
When older information makes it harder to retrieve newly learned information.

Quiz questions

  1. In a car-accident study, participants who were asked how fast cars were going when they “smashed” were more likely to later report seeing what, although it had not appeared?Answer: Broken glass
  2. In a blind photo lineup, what does the person administering the lineup not know?Answer: Which photograph belongs to the suspect
  3. What is a key concern in the debate about memories recovered through hypnosis or guided visualization?Answer: Suggestive techniques may create or alter memories, making their accuracy difficult to assess.
  4. Which of Schacter’s memory sins involves unwanted memories returning involuntarily?Answer: Persistence
  5. After learning new course material, a student has trouble recalling older material. Which process best describes this?Answer: Retroactive interference

Based on Psychology 2e by Rose M. Spielman, William J. Jenkins, Marilyn D. Lovett (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.

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