Memory Errors and Influences

Key Influences on Memory

• Memory errors reflect knowledge & assumptions about the world.
• Errors are not random; they are influenced by scripts and schemas.

Pragmatic Inference

• Pragmatic inferences: Filling in missing information based on context.
• Example: "Some students passed the exam" implies some students failed.
• People infer missing details based on logic/schemas.

Schemas and Scripts

Schemas

• Schema: Structure for holding knowledge.
• Example: Schema for a grocery store includes bread, milk, eggs, but not car tires.
• Creates expectations about places or situations (e.g., grocery stores, offices).

Scripts

• Script: Schema with a sequence of events over time.
• Example: Script for dining at a restaurant.
• COVID-19 disrupted common scripts, requiring new ones to be formed.

Classic Study on Office Memory

• Participants asked to wait in an "office" and were later asked to recall objects.
• Memory was skewed by office schema:
  • Presence of expected items (desks, chairs) recalled correctly.
  • False memory: 30% recalled books/telephones which were not present.
  • Unexpected items (skull, bottle of wine) often not recalled.

Personal Example: JFK Assassination Memory

• Lecturer's family saw Jacqueline Kennedy as lesser than JFK.
• Misremembered her actions during JFK’s assassination as cowardly.
• Corrected memory years later: Jacqueline was retrieving JFK’s brain pieces, not fleeing.
• Memory skewed by bias and family schemas about Jacqueline.

Influences on Memory: Scripts & Biases

• Examples given of how scripts fill in gaps in memory.
• Example: John forgetting his glasses in a restaurant; script fills in that he needed them to read the menu even though not explicitly stated.

Constructive Nature of Memory

• Memory is constructed and not an exact replay of events.
• Advantages:
  • Rapidly fill in missing information.
  • Make predictions and respond quickly.
  • Organizes and makes recall easier.
• Disadvantages:
  • Memories can be wrong due to constructive processes.
  • Expectations may not match reality, leading to errors.
  • Unawareness of making errors.

Next Topic: Eyewitness Errors

• Discussion on errors that eyewitnesses can make.
• Recognition that all individuals are susceptible to memory errors.