Psych 101 1nd Edition Lecture Outline of Last Lecture Central Nervous SystemI. Bell CurveII. Psychological testsIII. The Mismeasure of Man IV. Evaluation V. ReliabilityVI. ValidityVII.Genetic influences on intelligenceVIII. Environmental influences on intelligenceIX. Cumulative deprivation hypothesisX. IQ and schoolingXI. Controversies in IQ testingXII.Theorical Issues in the Measurement of IntelligenceXIII. Psychometric approachOutline of Current Lecture I. RecencyII. Environment reinstatement effectIII. Episodic memoryIV. Mood congruent memoryV. Eye witness memory studiesVI. Recovered VII. memoriesVIII. ForgettingIX. CriticismX. Decay vs. InterferenceXI. Proactive vs. Retroactive interferenceXII. The brain and memoryXIII. Neurotransmitters and memoryXIV. Flashbulb memoriesXV. DiscussionsXVI. Improving memoryXVII. MnemonicsXVIII. Method of LociXIX. Distributed practiceXX. SQ3RXXI. IntelligenceXXII. History of mental abilitiesXXIII. Alfred BinetCurrent Lecture- Review- Primary vs. Recency effects Primary - Remember items at the beginning of the list Recency- Remember items at the end of the list- Environment reinstatement effect Remember information better if you go back to the location you were- Mood congruent memory People tend to remember information best if there is a match with the current mood and the content of what you are trying to remember Ex. People depressed tend to stay depressed b/c they remember depressing moments- Episodic memory Remember episodes in your life by specific dates- Memory Reconstruction- Eye witness memory studies Misinformation effect- Smashed vs. Hit - How fast were they going when they HIT each other?- How fast were they going when they SMASHED into each other?- Recovered (repressed) memories-“hypothetical or possible memories that have been unconsciously blocked, b/c they are associated with some sort of trauma  Role of source monitoring errors Problems with this theory- Leading/suggestive questions- Someone leads you to a specific answer- Memories before the age of 3- Most people do not remember accurately what happened before 3- Where repressed memories are revealed- In therapy instead of in a normal setting- If it happens in therapy, then there is skepticism that its not really a memory, but something that was talked about in therapy that allowed it to become false memories or memories that are contaminated through therapy- Forgetting Ebbinghaus and the course of forgetting- How is what we remember or what we study stand the test of time- How quickly do you forget what you know- 40% loss in 20 min- 60% loss in 60 min- Steep forgetting curve and then it levels off- Criticism- That he used nonsense syllabus - No personal relevance- No systematic coding (look up) Decay vs. Interference- Decay is the gradual disappearance of the mental representation of a stimulus - Certain memories just go away b/c you do not think about it- Interference- the process of the storage or retrieval of information is displaced by the presence of other information  Proactive vs. Retroactive interference- Proactive - Old learning interferes with new- Disruptive affect of old information with new information- Retroactive- New learning interferes with the recall of old information- The brain and memory Anterograde and retrograde amnesia- Anterograde amnesia- Inability to form new memories- Retrograde amnesia- Problems with trying to remember information in the past - Loss of memory prior to some critical injury or event- Problems with your episodic memory Neurotransmitters and memory- Acetycholine (ACH) Brain structures implicated in memory- Hippocampus- What about the opposite The woman who can remember everything- Hyperthymesia- Enhanced episodic and long term memory (arguably)- Overactive hippocampus Flashbulb memories- Extremely vivid and detailed memories that one has in relation to a monumental event - Linked to strong emotions- More vivid, but not necessarily more accurate- More confident in their memory Discussions- Implications of flashbulb memories for recovered/repressed memories- Improving memory Mnemonics- Refer to a family of strategies for improving memory that typically involves putting items in a certain context Method of Loci- Taking a list of items and associating them with a specific location  Distributed practice- Especially over long periods (24 hours)- Intensive vs. Distributed- Cramming for a test vs. Studying over a longer period of time- Intensive- Has more chance of interference - Distribute- More time for rehearsal  SQ3R- Intelligence- Definitions of intelligence include Definition in terms of objectively observable behavior- Behavior on tests- A notion of acquired information- How well do you do as spitting out what you know Include both capacity to learn and acquired knowledge Include the ability to adapt to the environment as one sign of intelligence- Problem solving- Being creative- Social adaptive- Experts disagree on Is intelligence all mental abilities- What about skills- Playing interment, athletics Is it the bass general factor necessary for all mental activity- G? Is it a group of specific abilities- May have been misused over time- How do you measure it- What is it?- History of mental abilities Francis Galton- Great Britain, early 1800s- Cousin of Darwin- Interested in measuring individual differences and characteristics in people that were superior to others- Had an interest in eugenics- Says strength, reaction time, visual acuity are important for survival of the fittest Alfred Binet- French- Mental age- Mental ability typical of a child of a certain chronological age- Performance of a child and how that corresponds to chronological age- Much testing to find out what questions children of each age can answer- If you answer the questions 9 years olds can answer, but those 10 year olds can answer, you have a mental age (MA) of 9- Your chronological age (CA) may be 9 or 8 or 10- But you are performing at the level of a 9 year old- Opposite of Galton- In France wanted to identify tests that would help identify kids that needed help in school- Measured school related abilities- Math and verbal skills- Did not- Think his test measured