Categories: All - memory - emotions - plans - identity

by Joerg Bauer 13 years ago

528

Autobiografical Memory/ Working Self (Conway)

The human memory system intricately connects with our emotions and identity, playing a pivotal role in how we navigate and interpret life's events. Autobiographical memory is organized hierarchically, ranging from broad life periods to specific, sensory-rich episodes.

Autobiografical Memory/ Working Self (Conway)

Autobiografical Memory/ Working Self (Conway)

Happiness Subgoals being achieved Continue with plan, modifying as

necessary

Sadness Failure of major plan or loss of Do nothing/search for new plan

active goal

Anxiety Self-preservation goal threatened Stop, attend vigilantly to environment

and/or escape

Anger Active plan frustrated Try harder, and/or aggress

Disgust Gustatory goal frustrated Reject substance and/or withdraw

Eperiments

Crombag
Loftus
McLeod: Depression / Cancer Dot Mother Dot
Conway: Autobiographical Memory

Constructiveness?

No
Flashbulb
Yes
McLeod: Cancer Dot/ Mother Dot
Loftus: How fast were the cars when they smashed into each other

Crombag: Did you see the tv film of the moment the plane crashed

Hackman: PTSD patient with wrong memory

Thought was fire - but really smoke

General Concept
Problems

Too much emphasis on goals / also values

Role of emtotions: Though in line with Oatley Johnson-Larid, not all autobiografical are emtoional

Goal Stack vague

just goals or self relevant goals

Working Self vague

ist it just goals or comlete current cognitive activity

3. therfore raised accessibility
2. ... and self-conceptions
1. encode daily experice on the basis of current goals and relevance to the self

not allways conscious to us

Role
Autobigografical retreival

How/ Why?

Rubin: Novelty theory: periods of rapid change, better encoding, better accibiltiy

Conway: Relevance for self

Reconstruction from generic structures: i,e. Our House: not episodic but generic

Mostly unintentional retrieval from spec.cues (i..e.smell)

Memory formation

>>If important for self_ Then Store<<

Goal related experience: emotions hint to conflicting goal

Ive done it and remember how

I failed and I remember how

Self defining moments

Goal Stack: (as CE in Working Memory)

Organisation of ABM

Recall either true or constructed: car smashed into (Loftus)

Recalled by cues rather than reconstructed

Doesnt fit goal hierarchy --> Memory not integrated into ws

Lack of integration leads to retention: see effect of emotion on memory

Sensory Perceptionally Charged

Intensly emotional memory

burned into m.

Fade unless integrated in Semantic Knowledge
Sensory charged: little videos
In Episodic Memory
Life Periods

Also in Semantic Memory

Hierarchic

Working self

Attitudes
Standards
Values /Beliefs= important for Goals
Goals
Goal Hierachy

Woring self often determins what is attended to--> remembered

Auto M. often reinforce our concept of Self= see memories in light of our self concepts

Autobiogrphical Memories

Forms
Flashbulb Memories

Brown & Kulik coined the term

Normal / recent memory
Time period related (Later Infancy, Adolencence to young adult )
Goal Related

Working Self

Emotional (Oatley + Johnson Laird)

PTSd

Organization: Hierarchical
Greater Semantic part

Less sensory rich

General Events

Life Periods

Specific Episodes

More sensory rich

Tulving: Episodic might be embedded in semantic memory
Memories from our lives are:
Our knowledge of our lives

LTM

Procedural

Declarative

Episodic

Semantic

Traumatic

PTSD

Consequnce

Constant reexperincing through cues: As it cant be integrated into working self

Hyperarousal: Constantly alert for trigger cues

Emotional

Oatley & Johnson-Laird: Role of emotion is to signal that ongoing behaviour should be interrupted to take account of a conflicting goal --> cant go on like that

Life Changing
Imoportant
3 Features
Childhood Amn(0-5)

But memories at the time rich and diverse

Lack of language dev.

Interstingly girls remember earlier stuff vs. boys

Lack of emotional dev.= no social awareness

Freud: Supression of harmful stuff

But pleasant memories aren't retrieved as well

2 Reminiscence bumps

Least: Childhood (6-8)

Rubin: Memories recalled from the period of the RB are more accurate

Fewer Adolescence to Adulthood (17-27)

Recency: Most Now

Like recency effetc of WM

Why

Changes in self concept and goals (WS): older stuff not relevant anymore

Decay and inference of older memory

Rubin: collated the results of three such studies.
Explanations:
Conway: Explicit: Life Themes and formation of identity
Rubin: Implicit: "Novelty Experiences": because of: period of rapid change - dominated by novel experiences - more fully engage encoding processes, and so become more accessible
encoding abilites at their peak (10-30!)
More effort made to remember especially from this time
Preference because those mem. are more pleasant
First Timers

Not Restricted to "marriage" or "18th birthdays"

Emotional charging

Less emotional event are also recalled