Research on Adaptive Memory

In the last half century several theories have emerged with regard to the best model for human memory. In each of these models there was a specific way to help people recall words and

The study of creation of false memories has been a topic of interest since the 1930s when Bartlett (1932) conducted the first experiment on the topic. Though the results of this experiment were never replicated, they contributed greatly to research by distinguishing between reproductive and reconstructive memory (Bartlett 1932 as cited in Roediger & McDermott, 1995). Reproductive memory refers to accurate production of material from memory and is assumed to be associated with remembering simplified materials (e.g., lists). Reconstructive memory emphasizes the active process of filling in missing elements while remembering and is associated with materials rich in meaning (e.g., stories).

This experiment is based on previous research done. For example, in 1969, in a research by Bower and Clark, no difference in the immediate recall scores of both groups was noted, but when later asked to recall, those who used narrative chaining recalled an average of 93% of the words compared to the control group which only recalled an average of 13% of words. In another experiment, participants who used narrative chaining remembered six times more information than participants who learned by simply repeating the words to themselves (Loftus, 1980). Narrative chaining is particularly useful when a person wants to remember information in a particular order. The aim of the study is to investigate the effectiveness of narrative chaining on memory. It is hypothesized that in a group of 59 participants aged 10-69 years old, participants who use narrative chaining to remember a list of words will remember a higher number and percentage of words when asked to write down as many words as possible through serial recall compared to participants who use maintenance rehearsal.

Selective memory retrieval is research to try and recall events that occurred in your past life. In their studies, they used sixty-four participants between the age of (20-35) for the younger generation and for the 64 participants their age was over sixty. They then proceeded to show each group certain images to remember. Both groups showed a very poor retrieval to the images portrayed. For the most part, this initial test between the young and older ages was unsuccessful. Since, this experiment didn’t go as planned they came up with a new process. That process being to have a much wider group is participants. Having the participants between the age of (40-85) drastically changed the results of the experiment. Critically, the size of the beneficial but now the detrimental effect of retrieval decreased with age and this age-related decline was mediated by individuals working memory capacity, as measured by the complex operation span task. (Aslan, A., Schlichting, A., John, T., & Bauml, K. T., 2015) In this study it showed that there was an early decline in the older generation memory compared to the younger

The results of Roediger and McDermott’s experiment were very significant. The participants recalled the critical distractor words 40% of the time compared to 14% recall of the normal distractor words. When they

Human is smarter than other animals because we have a strong ability to learn and to remember. We have memories so we don’t need to relearn everything every time when we see have to use these knowledges. Then, if I ask a question, “Can you trust everything that you remembered?” Most people may say “Yes!”. However, according to the speech given by Elizabeth Loftus, a psychological scientist who studies false memory for decades, the truth might be different from what most of us think.

Memory is a cognitive function of the brain that is often taken for granted. Memory may have many purposes, but most importantly it is essentially a record of an entire life span. From this perspective memory is the most important aspect of consciousness. Unfortunately, through formal experimentation it has been shown that memory is fairly inaccurate, inconsistent, and often influenced by our own experiences as well as the bias of others. Memory is not only affected during an observed event, but there are instances where memory can be influenced after an event as well. There are also instances where memory can be affected retroactively due to personal experiences and biases. Incorrectly recalling the memories of one’s life is usually not

Additionally, to further support these theories, researchers tend to conduct studies on the famous patient case, HM, to propose the consolidation deficit theory, in which those with amnesia cannot turn short-term memories into long-term memories (Dewar et al., 2010). However, researchers Dewar, Della Sala, Beschin, and Cowan (2010), mentioned that HM’s case does not fully explain why a patient with anterograde amnesia has the ability to get better at cognitive tasks despite being unable to recall having performed those tasks at a previous time. On the same hand, Duff, Wszalek, Tranel, and Cohen (2008) mentioned that most individuals with anterograde amnesia experience heightened intelligence, attention, skill, and reasoning levels (procedural memory).

No significant effect was found for false recall and recognition, p = .20 and p = .94, respectively. There were no significant findings in the Group x List Type for false recall and recognition. There was a significant effect of list type for true recall and true recognition, p = .01 and p = .07.

Neurobiological studies show that both suppression and recall and the creation of false memories are possible. (Kandel, 1994) In this paper both sides of the debate will be analyzed and evaluated.

Research has long proven demonstrated the human brains’ limitations in recall. As one attempts to remember more than six to seven tasks, there are diminishing returns in efficiency. In addition, persistent exposure to stressful stimuli (as is very common in

What do these results mean for cognitive neuroscience and its application in humans? What does this imply about the role of the hippocampus and its function in certain stages of memory?

289). In part B, the person was given 420 seconds to connect randomly distributed numbers and letters in alpha-numeric sequence (Carlson et al., 2012, p. 289). Through the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R) would reveal both immediate learning and delayed recall. In this case the total possible number of words answered is 36, the person was then given 15 minutes to remember as many words as possible, most remembered 12. Carlson et al. employed Cox proportional hazard model, “to examine the frequency and variety of activity predicted time to cognitive impairment on each of the four cognitive outcomes” (TMT A, TMT B, HVLT immediate, and HVLT delayed recall) (Carlson et al., 2012, p. 289). Over the 9.5-year interval, the percentages were the following: TMT, Part A > 81 s; TMT, Part B > 225 s; HVLT Intermediate recall < 16 words; HVLT Delayed recall < 4 words; and MMSE score < 23 (Carlson et al., 2012, p. 289). The study found that indeed variety in cognitive activities can reduce the risk of impairment such as: dementia and cognitive aging by 8%-11% (Carlson et al., 2012, p.

Roenker, D., Thompson, C., & Brown, S. (1971). Comparison of measures for the estimation of clustering in free recall. Psychological Bulletin, 76, 45-48.

A criticism of this study is that it focuses on memory more than