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Try to describe your earliest memory to a friend (unless it’s really painful) and then suggest reasons why you remember this event so well.

The role of emotion in memory

Emotion

Emotion can affect memory in one of two ways Enhanced memory

Flashbulb memories Impaired memory

Repression Mood dependant memory and depressive state

1 – ENHANCED MEMORY – FLASHBULB MEMORIES

Vivid, long-lasting memories surrounding a person’s discovery of shocking events.

It seems as if the mind has "taken a picture" of the circumstances in which the news was learned.

9/11 attacks Princess Diana’s death.

Different from normal memories Last a lifetime Do not decay or change

Do you have a flashbulb memory?

Q. What were you doing when you heard the news about the following? The attack on the World Trade Centre Michael Jackson’s death A personal event

Draw Three Columns

For Against Evaluation

In the appropriate column write the name/s of the researchers and one word to jog your memory of their theory/study

What causes flashbulb memories?

Cahill & McGaugh (1998) Flashbulb memories occur because

of the release of hormones during times of high emotion.

Hormones make memories more vivid, enhancing recall.

Adaptive behaviour - promote survival Vivid recall of an emotional event may

help the animal or human cope with any similar situation in the future.

What causes flashbulb memories?

Cahill & McGaugh (1995) Injecting rats with adrenaline leads to better recall

on a learning task.

What causes flashbulb memories? Neisser (1982)

Flashbulb memories are much more memorable because they are repeated so often.

Exposure to news, discussion of important events and their implications creates more opportunities for rehearsal to happen

How accurate are Flashbulb memories?

Hard to test accuracy of memories Evidence is retrospective

Loftus Post event information e.g. leading questions Memory can be altered easily by information

received after the event. Are flashbulb memories the same, or are they

immune to this alteration?

7/7 Bombings evidence of false memories

Experiment into false memory

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfhIuaD183I

Have a pen and paper ready !!

How accurate are Flashbulb memories? Wright (1993)

Interviewed people about Hillsborough disaster After five months, memories were vague, and

subject to systematic biases. Memories were a blend of their own real

experiences, and information that had come after the event.


Wright (1993) Suggests flashbulb memories are not a special

type of memory. He argues that there is no difference between

these memories and other memories, as they both can alter after time, and be reconstructed with post event information.

How accurate are Flashbulb memories? McCloskey et al (1988)

Interviewed people shortly after the Challenger disaster, and again after 9 months.

Many of the participants forgot elements of the event, and there were errors in their recall.

This also suggests that flashbulb memories are no different from normal memories.


Conway et al (1994) Challenger explosion did not have personal

significance to the participants. Tested people’s memories immediately after the

resignation of Margaret Thatcher, and again after 11 months. In the UK, 86% still had flashbulb memories This was 29% for other countries.


Conway et al (1994) Suggests flashbulb memories exists, and are

different than normal memories. However, they may only exist for events with

personal significance.


Sheingold and Terry (1982) Participants had very good memories for highly

personal events which remained consistent over time.

Suggests that flashbulb memories have to have emotional importance for the person.


Sheingold and Terry (1982) This provides evidence for flashbulb memories as

they should be memories which are consistent and unchanging.

However, there is no way to tell how accurate they were to begin.

Evaluation of research

Strengths: Naturalistic. Reactions and memories formed

from real life events. Therefore high ecological validity.

Evaluation of research

Weaknesses Research can lack reliability Can not really be replicated A lot of the research is retrospective, we can not

reliably measure how accurate people’s initial memories are.

Test your memory !

What is a flashbulb memory? Who theorised that FBs were an adaptive

response and different to ordinary memories? Who disagreed with them? What may have caused memories of 9/11 to

be altered after the event? What did Conway et al suggest events had to

have for them to become flashbulb memories?

2- IMPAIRED MEMORY - REPRESSION

Discussion

Q. What can you remember about repression from your AS studies? (Think Freud)

Q. What sort of memories do you think may be repressed?

The UnconsciousThe conscious. The small amount of mental activity we know about.

The preconscious. Things we could be aware of if we wanted or tried.

The unconscious. Things we are unaware of and can not become aware of.

ThoughtsPerceptions

MemoriesStored knowledge

FearsUnacceptable sexual desiresViolent motivesIrrational wishesImmoral urgesSelfish needsShameful experiencesTraumatic experiences

Bad

Worse

Really Bad

What is repression Repression

Memories that have been locked out of our conscious awareness.

Freud argued that the unconscious stops traumatic memories from getting into to the conscious mind. Protects the individual from experiencing

guilt, embarrassment, humiliation or worry. An ego defence mechanism.

Repressed memories can cause problems in consciousness

What is repression

Freud’s evidence Little Hans and Anna O

Repression is difficult to test. Unable to access repressed thoughts Is it there? Or just inaccessible?

Evidence for repression Williams (1994)

206 women who had suffered a sexual assault as girls 20 years after the assault, the women were asked about

being treated at a hospital when younger. 38% had no recollection of the abuse, Of those who did, 16% reported that they had not been

able to remember at one point, but now could.

This research suggests that traumatic childhood memories can be repressed, and also recovered.

Evidence for repression

Williams (1994) Evaluation:

Ecological validity Deception and ethical issues Can we be certain that the

participants told the truth? Can we be certain that the

interviewers were unbiased?

Evidence for repression Karon & Widener (1997)

Studied hundreds of cases of WWII veterans who had repressed memories of traumatic events during war.

When memories were recalled in therapy, psychological issues disappeared.

This provides support for Freud’s theory that traumatic memories repressed in the unconscious can have a negative effect on our conscious lives.


Karon & Widener (1997) Evaluation

Issues with generalising from case studies Specific type of trauma. Can we generalise? Does it have high ecological validity?


Loftus and Burns (1982) Participants were shown a film

of a bank robbery. One groups saw a violent

version where a boy was shot in the face.

This group had poorer recall than the neutral video.

Suggests heightened emotion impairs memory


Loftus and Burns (1982)

Evaluation: Ecological validity? Ethical issues? Weapon effect?


Levinger and Clark (1961) Participants had to remember negative words (quarrel,

angry, fear) or neutral words (window, cow, tree). Emotional words took more time to recall.

Suggests that the emotional content of the words impaired memory.

Research into Repression

Conduct a small experiment on 1-3 participants as described on your sheets.

As an extension task to consolidate research methods knowledge you can answer the questions on the back at home.


Levinger and Clark (1961) Evaluation

Ecological validity? Can we be sure that it was actually repression

that was taking place?

Evaluation - Why is repression controversial ?

Repression is difficult to test empirically and there is little scientific evidence to support it.

Many cases of recovered memories of child abuse occurred after therapy causing controversy. How do we know that the therapist didn’t implant the memory? (Compare to Loftus and shopping mall)

Many people do not forget traumatic events – how can this be explained?

Plenary

What does repression suggest about the effect of emotion of the memory?

How does this compare to the existence of flashbulb memories?

Answer these questions

How do you feel today? Describe something that happened to you

yesterday.

3- IMPAIRED MEMORY – MOOD DEPENDENT MEMORY

Discussion

Q. What is depression? How do you think it could affect memory?

How can depression affect memory?

Antikainen et al (2001) 174 adults with major depression who

had impairments in their memory. After 6 months of treatment for

depression, it was found that a reduction in the symptoms of depression led to an improvement in memory.

This suggests that there is a relationship between depression and memory.

How can depression affect memory? 3 explanations

Lyketsos (2001) Depression causes low motivation and

reduced awareness. May lead to inattentiveness. Memories are never

encoded in the first place.

How can depression affect memory? 3 explanations

Sheline et al (1999) Biological basis for poor

memory Women who were depressed

had a reduced hippocampus Suggested this is due to high

levels of the hormone cortisol causing shrinkage

Evaluation: Correlation vs. causation?

Mood Dependent memory People can remember better

when in the same state of mind, be that mentally, emotionally or drug induced as when the memory was encoded

Negative recall bias Depressed people are more

likely to be able to recall unhappy or negative memories than positive or happy memories

Mood Dependent memory Eich et al (1994)

Participants were asked to read a list of 16 words. For each word they had to describe either a sad or happy memory associated with it.

After 2 days the participants were asked to imagine being sad or happy and recall

Those in a sad mood were able to remember more sad memories than happy memories (and visa versa).

Mood Dependent memory

Eich et al (1994) Suggests that the emotional state at the time

of both encoding and recall can have an effect on memory.

Evaluation Ethical issues Ecological validity Demand characteristics

Peer assess evaluations

Swap notes with another person and assess their evaluations of the evidence.

Have they….. Fully and clearly explained what the issue is? Explained it in broad terms or in the context

of the study being evaluated ? Put a star next to any evaluations you feel

are not clear so that the person can have another go at home.

Quiz

1. Researcher beginning with N who thought FB memories were long lasting because of rehearsal.

2. The percentage of UK people tested who recalled Margaret Thatcher’s resignation.

3. Who said events should have personal significance for them to become FB memories?

4. The only way that repressed memories can be recovered according to Freud.

5. According to Williams’ research 38% of women interviewed had no what ?

6. A reason why recovered memories cause controversy 7. According to Eich’s research what will affect both encoding and

recall?

Exam style question

Describe and evaluate the role of emotion in memory (25) You should have 300 words of description (AO1) You should have 500 words of evaluation (AO2)

Depth and range with a clear structure Research should be named and the year given. Need to state how the research supports/contradicts

the theory. Note any possible issues with the research such as

reliability, validity or ethics.

Essay Plan for Emotion and Memory.

Intro – Studies have shown various ways in which emotion effects how information is encoded and retrieved.

Par1 – Flashbulb memories – description and research evidence for and against – evaluation of evidence.

Par2 – Repression – description and research evidence – evaluation of psychodynamic theory and ethics of research/therapy

Par3 – Mood congruence and Depressive state – description, evidence, evaluation

Conclusion – Summarise and say on balance whether evidence suggests that emotion effects memory.

Answers

1.Neisser 2. 86% 3. Conway et al 4. Through therapy 5. Recollection of their abuse 6. Memories can be implanted as well as

recovered 7. Your mood at the time

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