20. Distributed vs. Massed Practice
Rate of learning a
typing skill for a range
of training schedules:
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e
Massed 1 min 1 day
Mirror tracing task
•20 trials of learning
• Massed
• 1 min between trials
• 1 day between trials
21. The Distributed Practice Effect
Spaced presentation
(i.e. study) enhances
memory for a variety
of materials
Context
Semantic associations
Transfer?
Successfully testing
yourself strengthens
memories more than
passively studying items
Spacing Effect Generation Effect
24. Types of Retrieval Failure
• Decay
– Memory traces erode with the passage of time
– No longer a valid theory of forgetting
• Interference
– Influenced by type of information
25. Interference theory
• Forgetting is a result of some memories
interfering with others
– Proactive interference
• Old memories interfere with ability to remember
new memories
– Retroactive interference
• New memories interfere with ability to remember
old memories
– Interference is stronger when material is similar
If you call your new girlfriend
your old girlfriend’s name.
27. False Memories
Anytime we identify something as previously
experienced, we note details of this
experience. A misidentification of any one of
these details can be considered a false
memory.
30. Schemas
• Organized cluster of knowledge about a
particular object or event from previous
experience
• Useful tool for understanding our world
– Quickly assess
– Fill in gaps
• Can lead to false insertions
31. Suggestibility
• Elizabeth Loftus (1974)
– Students viewed films
depicting vehicle accidents.
– Asked: “How fast where the
cars going when they ___
each other?”
“hit,” “smashed into,”
“collided with,”
“bumped,” “contacted”
33. Post-Event Information Integration
• “Did another car pass the red Datsun while it was
stopped at the stop [yield] sign?”
– Consistent sentence: falsely recognize photo 25%
– Inconsistent sentence: falsely recognize photo 60%
Loftus (1979)
34. Implanted Memory
• Titles of 2 events w/4 details
each
1 true & 1 false
3 interviews over 2 wks
• Guided imagery for false
event
• Nightly attempts to recall
• 7/19 (36.8%) recalled being
attacked by an animal
• 33% WERE WILLING TO WAGER $$
37. Demonstration Implications
• Exemplifies how seeing a leading photo or person
in a line-up is enough to cause a misidentification
• A-MT: don’t recollect all of the details and fill in
the gaps
• Also, an example of remembering the
information correctly, but getting the source of
the remembered info wrong
38. Automatic Controlled
Activation Monitoring
• Activation of the information can be relatively
automatic
• Monitoring, or making decisions about that
information, requires controlled processing
