24-
Biology’s findings benefit medicine. Botany’s findings benefit agriculture. So, too, can psychology’s research on memory benefit education. Here, for easy reference, is a summary of some research-
Rehearse repeatedly. To master material, use distributed (spaced) practice. To learn a concept, give yourself many separate study sessions. Take advantage of life’s little intervals—
Repressed or Constructed Memories of Abuse?
24-
The research on source amnesia and the misinformation effect raises concerns about therapist-
Some well-
Critics are not questioning most therapists’ professionalism. Nor are they questioning the accusers’ sincerity; even if false, their memories are heartfelt. Critics’ charges are specifically directed against clinicians who have used “memory work” techniques, such as “guided imagery,” hypnosis, and dream analysis. In his discussion of the “false memory wars” of the 1980s and 1990s, science writer Martin Gardner (2006) argued that “thousands of families were cruelly ripped apart,” with “previously loving adult daughters” suddenly accusing fathers. Irate clinicians countered that those who discredit recovered memories of abuse are adding to abused people’s trauma and playing into the hands of child molesters.
Is there a sensible common ground that might resolve psychology’s “memory war,” which exposed researcher and expert witness Elizabeth Loftus (2011) to “relentless vitriol and harassment”? Professional organizations (the American Medical, American Psychological, and American Psychiatric Associations; the Australian Psychological Society; the British Psychological Society; and the Canadian Psychiatric Association) have convened study panels and issued public statements, and greater agreement is emerging (Patihis et al., 2014a). Those committed to protecting abused children and those committed to protecting wrongly accused adults have agreed on the following:
Sex abuse happens. And it happens more often than we once supposed. Although sexual abuse can leave its victims at risk for problems ranging from sexual dysfunction to depression (Freyd et al., 2007), there is no characteristic “survivor syndrome”—no group of symptoms that lets us spot victims of sexual abuse (Kendall-
Injustice happens. Some innocent people have been falsely convicted. And some guilty people have evaded responsibility by casting doubt on their truth-
Forgetting happens. Many of those actually abused were either very young when abused or may not have understood the meaning of their experience—
Recovered memories are commonplace. Cued by a remark or an experience, we all recover memories of long-
Memories of events before age 3 are unreliable. We cannot reliably recall happenings from our first three years. As noted earlier, this infantile amnesia happens because our brain pathways have not yet developed enough to form the kinds of memories we will form later in life. Most psychologists—
Memories “recovered” under hypnosis or the influence of drugs are especially unreliable. Under hypnosis, people will incorporate all kinds of suggestions into their memories, even memories of “past lives.”
Memories, whether real or false, can be emotionally upsetting. Both the accuser and the accused may suffer when what was born of mere suggestion becomes, like an actual trauma, a stinging memory that drives bodily stress (McNally, 2003, 2007). Some people knocked unconscious in unremembered accidents know this all too well. They have later developed stress disorders after being haunted by memories they constructed from photos, news reports, and friends’ accounts (Bryant, 2001).
So, does repression of threatening memories ever occur? Or is this concept—
“When memories are ‘recovered’ after long periods of amnesia, particularly when extraordinary means were used to secure the recovery of memory, there is a high probability that the memories are false.”
Royal College of Psychiatrists Working Group on Reported Recovered Memories of Child Sexual Abuse (Brandon et al., 1998)
Imagine being a jury member in a trial for a parent accused of sexual abuse based on a recovered memory. What insights from memory research should you offer the jury?
Make the material meaningful. You can build a network of retrieval cues by taking textbook and class notes in your own words. Apply the concepts to your own life. Form images. Understand and organize information. Relate the material to what you already know or have experienced. As William James (1890) suggested, “Knit each new thing on to some acquisition already there.” Restate concepts in your own words. Mindlessly repeating someone else’s words won’t supply many retrieval cues. On an exam, you may find yourself stuck when a question uses phrasing different from the words you memorized.
Activate retrieval cues. Mentally re-
Use mnemonic devices. Associate items with peg words. Make up a story that incorporates vivid images of the items. Chunk information into acronyms. Create rhythmic rhymes (“i before e, except after c”).
Minimize interference. Study before sleep. Do not schedule back-
Sleep more. During sleep, the brain reorganizes and consolidates information for long-
Test your own knowledge, both to rehearse it and to find out what you don’t yet know. Don’t be lulled into overconfidence by your ability to recognize information. Test your recall using the periodic Retrieve It items and the numbered Learning Objective and Testing Effect questions in the Review sections. Outline sections using a blank page. Define the terms and concepts listed at each section’s end before turning back to their definitions. Take practice tests; the online resources that accompany many textbooks, including this one, are a good source for such tests.
Which memory strategies can help you study smarter and retain more information?