Memory Interview

Here are the questions to use in organizing your interviews of 2 informants. Spaces allow you to put notes right after each question. You might want to print this out twice, once for each informant.

Every time someone gives you some information, ask “What are you thinking of... do you have an example?” (this is important for interpreting responses)

  1. give some examples of when you use your memory. What are some situations in which you use memory?[note: use this information on following questions as examples to give context. On this question, most informants will think of studying for a test, remembering a short grocery list, or remembering a to-do list for the day. If they don’t name these, ASK if these are good examples]

studying for test, daily schedule, packing, smell can remind, always remembering stuff, birthday, significant dates, if you lose something, song lyrics, basketball plays, cooking a recipe, writing a letter you have to recall events, remembering people, when something is out of place in home, they notice and remember where it goes

muscle memory? Too sophisticated for cultural view?

The cultural view is more of an EVENT view whereas the scientific view is of processes

  1. have you heard of the idea that there are 2 memory systems? short and long term memory? (if so, what is the difference... examples?)

people generally know of the 2, but the definition varies: short term recent (last few days, 48 hours)

long term is when … childhood,

people understand short and long term but not “memory systems”

  1. Do memories fade? Are they lost? why?

(some possibilities:

++ they fade away,

++ they get lost in the jumble of things to remember,

++ important or relevant memories are stored better than ordinary memories, and they last longer

++ your memory can get too full so storing more becomes difficult, especially in older people

Yes, they fade, but not necessarily lost, just pushed to the side to make new ones. You put something to the “back of your mind.”

Unimportant mems fade but important are stored better, last longer

?forget the old things? No? endless capacity?

Dissent: No endless capacity… otherwise we would remember everything

3a. does repetition help prevent loss? Yes, the more you do the easier it is to store memories. Memory is like a muscle. If you repeat a phone number does that make it easier? Or ABCs.

3b. can making associations help to store memories better? Yes… a friend who has red hair is named Kathryn… or roygbiv… mnemonics

  1. Does storing something in memory usually involve effort? Do you usually have to work to get something to stay in memory? Does recalling information often involve effort?

Storing: it depends on the information. It depends on the fact. But people are missing lots of info (Street Smarts). Studying for a test.

  1. Are some people better than others at memory? Are some cultures better?

Yes, some are better. Some people have total recall. Some may remember events DIFFERENTLY.

Cultures: can’t think of examples. Maybe there is no strong view. Some cultures (nonliterate) use story telling, mnemonics. Oriental cyulture might have better mem.

Dissent: some think it is less of a cultural difference and more of an individual difference.

  1. Is the memory system organized? If so how? Yes, but most people don’t know how… maybe chronologically. Organized by associations (a topic arises then you recall associated things… like a specific incident from childhood). Organization by location.
  1. Is memory selective? Do you remember some things and not others? Explain the selective aspect. Yes… to a certain extent. Forget traumatic memories. We remember positive/imporatn/enjoyable things. We also remember negative things like falling off swing set.

Memory is a web… associations

  1. Can memory be improved if you work at it? What helps? Does practice help? What should you do?

Yes. Repetition and practice help. Flash cards. Phone numbers. Lumosity, crosswords

  1. Do most people have a fairly accurate memory? About how often are peoples’ memories inaccurate? [ask for %]

35% are inaccurate

  1. Give a couple of examples of the ways memories may be inaccurate
    things are switched around, combining two similar memories, taking your perspective on it, filling in the gaps, believing repeated lies, suggestions can sway memory
  2. … is it because they are incomplete? … or confuse two events? … or what else?
  1. How often are memories completely false? (for ex., someone “remembers” doing something they never did… or being someplace they were never at) [ask for a %]

10%

Other possibilities…. 30%, 20%, 35%, 5%, 1%,

  1. What about your memory? Are most of your memories a fairly accurate record of your experiences? [ask for %]

Yes… depends on time delay, age, point of view (their own v. other)

75% and up

  1. Freud believed unpleasant memories could be repressed. This is not a conscious process but an involuntary process where the unconscious mind makes a memory inaccessible to the conscious mind. Do you believe this can occur? Why?

Yes, the young woman whose boyfriend passed away. You can still remember repressed memories … a trigger.

Or instead of repression, can you just “wipe” something out of your memory banks so it is not there? No

Or can you change an unpleasant memory into one less unpleasant?

Yes… look on the bright side

Or can you just avoid recalling the memory?

split

  1. Are emotional events (such as 9-11 or a car accident or winning the lottery) better remembered than ordinary events? For example?

Yes… wedding, being proposed to,

Dissent: 1 person said this is not a factor

  1. Is complex information more difficult to store than simple information?

Yes…[but what is complex and what is simple?]

Dissent from Yates theory: memory requires effort. Distinction between storage and retrieval might be problematic