Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

CHAPTER6MemoryThe DrowningPROLOGUEELIZABETH WAS ONLY 14 YEARS OLD white blanket tucked in around the edges ofwhen her mother drowned. Although the body. The memory had been there allElizabeth remembered many things about along, but I just couldn’t reach it.visiting her Uncle Joe’s home in Pennsylvaniathat summer, her memory of the detailsAs the memory crystallized, it suddenlymade sense to Elizabeth why she hadsurrounding her mother’s death had alwaysalways felt haunted by her vaguebeen hazy. As she explained:memories of the circumstances surroundingher mother’s death. And it alsoIn my mind I’ve returned to that scene manytimes, and each time the memory gains weight seemed to explain, in part, why she hadand substance. I can see the cool pine trees, always been so fascinated by the topicsmell their fresh tarry breath, feel the lake’s of memory.algae-green water on my skin, taste Uncle Joe’s However, several days later, Elizabethiced tea with fresh-squeezed lemon. But the learned that the relative had been wrong—death itself was always vague and unfocused. I it was not Elizabeth who discovered hernever saw my mother’s body, and I could not mother’s body, but her Aunt Pearl. Otherimagine her dead. The last memory I have of relatives confirmed that Aunt Pearl hadmy mother was her tiptoed visit the evening been the one who found Elizabeth’sbefore her death, the quick hug, themother in the swimming pool. Yetwhispered, “I love you.”Elizabeth’s memory had seemed so real.The Elizabeth in this true story is ElizabethLoftus, a psychologist who is nation-Some 30 years later, at her Uncle Joe’s90th birthday party, Elizabeth learned fromally recognized as the leading expert on thea relative that she had been the one todistortions that can occur in the memoriesdiscover her mother’s body in Uncle Joe’sof eyewitnesses. Loftus shares this personalswimming pool. With this realization,story in her book The Myth of Repressedmemories that had eluded Elizabeth forMemory: False Memories and Allegationsdecades began to come back.of Sexual Abuse.The memories began to drift back, slow and In this chapter, we’ll consider the psychologicaland biological processes that underlieunpredictable, like the crisp piney smoke fromthe evening campfires. I could see myself, a how memories are formed and forgotten.thin, dark-haired girl, looking into the flickeringblue-and-white pool. My mother, dressed the one Elizabeth Loftus experienced areAs you’ll see, memory distortions such asin her nightgown, is floating facedown. relatively common. By the end of this chapter,you’ll have a much better understand-“Mom? Mom?” I ask the question severaltimes, my voice rising in terror. I start screaming.I remember the police cars, their lights reason that Elizabeth’s “memory” of findingof the memory pro cess, including theflashing, and the stretcher with the clean, ing her mother’s body seemed so real.>Chapter Outline• Prologue: The Drowning• Introduction: What Is Memory?CULTURE AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR:Culture’s Effects on EarlyMemories• Retrieval: Getting Informationfrom Long-Term Memory• Forgetting: When Retrieval FailsIN FOCUS: Déjà Vu Experiences: AnIllusion of Memory?• Imperfect Memories: Errors,Distortions, and False MemoriesCRITICAL THINKING: The MemoryWars: Recovered or FalseMemories?• The Search for the Biological Basisof MemoryFOCUS ON NEUROSCIENCE: AssemblingMemories: Echoes andReflections of PerceptionIN FOCUS: H.M. and FamousPeopleFOCUS ON NEUROSCIENCE:Mapping Brain Changes inAlzheimer’s Disease• Closing Thoughts• ENHANCING WELL-BEING WITHPSYCHOLOGY: SuperpowerMemory in Minutes per Day!• Chapter Review231