Evidence for Repression?

1
Evidence for Repression? Childhood
amnesia? NO Psychogenic amnesia? MAYBE Perceptual
defense? NO Other studies Slips of the
Tongue Does repressed material come out
in slips? (Freudian slips) It is my great
pleasure to prevent . . . I mean present our
leader. Baars et al. (1992) slips created in
the lab (1) Do dieters make more slips related
to food? ig pout spoken as pig out NO
(didnt work)
2
(2) Do male speakers who score high on a
sex-guilt questionnaire make more slips related
to sex? bine foddy spoken as fine
body There was a tendency for more slips from
the subjects who felt guilty about sex Studies
of Collections of Real Speech Errors No evidence
for hypothesis that slips express repressed
material Conclude Evidence is not strong for
Freudian slips
3
Dreams and Repression
Why do some people remember dreams more than
others? Some people dream less? probably
not Some people wake up differently? probably
this does account for some difference
Repression Hypothesis You repress your dreams and
so you only remember harmless ones.
Salience Hypothesis What matters is intensity. If
you dont remember dreams, its because they
are not intense.

• Cohen Cox (1975) found
• A repression test did not correlate with dream
• recall
• more intense dreams more likely to be reported

4

• Remembering Dreams
• Are dreams real?
• REM - rapid eye movements
• ? period of REM sleep is correlated
• with the length of dream
• ? content of sleep talking consistent
• with reported content
• Lucid dreaming
• ? becoming aware that you are
• dreaming while you are dreaming

5
Return of Repressed Memories?
Painful Memory
Memory is Gone
Memory Returns
. . .
. . .
Example return of memory for a murder Are the
memories real? False memories can be created by
suggestions, misleading information Loftus
Coan Shopping Mall Experiment
6

• How easy is it to plant false memories in
• children?
• Sam Stone experiment
• Ceci, Leichtman White
• 3-6 year olds
• (1) told about Sam Stone who is clumsy
• (2) Sam visits and is not clumsy
• (3) next day, shown a ripped book and
• asked if Sam did it
• almost no one said Sam did
• 25 said he could have done it, though, but
• they didnt see him do it
• (4) each child is interviewed 5 times over the

7

• During interviews
• I wonder whether Sam Stone was
• wearing long or short pants when he
• ripped the book?
• (6) New interviewer asked children what
• happened when Sam visited
• 72 of 3-4 year olds said Sam ruined
• something
• 45 saw him do it
• only 11 of 5-6 year olds saw him do it
• A control group who wasnt told Sam was
• clumsy in phase (1) made fewer false claims
• Conclude
• Repeated interviews create false

8

• Repression
• Everyday repression lots of evidence
• Taboo word effect not repression
• Psychogenic amnesia repression is
• possible explanation
• Slips of the tongue not caused by
• repression, but one
• study (Motley
• Baars) does
• suggest it can
• happen
• Return of repressed possible, but
• memories memories may be
• false
• Childhood amnesia not repression
• Poor dream recall no evidence for
• repression

9
Sleep and Memory Jenkins Dallenbach (1924)
100
after sleep
recall of syllables
awake

1 2 4
8
retention interval (hours)

• Why?
• Less interference?
• Time of day effect?
• Maybe sleep actually improves memory

10
Folkard Monk (1978) Subjects read 1500-word
passage Then answer questions
115- 100- 85-
morning is best
Score on questions
evening is worst

8 11 2 5 8
11
time of day
morning
11
Benson Feinberg (1975) morning
afternoon . . . . morning Group
A learn nonsense test syllables Group
B learn nonsense test syllables Group B is
better! Sleep enhances memory?
or time of test?
8 hours
24 hours SLEEP
12
Idzikowski (1984 serial anticipation learning
NID GAK LIG FES PAF TUD KEL BOJ
13
Idzikowski Experiment Conditions Subjects are
re-tested and savings is computed
Group 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
learn test morning ? afternoon (8
hours) morning ? evening (16 hours) morning ?
morning (24 hours) morning ? morning (24 hours
with SLEEP) evening ? morning (8 hours with
SLEEP) evening ? afternoon (16 hours with
SLEEP) evening ? evening (24 hours with SLEEP)
savings
14
Idzikowski Experiment Conditions Subjects are
re-tested and savings is computed

Group 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
learn test morning ? afternoon (8
hours) morning ? evening (16 hours) morning ?
morning (24 hours) morning ? morning (24 hours
with SLEEP) evening ? morning (8 hours with
SLEEP) evening ? afternoon (16 hours with
SLEEP) evening ? evening (24 hours with SLEEP)
savings
65 73 68 86 87 84 84
15
Idzikowski - Experiment2 Does sleep enhance
memory or does being sleep deprived hurt
memory? learn
test saving 1. evening
morning 83 (33 hours) 2.
evening morning 84 (33
hours) The important thing is to sleep after
learning. Being sleep deprived doesnt hurt as
long as you slept after the learning.
SLEEP SLEEP
SLEEP all nighter...
16

• Which phases of sleep are important?
• possibly REM sleep
• Are dreams necessary for memory?
• possibly
• Is dreaming a kind of house cleaning of your
• mind?

17
Context Dependence Your ability to remember
an event is better if the context at encoding
matches the context at time of retrieval. Word
contexts Fisher Craik study item damp
- LAMP context test damp - ? damp is a
better retrieval cue for LAMP than light is
18

• Environmental Contexts
• Material learned in one place is best recalled
• in the same place.
• Room effects are very weak
• Godden Baddeley (1925)

Number of words recalled
Dry Learn while Wet
19
Drug-related State-dependent Retrieval
Material learned under a particular drugged state
is best retrieved in the same state. A complete
state-dependence experiment
Group 1 2 3 4
Learning State Placebo Drug Placebo Drug
Testing State Placebo Drug Drug Placebo
20
Drug-related State-dependent Retrieval
Material learned under a particular drugged state
is best retrieved in the same state. A complete
state-dependence experiment
Group 1 2 3 4
Learning State Placebo Drug Placebo Drug
Testing State Placebo Drug Drug Placebo
good performance shows state-dependence
21
Drugs showing state dependence
Marijuana (THC) barbiturates amphetamines alcoh
ol
Dosage must be high enough to change perceived
state of consciousness.
22
Eich et al. (1975) Effect of cues on state
dependence Drug was THC (marijuana) Four groups
of subjects
Study categorized lists Furniture Animals
LAMP LION SOFA BEAR . . . .
23
TEST Free Recall Found large effect of
state dependence Cued Recall (give category
names as cues) Found no effect of state
dependence!! WHY?
24
When do you get State Dependence? Eich (1980)
examined 57 studies
Type of test Free Recall Serial Recall Cued
Recall Recognition
State Dependence yes yes no no
You get S.D. when memory is tested by a method
with no cues
25
Why are Cues Important? 1. Changing the state
changes your inner context. 2. Context
provides cues that guide the initial search
through memory. 3. When context is different
(when drug state is different) the search is in
the wrong place. 4. Cued recall - explicit cues
help search get to the right place. Recognition
tests - very little search is required. So you
get no state dependence with cued recall and
recognition.
26
Moods are like internal states Bower (1981)
80- 70- 60- 50-
learn when happy
learn when sad
of recall
Sad Happy
Recall State
27
Are these phenomena all due to state dependence
or environmental context dependence? Failure to
Recall Dreams? could be state
dependence Hypnotic Amnesia? probably not
state dependence alone Failure to Recall
Memories From Mania States in Manic-Depressive
Psychosis? probably is very similar to
drug- related state dependence
28

• Getting Older
• The bad news
• you slow down
• you have trouble searching LTS
• The good news
• you know a lot more

29

• Memory and Aging
• More difficulty with LTS than STS

Young
Free Recall
Old
Serial Position

• Remote childhood memories dont get easier to
• retrieve with age (Schonfield, 1969)

.7- .6- .5- .4-
Teacher Recall

20-29 30-39
40-49 50-59 60-69 70
Age
30
Search phase, rather than the decision phase,
of retrieval is disrupted with age. 1. Schonfield
Robertson (1966)
20- 15-
20-29 30-39 40-49
50-59 60
Recognition
more search needed
correct out of 24
Recall
2. Vocabulary tests Hemoglobin means
what? NO DECLINE WITH AGE Red pigment in
blood that takes up oxygen is called
what? GETS WORSE WITH AGE more search needed
31
Processing Speed Sternberg Memory Scanning
Paradigm
Recognition Study Test yes 3
9 7 7 trial set size 3 no 2 1 3
4 5 trial
520- 490- 460- 430- 400-
1 2
3 4 5
Each additional item in set adds about 35 msec to
RT
RT
yes
no
Set Size
32
9 1 5
1
5
6
2 8 3 7 9 6
5
33

• Main Results
• 1. RT increases linearly with set size
• 2. Slope of line is the same for yes and no
• responses (each additional item adds
• about 35 msec to RT)
• Interpretation
• Items are held in STS
• Test item is compared with items in memory
• one at a time
• (serial, not parallel, comparison)

34
600 500 400

1 2 3 4
RT
yes
College Students 35 msec/item
Set Size
35
If self- terminating slope for no twice as
big as for yes
If exhaustive slope for no slope for yes
Data shows that its exhaustive
36
600 500 400

1 2 3 4
50-55 year old - 50 msec/item
RT
yes
35-40 year old - 37 msec/item
College Students 35 msec/item
Set Size
37
Memory scanning rate is not slower, but
overall RT is (could be perceptual or motor
processes)
600 500 400

1 2 3 4
Young schizophrenics - 35 msec/item
Young alcoholics - 35 msec/item
RT
yes
College Students 35 msec/item
Set Size
38
800 700
600 500 400

1 2 3 4
Retardation from brain damage 111 msec/item
Mentally Retarded adults (no brain damage) 66
msec/item
RT
yes
College Students 35 msec/item
Set Size
39
Burke et al. (1991) Old subjects have more
Tip-of-the-Tongue experiences. What is the
proper name for a tidal wave? Oh wait! I
know Its ... on the tip of my
tongue Number of TOTs in a diary study
7- 6- 5- 4- 3-
Number of TOTs in a month
young
middle
old
40
Experimental Study Asked about famous
people What is the last name of the man
who said I regret that I have but one
life lose for my country?
Supports the idea that old subjects
have difficulty retrieving information from LTS
41
Where do TOTs come from? Connections in LTS
(semantic memory)
Concepts
Words
Sounds
h e m o g l o
..
You are in the TOT state when you have activated
the word node, but not the sound nodes
42
Why are there more TOTs as you get
older? Connections in the LTS network get
weaker, so activation spreads more
slowly. (Burke et al.) Knowledge is still
there, but it is weakened. Hence it sometimes
cant be retrieved.
43

• Conclusions
• 1. Aging affects the search phase of retrieval
• from LTS
• Recall is bad not recognition
• TOTs increase
• 2. General processing speed is slower
• The slow processing speed may be the cause