UMGC PSYC341 Week 3 Discussion Latest 2022 January

PSYC341 Memory and Cognition

Week 3 Discussion

Choose one of the topics below to use for this discussion.  Please make sure your initial post is 2-3 paragraphs in length.  Feel free to use supporting documentation (other resources) as well.

Option 1

You read about long-term memory this week. A fascinating aspect of long-term memory is the topic of false memories.  A false memory is "remembering" something that did not happen, or remembering it differently than it actually happened. This is not a disorder—it happens to every person, constantly! (I bring it up here is because your text does not address it. We just moved to a new textbook in this class, and in the many years I have taught PSY 341, the majority of students have said that false memory was their favorite topic in the class, and many students chose to write their papers on it. As such, I want to share it with you!)

For this discussion, read a little about false memory on the web (e.g., https://www.healthline.com/health/false-memory#why-we-have-them or https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-false-memory-2795193). Can you think of an example wherein you had a false memory? Why do you think you created that false memory (was it due to post-event information? Misattribution? Emotions? etc.)? Can you think of a friend of family member who has experienced a false memory?

Option 2

Several Web sites contain strategies for improving memory.  These strategies all rely on elaborative encoding techniques.  Conduct a search on the Web to identify some of these sites.  Discuss some of the memory enhancing techniques that the sites suggest.  Do you think the technique you described would be effective?